Issue 9.10: December, 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News is focused on online privacy, innovative online healthcare marketing solutions, market research in India and China, and good promotion practices. Featured organizations and companies include Center for Digital Democracy, Kantar Health, and the Good Promotion Practices Alliance (Prolifiq Software and Reprints Desk).

OpEd

Pharma's 2010 Christmas Wish List for Santa

A few people helped me put together a short wish list for the US pharmaceutical industry to send to Santa this year.

There are only a few items on the list so far that merit Santa's urgent attention. To find out more, you can vote or write-in your item to include on the list (find the survey here) or read this OpEd piece.

The full text of this OpEd piece (pdf) is will be published on or about 16-DEC-2010.

Planned Articles

• New Media Privacy Issues & Online Health Marketing
  Privacy Groups Focus on the Pharmaceutical Industry
  
  Recently, online privacy issues have been in the news as Congress exams whether it should enact legislation requiring a do-not-track function in Web browsers to allow consumers to opt out of the extensive data collection by Internet companies. The Wall Street Journal, for example, published a series of investigative articles on online privacy under heading “What They Know.”
  
  What you should know is that the current focus on privacy in the new media advertising world may have a very substantial impact on marketers. Read this article to learn more about the issues and also for a review of innovative online healthcare marketing and advertising solutions.
  
  Estimated publication date for this article is on or about 16-DEC-2010.
  

• Getting Market Research Right in India and China
  
  This is the third in a series of three articles highlighting points made by Kantar Health executives in a recent webinar entitled “Getting It Right in the Emerging Markets: Identifying the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls in conducting market research in new geographies.”
  
  Estimated publication date for this article is on or about 30-DEC-2010.
  

• Good Promotion Practices
  An Alliance Sponsored by Prolifiq Software and Reprints Desk
  
  Good Promotional Practices (GPP) ensure that Life Sciences companies successfully promote their products and solutions to the health care community and comply with applicable laws, codes of ethics, and accepted industry standards.
  
  The GPP Alliance (GPPa) is a forum for learning about the practices and technologies that lead to a balanced approach to sales, marketing and compliance. GPPa is sponsored and managed by Prolifiq Software and Reprints Desk.
  
  This article reviews the work of the GPPa based on interviews with the principals.
  
  Estimated publication date for this article is on or about 30-DEC-2010.
  

Anticipated Publication Date

Individual articles will be published 16-DEC-2010 through 30-DEC-2010. The full issue containing ALL articles will be available on 30-DEC-2010.

Ad Submission Deadline Date

14-DEC-2010 through 20-DEC-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.9: November, 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News is focused on Patient Opinion Leaders, physician use of social networks, market research in the Middle East, and reporting HCP-related meeting spending. Featured organizations and companies include DocCheck, Kantar Health, and StarCite.

OpEd

Pharma Collaboration with Online Patient Opinion Leaders

The pharmaceutical industry has a long tradition of working with individual patients and patient organizations. Currently, pharnaceutical marketers are talking about “stepping in” to join discussions patients are having online. In the near future pharma companies may hire influential online patients to act as "patient opinion leaders" (POLs) just as they have hired physicians to be key opinion leaders (KOLs).

It's time to determine the issues involving transparency and conflicts of interest that may arise if and when pharma companies pay individual POLs to help manage their engagement with patients online. What best practices should govern pharma’s collaboration with POLs? Should the industry develop guidelines for their interactions with POLs? This OpEd is a call for action and input from readers regarding these issues and questions.

The full text of this OpEd piece (pdf) is will be published on or about 10-NOV-2010.

Planned Articles

• How Healthcare Professionals Engage in Social Networks
  Highlights from a DocCheck Survey
  
  With over 700,000 users, DocCheck® is one of the most heavily subscribed medical portals in the world. Recently, Pharma Marketing News and DocCheck collaborated to survey members of the DocCheck online community.
  
  The goal of the present study was to depict the usage of social media (online networks) within the target group of physicians. The influence and importance of social media as a modern channel of communication is growing constantly, also in the pharmaceutical sector. To date, there has been study that focuses on the usage behavior of physicians in social media. The present study aims at contributing to knowledge in this field.
  
