Issue 8.6: June/July 2009

Focus

Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Drug Risk Communication

OpEd

Wither Twitter for Pharma?
Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds, but is it an appropriate channel for pharmaceutical brand marketing?

Planned Articles

• Pharma Marketers Dive Deeper Into Social Media
  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Case Studies
  
  Several pharmaceutical companies have recently dipped a whole lot more than their toes into the social media waters.
  
  This article focuses in some detail on three cases that highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly uses of social media for pharmaceutical marketing: (1) Proctor & Gamble's Asacol Community for Ulcerative Colitis Patients; (2) Novo Nordisk's Levemir-branded Race With Insulin Twitter account; and (3) UCB's sponsored Crohn's & Me website.
  
  You'll have to read the article to find out which one is good, which is bad, and which is downright ugly!
  

• How Should Pharma Engage in Social Networks?
  Aiming at Best Practices
  
  The pharmaceutical industry is currently experimenting with social media as a channel for promoting products and/or enhancing disease awareness. Some of these efforts have been less than stellar, while others have been exemplary (see "Pharma Marketers Dive Deeper Into Social Media").
  
  Each pharmaceutical company should have its own guidelines for best practices in the social media space.
  
  Pharma companies can either develop best social media practices by learning from mistakes and public criticism (eg, see "Novo Nordisk's Branded (Levemir) Tweet is Sleazy Twitter Spam!") or through discussion and analysis of specific issues. To assist in that discussion, Pharma Marketing News provided two forums:
  
  
  1. An ePharma Pioneer Club members-only discussion of the first-ever pharma branded Tweet (see "Pharma Twitter Best Practices"), and
  2. The "How Should Pharma Engage in Patient/Physician Social Networks?" survey, which explores issues relating to pharma advertising and engagement in social networks.
  
  This article focuses on presenting a summary of the above-mentioned survey, including comments from respondents. The results are not meant to offer a scientifically significant analysis, but to suggest ideas that may be helpful to pharmaceutical marketers who are currently working on developing their own guidelines.
  

• FDA Draft Guidance on Risk
  Read It and Weep!
  
  On May 27, 2009, FDA published in the Federal Register draft "Guidance for Industry, Presenting Risk Information in Prescription Drug and Medical Device Promotion."
  
  This guidance focuses almost exclusively on print and broadcast promotional ads. It is possible, however, to apply some of FDA's "thinking" to certain kinds of Internet ads such as search engine paid ads.
  
  This article reviews the draft guidance with a special focus on how it may apply to the Internet and how marketers can use the comment period to raise the issue of FDA regulation of sponsored search engine ads.
  

Anticipated Publication Date

8-July-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

24-June-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 8.5: May 2009

Focus

Branding, FDA Regulations, Viral Video, PhRMA Code

OpEd

Will the Drug Industry be the Next Auto Industry?
Is the drug industry right on the cusp of a huge fall like the auto industry? Taking risks may hasten that fall, but sometimes standing on the sidelines may be more risky!

Planned Articles

• Protection from Brand Infection
  Marketers Must Take Control of Their Brands,
  Especially Online
  
  “Make no mistake,” says the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council in the opening statement to its report Marketer’s Fight Against Fakes, Frauds, and Infringements, “marketers and their brands are under siege. A vast and ever-expanding range of threats to brand value, integrity and image are bearing down on marketers in the form of counterfeits, gray market knock-offs, phishing attacks, cybersquatting, and a broad range of patent and trademark trespassing, especially online—that will likely intensify thanks to a softening economy.”
  
  In response to concerns about the growing range of threats to brand value and the sheer volume of brand hijacking incidents, the CMO Council set out to assess the challenges marketers face as stewards of their brands. The result is Protection from Brand Infection, a seminal authority leadership report that outlines the proliferating threat-scape that marketers face and reveals how marketers are struggling to understand and measure the impact brand intrusions have on their second most valuable asset, their customer.
  
  This article summarizes the results of that survey and cites examples of how pharmaceutical brands are being hijacked and what the drug companies are doing or not doing to counteract the problem, especially online and in social media contexts.
  

• Ramifications of FDA Regulatory Actions and What to Do About It
  Helping FDA Find a New Media Regulatory Pathway
  
  On April 2, 2009, the FDA issued 14 letters informing drug companies that their search engine ads, which included drug brand names and indications but no risk information or fair balance, were in violation of the law. This caught many in the drug industry by surprise because they assumed the "one-click rule" applies; ie, as long as the fair balance information was just one click away -- on another Web page -- such ads are allowed by the FDA. With the 14 letters, FDA disagreed and quashed the "one-click rule."
  
