New Media Tricks Used by Pharma Marketers Gaming Web 2.0 Sites, Bad Google Adwords, Wiki Edits, Phony Meta Tags, and Other Ways to Get Around the Rules in Online Marketing.Click Here for Additional Resources

A conversation with Jeffrey Light, Chairman, Patients not Patents, Inc.

Aired LIVE on:

Thursday, September 6, 2007 Listen to internet radio with Pharmaguy on Blog Talk Radio

You may also visit this Pharma Marketing Talk Segment Page to listen to the audio podcast.

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Background

Web 2.0, with its user-generated content (eg. wikipedia), blogs, and social networks, is the NEW Wild, Wild West of the Internet!

Marketing Banditos are out there taking advantage of the system editing content, making comments to blogs disguised as common consumers, designing Google Adwords that flaunt FDA regulations, etc.

Self-regulation does not seem to be working. The FDA has its head buried in the digital sand. PhRMA is quiet on guidelines for Internet marketing by drug companies.

We need a new sheriff in Web 2.0 town!

Patients not Patents, Inc. founder and Executive Director, Jeffrey Light, may be just what honest folk are looking for (and maybe the last person the banditos want to see in town).

Questions/Topics Discussed

  • Tell us more about Patients not Patents, Inc. and what you do.
  • Tell us how you discovered Abbott Laboratories edited a Wikipedia entry. Why do you think that was improper?
  • Are there any other “tricks” that pharmaceutical companies and/or their agents use to improperly market products via the Internet?
  • What do you think needs to be done to tame the WILD, WILD, Web 2.0?

Guest Bio

Jeffrey Light
Jeffrey Light holds a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and Master’s and Bachelor’s of Science degrees from Brandeis University in Biochemistry. He is licensed as a Registered Attorney by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed to practice law in Washington, DC. Mr. Light has had articles on patent law published in both the American Bar Association’s The Tax Lawyer and the University of Chicago-Kent’s Intellectual Property Journal.

A committed activist, Light has been active in the National Lawyers Guild, has worked on political campaigns for progressive politicians, and has extensive experience advocating for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender equality. (The National Lawyers Guild is an organization of lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers that acts as a “political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.”)


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