  The study at hand differentiated between different target groups. The main focus lays on users of social media, who both read and post medical information on networks. We were also interested in users who read only but do not post on medical networks and users who post only, but only on non-medical networks.
  
  Specifically, the following data were assessed: type of networks used, the frequency of posting, motivation of posting, estimation of network usage through colleagues, relevance of contents posted and an estimation of online user-generated content in the future.
  
  Estimated publication date for this article 10-November-2010
  

• Getting Market Research Right in the Middle East
  A Land of Diversity, Opportunities and Unique Challenges
  
  This is the second in a series of three articles highlighting points made by Kantar Health executives in a recent webinar entitled “Getting It Right in the Emerging Markets: Identifying the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls in conducting market research in new geographies.”
  
  If the Middle East was a single country, it would be the fifth largest market in the world in terms of GDP. The sales of pharmaceuticals in the Middle East surpasses 20 billion US dollars per year. That’s about equal to the UK Pharma market but unlike the UK, the Middle East is growing by 10 to 15% per year.
  
  The Middle East is not only a land of demographic diversity, but also a land of diversity of health systems and also a land of opportunities. To succeed in this market, pharmaceutical companies must get the best possible market data, which is often difficult to do. In this article, Sherif Shafick, General Manager, Middle East and Africa for Kantar Health, provides some insights on the nature of pharmaceutical market in the Middle East and a case study on how these insights can help launch products.
  
  Estimated publication date for this article: 16-November-2010
  

• Capturing & Reporting HCP-Related Meeting Spending
  Technology Enables Sunshine Act Compliance
  
  Life Science companies are struggling to understand the complex reporting requirements and compliance issues presented by existing and new regulations like the Sunshine Act.
  
  This article is a summary of a Webinar by StarCite, which defined what pharma marketers and meeting planners need to know when it comes to meetings-related HCP reporting:
  
  
  • How does your meetings program factor in to overall HCP compliance efforts?
  • Exactly which meetings-related spend categories do you need to report against?
  • What is the potential impact of not being adequately prepared?
  • How are best-in-class Life Sciences companies handling compliance in their meetings programs?
  • How can you be sure that you will be able to easily access all of the meetings-related HCP data required by the new laws?
  
  Estimated publication date for this article: 30-November-2010
  

Anticipated Publication Date

Individual articles will be published 8-November-2010 through 30-November-2010. The full issue containing ALL articles will be available on 30-November-2010.

Ad Submission Deadline Date

5-November-2010 through 20-November-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.8: October 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News will be focused on custom media marketing, emerging pharma markets, highlights from DigiPharm EU, and DocCheck online physician survey. Featured organizations and companies include American Diabetes Association, and Kantar Health.

OpEd

Social Media and the Limitations of Disease Awareness Campaigns

I am impressed by all the pioneering social media campaigns that have been created by European pharma companies. Of course, all these campaigns are "unbranded" disease awareness initiatives. It's as if the ban on DTC allowed EU marketers to see the forest for the trees.

But disease awareness (DA) campaigns have limitations that even well-executed social media campaigns cannot overcome.

The full text of this OpEd piece (pdf) is now AVAILABLE: http://www.news.pharma-mkting.com/PMNews_98_Upfront.pdf

Planned Articles

• Integration of Custom Media into the Marketing Mix
  The American Diabetes Association Makes It Easy!
  
  Which do patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals prefer: custom educational materials (“custom media”) or advertising? It may not surprise you to learn that 3 out of 4 respondents in a study by Roper Public Affairs for the Custom Publishing Council agreed that getting information from an interesting collection of articles is more appealing than getting information from advertisements.
  
  Of course, not all custom media are up to the task. What you need is information that is specifically tailored to the audience you are trying to reach and that is created by a well-known and respected educational partner. Pharma marketers are increasingly turning to patient advocacy groups as educational partners in order to reach their members and leverage their content. One of the most premier advocacy organizations in the U.S. is the American Diabetes Association®: (ADA).
  