  Arnold Friede, counsel to the law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and former Senior Counsel at Pfizer, believes that there is an opportunity now to make a strong and compelling argument for the adoption of rational regulatory policies by the FDA that address the unique features not only of sponsored links, but of other kinds of new communication tools, such as social media and the like.
  
  This article reviews legal ramifications of FDA enforcement letters and focuses on the FDA’s contentious regulation of Internet advertising and what the industry is doing to “help” it find a new path in that arena. Included is a discussion of FDA's draft guidance "Presenting Risk Information in Prescription Drug and Medical Device Promotion" and the relevance of FDA's/FTC's "reasonable consumer standard" to search engine paid promotional drug ads.
  

• The New PhRMA Code and Beyond
  It Impacts Manufacturers and Vendors
  
  In a recent ExL Pharma conference industry leaders from pharma and the vendor community reviewed the impact on “Marketing and Sales Under the Revised PhRMA Code”. In this article, Vincent DeChellis of NHHS Healthcare Consulting, LLC summarizes what the industry must do to comply with the code and reconciling its voluntary nature with mandatory state requirements.
  

• Kevin Nalty, aka "Nalts"
  Viral Video Genius or Pharma's Biggest Pain in the Butt?
  
  One man’s experience that gives us some insight into whether or not a traditional pharmaceutical company can tolerate the creative thinking required for it to engage in social media marketing.
  

Anticipated Publication Date

28-May-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

27-May-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 8.4: April 2009

Focus

FDA, Social Media, Patient-Centric Marketing, Medical Device DTC Principles

OpEd

TBD
Publisher John Mack discusses what's on his mind at the time of publication.

Planned Articles

• Social Media Guidelines for Pharma
  Overcoming the Challenges
  
  Pharmaceutical companies and their agencies are "mulling" over amongst themselves how the drug industry should engage consumers and physicians via social media without violating FDA regulations. They are struggling because the FDA has never issued clear guidelines for how it may regulate the industry use of social media in the future. Many have called upon the FDA to issue such guidelines.
  
  Shouldn't we make sure that when it comes time for the FDA to actually create a guidance document on social media that it does it with input from ALL stakeholders?
  
  This article will present a review of this issue based upon input received from experts and respondents to the “Should FDA Convene a Public Hearing on Use of Social Media by Pharma?” survey hosted by Pharma Marketing News starting on April 2, 2009. Also included in a review of an ePharma Pioneer Club roundtable discussion on what it's going to take to enable pharmaceutical marketers to engage in social networks without fear of adverse event reporting and other regulatory, corporate, and cultural roadblocks.
  

• The Empowered Patient
  Patient-Centric Marketing
  
  Selecting the appropriate pharmaceutical product is one of the choices that empowered patients can make. But according to Reinhard Angelmar, the Salmon and Rameau Fellow in Healthcare Management and Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, empowered patients are involved before a drug even makes it to the market.
  
  This article will review a presentation made by Angelmar at the recent eyeforpharma SFE Europe 2009 conference held in Barcelona, Spain. Angelmar makes a case for the drug industry to adopt a patient-centric model in which pharma companies can develop unique expertise in decoding the behavior, needs, motivations of patients and then use this knowledge as the basis for helping healthcare professionals and payers to put into place programs that achieve better patient outcomes.
  

• Socially Challenged Pharma
  Change is Never Without Some Pain
  
  Digital Pharma Europe was ExL Pharma's first entry into the ‘Old World’ hosting an event already well established in the States. It seems they have found the time right to see whether the Europeans are like-minded in the exciting area of new/social/digital media in pharma.
  
  In this article Erik van der Zijden -- entrepeneur, marketing professional, new media evangelist and self-styled "autodidactic techno-nerd" -- presents highlights of this conference and his personal point of view.
  

• Report from the Social Pharmer “Unconference”
  Sowing Seeds of Social Media Change
  
  One only has to recall the 7-Up “Uncola” campaigns to understand the limitations of defining something by the absence of certain qualities. But the Social Pharmer Unconference was more refreshing than a fizzy soda exactly because it lacked what causes so many industry conferences to fall flat: marginally relevant speakers, boring PowerPoint presentations and silent participants. In this article, Amber Benson, Group Strategy Director for IMC2’s Health & Wellness practice, summarizes key presentations made at the April 21, 2009, Social Pharmer "unconference."

Anticipated Publication Date

30-April-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

24-April-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 8.3: March 2009

Focus

FDA, Drug Industry Reputation, Social Media, Future Scenarios, Privacy

OpEd

Syndication is da Bomb!
Publisher John Mack discusses the syndication strategy of Pharma Marketing Network and how readers and subscribers can benefit from being part of PMN's content syndication network.

Planned Articles

• Pharma's Bad Rep or Bad Rap
  Whatever! The Drug Industry Must Earn Back the Public's Trust
  
  Over the years, Harris Interactive has polled Americans about their attitudes toward corporate America. The pharmaceutical industry has consistently received low scores; in 2007, for example, only 26 percent of Americans viewed the industry favorably. Among the 11 industry sectors examined, only tobacco companies had a measurably lower rating.
  
  Who and/or what is to blame for pharma’s bad reputation? And what should the industry do to win back the public's trust?
  
  The “How to Earn Back the Public's Trust” survey hosted by Pharma Marketing News between February 4, 2009 and March 14, 2009 was designed to answer these questions. This article summarizes the results of that survey, including selected comments from respondents and other commentators.
  

• Will Healthcare be Rationed or Rational?
  A Case for Supporting Comparative Effectiveness Research
  
  "We ration care in the US today using one of the most capricious and inequitable means possible--ability to pay," says Kim Slocum, former Director, Strategic Planning & Business Development at AstraZeneca. "As cost shifting to consumers has accelerated over the past decade, we’ve seen the effects of this as year-on-year sales growth for prescription products has dropped on more or less a straight line since 2000."
  
  Unless something changes, Slocum envisions dire consequences for the drug industry: "Extend the trend out just a bit further and you’re faced with a world in which sixty or seventy million people are completely uninsured with many of the remainder living with very skimpy coverage. Generic utilization rates in this situation probably exceed 80% and perhaps 30%-40% of all prescriptions go unfilled." This describes a future scenario Slocum calls "Consumer Chaos."
  
  In this article, Slocum describes several alternative scenarios and makes a case for the industry to support Comparative Effectiveness Research or CER.
  

• FDA's Use of Social Media
  Peanuts Today, Drugs Tomorrow!
  
  Pharmaceutical marketers were surprised to learn how extensively FDA used social media and Web 2.0 in the new year. The recall of 3,400 contaminated peanut products in 2009 was described at an eMarketing conference in Princeton, NJ. Pharma marketers heard that blogs, social media, YouTube and Twitter were new tactics embraced by the regulatory agency, at least in its communication with the public on an important food safety issue. FDA, along with CDC and HHS, was pulled further into social networking by growing public concern over the rapid growth and diversity of the peanut-product recall list.
  
  In the future, will the FDA also be pulled into social media by a major Rx drug recall? Or is the drug side of FDA more conservative than the food side in its use of social media? What can the drug industry learn from the FDA's use of social media and will FDA's example help guide the industry toward best practices in this area?
  
  This article describes FDA's social networking initiatives in context of the above questions. Included are several ideas for how the drug industry can partner with FDA and develop social media best practices.

• New Privacy Rules in Economic Stimulus Law
  Will They Restrict Certain Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices?
  
  Beefed-up patient privacy protections in the recently enacted economic stimulus package are expected to place significant new restrictions on how some players in the pharmaceutical supply chain, including chain drugstores and PBMs, gather and distribute prescribing information to pharmaceutical firms for what critics claim is the purpose of marketing drugs.
  
  This article reviews the medical privacy restrictions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law on Feb. 17, 2009, and discusses the impact these restrictions might have on pharmaceutical marketing.

Anticipated Publication Date

30-March-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

24-March-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 8.2: February 2009

Focus

eMarketing, Sales Force Effectiveness, Industry Reputation

OpEd

Yes We Can!

"I would love to have representatives of the CDC, the FDA, DDMAC, regulatory [people] within the pharmaceutical industry, key marketers, key patients, key doctors ... sit down and discuss what this industry should be doing," said Fabio Gratton, Co-founder, Chief Innovation Officer, Ignite Health, in an interview with John Mack, Pharma Marketing News Editor. He was talking about establishing guidelines for using social media for disease awareness education (and product education) without the risk of being penalized by regulatory agencies.

What exactly does Gratton have in mind? Can we do this?

Planned Articles

• ePharma Summit Highlights
  Practicing What's Being Preached
  
  Highlights from the ePharma Summit conference, which took place on February 9-11, 2009 in Philadelphia.
  

• Building the Optimal Service Model
  Creating the Right Physician Experiences To Drive Business
  
  The vast majority of pharmaceutical companies across the US and Europe say they are moving to new customer-centric service models, which focus more on building relationships with physicians than do traditional detailing models. But are doctors experiencing any real change? What does that transition mean for companies, reps and physicians? What should you do differently to ensure the new models succeed? And what do doctors really want from you?
  