  This article summarizes a discussion with Abraham Ogden, the Director of Book Publications for the American Diabetes Association, about integrating ADA’s custom publications into the pharma marketing mix.
  
  Expected publication date for this article: 12-October-2010
  

• EU Pharma Leads Way in Social Media
  Highlights form the 2nd Annual DigiPharm EU Conference
  
  From September 28 through October 1, 2010, over 200 conference attendees of the DigiPharm EU conference in London, heard from industry experts including marketing specialists from Lundbeck, Janssen-Cilag, GSK, Schering Plough, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer (Wyeth), Genzyme and Merck Serono who provided a summary of the best current practices and a glimpse at how EU pharma companies are driving digital marketing and communications forward.
  
  This article presents highlights from the conference. It was written by Paul Jacobs who is the Director of Digital at a global medical education agency based in London. Paul is passionate about social media, digital innovations and the digital environment and is the author of Medigital blog.
  
  Publication date for this article: 15-October-2010
  

• Getting It Right in the Emerging Markets
  Identifying the Opportunities and Avoiding the Pitfalls in Conducting Market Research in New Geographies
  
  With the challenges facing our industry in the more developed markets of the US, Western Europe and Japan, the Emerging Markets have become the growth engine for many businesses. Big Pharma is shifting its investment to new geographies. Nevertheless, in countries where market research is not yet established, online penetration is limited and secondary data sources are nonexistent, the challenge remains how to get the business insights required to guide business strategy in these markets.
  
  This article summarizes a Webinar presented by Kantar Health, a global consultancy and marketing insights organization, on September 29, 2010. The first article is an overview. Two followup articles will cover specific markets:
  
  
• Focus on the Middle East (est. publication date: November 10, 2010)
  
• Focus on India/China (est. publication date: November 17, 2010)
  
  Expected publication date for this article: 28-October-2010
  

Anticipated Publication Date

Individual articles will be published 12-August-2010 through 28-October-2010. The full issue containing ALL articles will be available on 28-October-2010.

Ad Submission Deadline Date

11-October-2010 through 20-October-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.7: September 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News will be focused on pharma-physician social media interactions and medication adherence. Featured companies include Sermo, MedTera, and HealthPrize.

OpEd

Solving the Adherence Problem in Economic Hard Times

Medication non-adherence -- ie, patients not taking their medications as prescribed by their doctors -- is one of the most significant problems in healthcare. It is an even bigger problem during economic hard times as more people cut back their medications to save money. There are many facets to this problem, which cannot simply be solved by lowering drug costs.

This month’s Pharma Marketing News includes several articles that feature innovative solutions to the adherence problem. In preparation for these articles, several experts will be guests on the Pharma Marketing BlogTalkRadio Show during the month of September.

Read this OpEd piece to find out the details. The full text of this OpEd piece (pdf) is AVAILABLE now! Click here.

Planned Articles

• Pharma, Physicians, and Sermo
  A Social Media Win-Win-Win!
  
  In 2007, Pfizer Inc and Sermo, the largest online physician community in the U.S., embarked on a strategic collaboration designed to redefine the way physicians in the U.S. and the healthcare industry work together to improve patient care. Since then, other pharmaceutical companies have also engaged physicians via Sermo
  
  This article provides an overview of Sermo's new Client Center and summarizes a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast interview of with Daniel Palestrant, Sermo’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
  
  Publication date for this article: 31-August-2010
  

• Eyes on the Adherence Prize
  How HealthPrize Uses Financial Incentives and Fun to Change Patient Behavior
  
  Medication non-adherence is one of the most significant problems in healthcare. It is responsible for an astonishing number of poor outcomes and, as a result, an estimated $290 billion in otherwise avoidable medical spending in the US per year. It is also responsible for over $150 billion in lost pharmaceutical revenues per year. Up to 25% of prescriptions are never filled, and average medication compliance, for people who do fill their prescriptions, is only about 50% for most chronic diseases.
  