  Those were some of the topics and questions addressed by TNS Healthcare in a recent webinar. This article presents a summary of this webinar and personal conversations with presenters conducted beforehand. Included are NEW research results about how US and European physicians rate pharmaceutical companies against a number of customer value points that are important in achieving success with the new sales model.
  

• Earning Back the Public's Trust
  What Should Be Done?
  
  Results of a 2008 Harris Interactive poll of American attitudes toward corporate America revealed that only 26 percent of Americans view the pharmaceutical industry industry favorably. 52 percent are firmly negative, which places pharma slightly below big oil, and above tobacco.
  
  Is the drug industry's bad reputation is deserved? What are the specific reasons why the public has such low esteem for the industry?
  
  This article summarizes results from the Pharma Marketing News survey on this topic (see survey here) and also includes a synopsis of opinions by experts.
  
  [THIS ARTICLE WILL BE PUBLISHED IN THE MARCH ISSUE TO ALLOW MORE RESPONSES TO OUR SURVEY TO BE INCLUDED.]
  

• SFE Metrics
  More Important Than Ever in a Tough Market
  
  Hans Nagl, Promotion Response Modelling Manager, Shire -- a scheduled speaker at eyeforpharma’s upcoming Sales Force Effectiveness Europe 2009 summit March 3-5 -- focuses on SFE metrics for Shire.
  
  This article summarizs a recent discussion between eyeforpharma's Editor Lisa Roner and Nagl about how the current economy and changing pharma landscape is impacting program effectiveness measures.
  

• New Rules of Marketing & PR
  Do They Apply to Pharma? A Book Review
  
  Now, most of you reading this are engaged in pharmaceutical marketing or PR, so you should be forewarned that this book does NOT address the challenges we face in a heavily regulated environment. But that is not to say that the methods explored in this book are not extremely valuable. As an industry, we must find ways to utilize these tools in a way that is compliant with FDA regulations. The good news is we can! Let’s explore...
  

Anticipated Publication Date

3-March-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

24-February-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 8.1: January 2009

Focus

DTC, ePharma, Marketing Free Speech, FDA Reprint Distribution Guidance

OpEd

What's "Your" Media?

Planned Articles

• The Future of DTC Advertising
  The economy, drug pipeline, and new regulations are all factors
  
  Experts don't know if it's the economy, lack of new drugs in pharma’s pipeline, or the new pro-regulation political climate, but 2009 is shaping up to be the year that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising will suffer a round of budget cuts and setbacks not seen in a long time.
  
  How can we predict the future of DTC given all these influences? As usual, Pharma Marketing News hosted an online survey to tap into the knowledge and views of readers to perform that task. The survey ran from November 12, 2008 through January 19, 2009. Sixty responses were collected. The results are summarized in this article.

• The ePharma Pioneer Club
  Convincing pharma marketers to engage in “e”
  
  In short, Pharma Marketing Network's ePharma Pioneer Club™ is an EXCLUSIVE, members-only Facebook Group through which pharmaceutical eMarketing experts "meet" to discuss and exchange views on how to advance the use of the Internet and other technologies in pharmaceutical marketing, sales, and communications.
  
  This article introduces the Club and its mission.
  

• The Hypocrisy of Healthcare Marketing Restrictions
  Stand Up for Healthcare Marketing Free Speech!
  
  Ayn Rand and her book Atlas Shrugged have come back in vogue because of the recent meltdown in the financial, housing, and automotive sectors and the big bailout by government. Many people have pointed to the lack of government regulation or enforcement of regulations as the main culprit.
  
  Pharmaceutical marketing, some say, have benefited by the recent “dramatic drop off of enforcement of domestic laws” and there will many changes now that Democrats are in control. But Dmitriy Kruglyak of Trusted.MD Network is not one of them.
  
  “Well-intentioned measures can go very wrong,” says Kruglyak. “Time to call out the disturbing hypocrisy directed at healthcare marketers” was his rallying cry in a recent post he made entitled “New Year Resolution: Stand Up to Healthcare Marketing Hypocrisy!”
  
  This article summarizes Kruglyak's thesis and offers a counterpoint from John Mack, the editor of Pharma Marketing News. Hopefully, it will generate further discussion from readers.
  

• FDA Finalizes Guidance on Distribution of Reprints
  Agency clarifies when manufacturers may hand out scientific journal articles
  
  The FDA recently finalized its "Good Reprint Practices for the Distribution of Medical Journal Articles and Medical or Scientific Reference Publications on Unapproved New Uses of Approved Drugs and Approved or Cleared Medical Devices U.S."
  