  There have been many strategies to overcome poor adherence. Drug companies, for example, have incentive programs that include coupons for the partial or total re-imbursement of copayments. Usually, however, these programs are designed more for capturing initial market share during the launch phase of a new drug than for maintaining allegiance to a product that has been on the market for some time. With fewer and fewer prospects for new blockbusters, pharmaceutical companies these days can no longer ignore the value of increasing adherence.
  
  Recently, HealthPrize, a startup internet-based software company, was featured in a New York Times article that described a lottery in which patients prescribed warfarin, an anti-blood-clot medication, can win $10 or $100 each day they take the drug.
  
  This article provides details about the HealthPrize's innovative, compelling approach to solving one of pharma's most perplexing puzzle: how to improve medication adherence.
  
  Publication date for this article: 16-September-2010
  

• Closed-Loop Patient Education
  MedTera and HealthPrize Team Up to Improve Medication Adherence & Health Outcomes
  
  Research shows that 29 to 71 percent of patients new to therapies ("rookies") stop taking their prescribed medication during the first month of treatment. This is a discontinuation rate 6 to 31 times greater than during subsequent monthly periods.
  
  To address this problem, MedTera in conjunction with Dr. Mark Vanelli, a member of MedTera's Physicians Advisory Board and a faculty member at the Harvard University Medical School, developed the Rookies@Risk™ program.
  
  MedTera recently partnered with HealthPrize Technologies, a web-based software company that motivates people to fill and stay on prescription medications, to bring together MedTera's online and offline educational resources and HealthPrize's online, interactive platform to educate people about their chronic diseases and incentivize them for taking their medications as prescribed.
  
  This article summarizes this partnership and presents details of MedTera's research regarding "rookie" patients.
  
  Publication date for this article: 23-September-2010
  

Anticipated Publication Date

Individual articles will be published 31-August-2010 through 16-September-2010. The full issue containing ALL articles will be available on 23-September-2010.

Ad Submission Deadline Date

25-August-2010 through 3-September-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.6: Summer 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News will be focused on Apple's iPad platform, physician access, consumer marketing, Pharmaguy, and social media marketing leadership.

OpEd

Just-in-Time Publishing

Pharma Marketing News is an electronic publication and unlike print publications it has no obligation to appear as a collection of articles on a regular monthly schedule. Yet this is exactly how it has been published -- one issue per month and each issue containing 3 to 4 articles.

Beginning this issue a new publication plan -- what I call Just-in-Time Publishing plan -- is being implemented. I believe it will benefit my readers with more timely release of valuable information. It will benefit advertisers too. Read this OpEd piece to find out the details.

Planned Articles

• The iPad as a Pharma Marketing Platform
  Is It a Game-Changer for Consumer & Physician Access?
  
  Can the pharmaceutical industry make money from the iPad? Or, rather, can pharma marketers use the iPad in their campaigns to help improve sales, physician education, and disease awareness?
  
  There are three areas in which the pharmaceutical industry might consider using the iPad:
  
  
  
  
  • Detailing (ie, use by sales force)
  • HCP marketing/communications
  • Consumer marketing
  
  This article summarizes how the iPad is currently being used by the pharmaceutical industry, how it is being adopted by physicians, and what the roadblocks are to using it for eDetailing.
  
  Publication date for this article: 26-July-2010
  

• The Pharmaguy Next Door
  U.S. Pharma Blogger John Mack Talks about Social Media in Pharma Marketing
  
  This article is an edited Google translation from the German of an article published in the publication Pharma Relations.
  
  Included are additional comments made in a separate interview with DocCheck TV and excerpts from Pharma Marketing Blog that illustrate some points.
  
  Publication date for this article: 29-July-2010
  

• Social Media Leaders Wanted
  Nominations for The Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award
  
  The first part of this article is a post by Corey Mull of the Marketing Leadership Council (MLC), which is a membership organization for senior marketers at the world’s leading companies. The Council provides quantitative and case-based best practice research and tools to help marketing leaders and their teams solve immediate business challenges. Mull reviews the results of Pharma Marketing News' "What's Your Social Media Implementation Plan?"
  
  The addendum to this article is the announcement of the Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award, which recognizes excellence in social media marketing leadership. Candidates for this prestigious award must work or have worked within an FDA-regulated pharmaceutical, medical device, or biotech company when he or she pioneered in social media marketing or non-branded communications or was an advocate for such. The Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award is sponsored by ExL Pharma and the 4th Annual Digital Pharma East Conference. Winners will be announced at the conference in October, 2010.
  
  Publication date for this article: 5-August-2010
  

Anticipated Publication Date

Individual articles will be published 26-July-2010 through 5-August-2010. The full issue containing ALL articles will be available on 12-August-2010.

Ad Submission Deadline Date

23-July-2010 through 9-August-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.5: May 2010

Focus

This issue of Pharma Marketing News is focused on crisis communications, public relations, sales force effectiveness, ratings of pharma sales reps in the US and Europe, and data mining of patient social networks.

OpEd

Public Relations Communications in the Fast-paced World of Twitter

When it comes to crisis communications in the faced-paced digital world of blogging and Twitter, pharmaceutical companies have no roadmap to guide them. Johnson and Johnson, for example, has been criticized in the media for “abandoning its template” for crisis management and not using the social media tools it has pioneered to keep consumers adequately informed about recent recalls prompted by manufacturing problems at its McNeil unit.

The J&J/McNeil recall fiasco may be a case study on "how-not-to" manage crisis communications in the faced-paced digital world of blogging and Twitter. Pharma can learn from this case to learn how, crisis or otherwise, one deals with the breakneck pace and two-way, consumer-driven nature of digital communications.

Planned Articles

• The Changing Pharma Commercial Model in 2010 and Beyond
  Delivering the Customer Experiences Physicians Want
  
  In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has moved away from its traditional sales model based solely on physicians’ relationships with their sales reps to a multi-stakeholder influencer model. What are the key elements of the new Commercial Model? How has this new Commercial Model progressed? Is the new Commercial Model having a positive impact on physician relationships? Which companies are seeing the greatest impact on their customers?
  
  These were some of the questions addressed in an webinar presented by Kantar Health, a leading healthcare-focused global consultancy and marketing insights company.
  
  This article features a summary of the much anticipated NEW TRI*M^TM annual survey results with physicians across the U.S. and Europe on their service expectations -- plus how they rate 16 Pharma companies on reps, relationships and services. The survey looked not only at PCPs/GPs but also -- for the first time -- at what oncologists expect from the industry.
  

• ePrints NRx for Physician Detailing
  Reprints Desk’s Solution to the Medical Marketing Blues
  
  Given the increasing difficulty that sales reps have gaining access to busy physicians, it is more important than ever to offer value and not just sales pitches. Physicians are looking for help to add value to their efforts to deliver good outcomes and satisfactory patient care. They expect appropriate help from pharmaceutical sales reps, as well as from other parts of the company that provide important support services.
  
  One way that pharmaceutical companies can aid physicians is to provide them access to articles published in peer-reviewed journals, which have a particularly high level of credibility among physicians. The logistics and copyright issues of managing hundreds of different reprints and efficiently distributing them in accordance with FDA’s hood reprint practice guidelines, however, is a challenge.
  
  To meet and solve that challenge, Reprints Desk recently announced the launch of ePrints NRx, a new scientific article collection service that simplifies the re-use of PDFs by medical marketers, brand managers, and sales professionals.
  
  This article describes and summarizes the features and benefits of the ePrints NRx solution offered by Reprints Desk.
  

• Data Mining in the Deep, Dark Social Networks of Patients
  Advice for Pharma: Caveat Emptor
  
  Many pharmaceutical companies are actively monitoring discussions on patient social networks to find negative comments about their products and/or research the issues of importance to patients who suffer from the medical conditions their medicines are designed to treat.
  
  Many of the most important patient communities such as PatientsLikeUs (PLM), however, are “closed,” members-only communities that have rules restricting data mining by third parties. These communities are “dark,” meaning that search engine spiders are also not allowed to index the content.
  