  "There is a more defined line which manufacturers and companies can look at and figure out, 'how can I make this work for me and how can I make this work for my company,'' says Erin Reilly Lewis, Esq., counsel with Baker and Daniels in Indianapolis.
  
  This guest article written by Michelle Leppert, Managing Editor, HCPro, Inc., outlines the major provisions of FDA's reprint guidelines.
  

Anticipated Publication Date

28-January-2009

Ad Submission Deadline Date

23-January-2009

Contact

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

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Issue 7.10: December 2008

Focus

FDA, Patient Assistance Programs, Policy Changes, Daschle

OpEd

Prepare or Die!

Planned Articles

• The Changing Policy Landscape & What to Do About It
  Prepare Now for Coming FDA and Pharmaceutical Marketing Reforms
  
  “The two traditional means by which pharmaceutical marketers have relied on for many, many years to encourage the uptake of new pharmaceutical products – direct-to-consumer advertising and physician marketing – are about to change,” warned Mark S. Senak, J.D., SVP, Fleishman-Hillard Washington D.C. , in a presentation at the recent DTC in the Era of Consumer Choice conference.
  
  Senak summarized all the possibly policy changes coming down the pike that will specifically impart pharmaceutical marketing. He also suggests what the industry should be doing to meet these challenges.
  
  This article is summarizes Senak’s presentation, which he later expanded upon in a YouTube video.

• Patient Assistance Program Rankings
  Going Beyond Sales Force Effectiveness to Customer Experience Satisfaction
  
  “While free samples clearly play a valuable role in helping millions of financially-struggling patients get access to the medicines they need to live healthier lives, patients should know there are other options,” said Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Senior Vice President Ken Johnson.
  
  Among the "other options" patients have to get access to the medicines they need are the over 200 Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs) sponsored by pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Patient assistance programs are offered by pharmaceutical companies to help low-income, under-insured, or uninsured individuals and families afford necessary medications, with reduced-cost or free prescription drugs.
  
  In a syndicated study that identifies what primary care physicians perceive to be the top pharmaceutical PAPs in the industry, Market Strategies -- research and strategic consulting firm -- identified how PAP image influences overall corporate image among primary care physicians, what performance measures drive a pharmaceutical company's PAP image, and which companies are perceived as having the best PAP.
  
  This article reviews this research with comments from Peter Carlin, Senior Vice President of Market Strategies.
  

• Reforming the FDA
  It All Starts with A New FDA Commissioner - Survey Results
  
  "[The Committee on Energy and Commerce in the US House and Representatives] has found that FDA not only failed in its basic mission, but refused to admit its failures and take steps to protect Americans from unsafe food and drugs," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), former chairman of that committee. "In the 111th Congress, the committee will swiftly move FDA reform legislation that is needed to ensure FDA does its job." Now that Henry Waxman is the new chairman, "swift" may be inadequate to describe the changes ahead for the FDA.
  
  The biggest and possibly most important change, however, is who President-elect Obama and his Secretary of HHS, Tom Daschle, decide to nominate for the new FDA Commissioner. "Now, in the Administration's final days, policymakers at FDA want to appear to be tough on industry," said Sen. Bart Stupak (D-MI). "This latest posturing is no reason for FDA political appointees to retain their positions. I encourage the incoming Obama Administration to clean house among FDA’s political appointees and bring change to an agency that badly needs it."
  
  It seems like everyone in the Pharma Blogosphere and the press is recommending or wondering who Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach's replacement will be.
  
  To help take the pulse of various stakeholders, Pharma Marketing News hosted the "Who Should Obama Nominate for FDA Commissioner?" survey starting in November, 2008. To date, over 400 consumers, healthcare professionals, government agency staffers, and drug industry executives have voted in this survey. This article summarizes the results of that survey.
  

• Critical
  What Daschle Plans to Do About the Healthcare Crisis
  
  "The time has come, finally, to fix our broken health-care system," says Tom Daschle in the close of best-selling book, "Critical: What We Can to Do About the Healthcare." Daschle, of course, is Obama's choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle will also lead a new White House office of health reform.
  
  To paraphrase General Patton, "Daschle, you magnificent bastard, we read your book!" Which is what all pharmaceutical executives and marketers should do. After all, Daschle warns that the "health-care industry would have to reconsider its business model" and he include pharmaceutical companies as part of the "health-care industry."
  
  For those among you who do not have time to read Daschle's book, Pharma Marketing News has done it for you. This article summarizes the main points Daschle makes and reveals his plan for "fixing" the problem.

Anticipated Publication Date

18-December-2008

Ad Submission Deadline Date

15-December-2008

Contact

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

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