  If pharma marketers wish to tap into this rich source of information, they need to pay careful attention to the rules lest they suffer the consequences to their reputations.
  
  This article takes a look at the issues involved in data mining the deep, dark and closed patient communities on the internet and provides a glimpse into what treasures lie beneath the surface.
  

Anticipated Publication Date

27-May-2010

Ad Submission Deadline Date

24-May-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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Issue 9.4: April 2010

Focus

This issue is focused on social media management best practices, how to moderate pharma online discussions, use of social media in EU, and the future of real patient testimonials in a social media world.

OpEd

TBD

Planned Articles

• Real Patient Testimonials
  The “Killer” Social Media Marketing Strategy
  
  Drug companies have long used celebrities to endorse their products. However, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, market research shows that the sick are relying more on the recommendations of fellow patients, and less on the reputations of companies and endorsers, in deciding whether to seek treatment and what drugs to ask for. Exploiting that trend, pharma marketers are beginning to use real patients in their direct-to-consumer TV and print ads and are soliciting real patient stories on their web sites, YouTube channels and Facebook pages.
  
  Given the popularity of social networks among consumers seeking medical advice, the next logical step may be the use of real patient brand ambassadors to participate in pharma-owned and 3rd-party online discussion forums.
  
  This article discusses the potential pitfalls, regulatory issues, and best practices regarding the use of real patient testimonials based on comments collected from a recent survey of readers and other experts.

• How to Manage the Online Conversation
  Community Management Best Practices & Other Tips from LiveWorld
  
  As more and more pharmaceutical companies launch social networking platforms associated with their brands, some will allow users (consumers, patients, and physicians) to post comments as part of ongoing discussions about their drugs and/or the conditions these drugs treat. Recent pharma experience with social media discussions demonstrates how important it is to properly manage online communities.
  
  In public comments made to the FDA, LiveWorld, Inc. -- a leading global social network marketing agency that develops, operates and moderates private label social network sites – said “Moderation of user content related to healthcare subjects in social networks is central to the current discussion.” Pharma Marketing News had an opportunity to interview Jenna Woodul, LiveWorld’s EVP and Chief Community Officer, about how pharma companies can manage their social media interactions using technology and "credentialed participants" for moderating and managing online discussions.
  
  This article presents a summary of that conversation plus some results of a recent survey of readers regarding moderation best practices.

• Moderation Best Practices for Pharma Social Networks
  Pre, Post, or No Moderation, You Must Have a Plan
  
  As pharmaceutical companies attempt to interact with consumers and patients on social media networks they host, they are wary of overstepping undefined regulatory boundaries. One issue that requires clarification concerns accountability for user-generated content posted on these pharma owned and controlled social networks such as comments submitted to Facebook pages and YouTube channels.
  
  While the FDA mulls over new guidelines that define those boundaries, pharma companies are launching new social media sites with increasing frequency. Although these sites may not be branded and may have terms of use specifying what is acceptable and unacceptable user-generated content, the question remains how to enforce those rules through moderation, especially with regard to handling of off-label information. Although this is a moot point at the moment – almost all such sites have comments turned off – it is important to have a moderation strategy designed to meet your specific goals when and if you build a truly interactive social network.
  
  This article presents a summary of results from a recent survey of readers and other experts regarding pharma social media moderation best practices.

• Use of Social Media for Health Purposes in the EU
  How Doctors, Patients, and Pharma Engage with Each Other
  
  EPG Health Media (part of the IMR International Group), recently published a market research report “Social Media and Healthcare.” The report shows how European doctors, patients/consumers and pharma engage (and seek to engage) with each other. The information helps EU marketers understand the potential for future change in terms of the use of social media in relation to health.
  
  This article is a summary of that report, which surveyed HCPs, pharmaceutical professionals and consumers/patients within the "top-5" EU countries; ie, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

Anticipated Publication Date

29-April-2010

Ad Submission Deadline Date

27-April-2010

Contact

John Mack * johnmack@virsci.com * 215-504-4164

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