Pharma Industry News Update: 22 March 2016
FDA Enforcement Ignores Violative Twitter Posts & Other #Pharma SM Mkting Violations
[Mark Senak’s] FDA warning letter database includes only six OPDP letters involving a social media communications vehicles.
Senak says: “It is perhaps notable that no violations occurred involving Twitter, despite the fact that Twitter is likely more heavily utilized by industry in number of outlets, number of updates and number of followers than any other social media platform.
But FDA simply ignores or misses violative tweets such as a Boehringer’s branded tweet which violated FDA regulations (see here).
More on this here.
Number of Medical Science Liaisons Expected to Increase by 36% – They Go Where Reps Cannot
Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) are a crucial part of global, U.S. and country-level medical affairs teams. MSLs have multifaceted roles including gathering competitive intelligence, facilitating clinical studies and coordinating investigator-initiated trials (IITs), according to primary intelligence provider Cutting Edge Information.
“MSL’s roles extend beyond building relationships with thought leaders and answering unsolicited off-label questions,” said Natalie DeMasi, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. “They are invaluable to life science companies and the healthcare providers they serve.”
MSLs – who are healthcare professionals – probably have access to physicians where access to traditional pharma reps is denied. Obviously, there are not enough of them to replace sales reps, but their role viz-a-viz off-label promotion is bound to increase due to recent court decisions. For more on that, read “Brave New World of Off-Label Marketing“.
Access details of the Cutting Edge data here.
More Than 90% of Doctors in Some States Take Money From #Pharma, Device Companies 
A ProPublica analysis has found for the first time that doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe drugs differently than their colleagues who don’t. And the more money they receive, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribe.
Nationally, about three quarters of doctors across five common medical specialties received at least one payment from a company in 2014. In Nevada, that number was over 90 percent. In Vermont, it was less than 24 percent.
Note: The five specialties are family medicine, internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, psychiatry and ophthalmology.
Access more details here.
Are Cancer Patients Enjoying the Benefits of mHealth?
mHealth and eHealth are becoming realities in Europe: this is demonstrated by the growing size of mHealth apps’ market, by the raising investments in eHealth infrastructures and by the fast adoption, at various degrees, of mHealth applications by patients.
- Are cancer patients enjoying the benefits of mHealth?
- In which field can cancer patients profit the most from mHealth apps?
- Is the regulatory framework supporting the development of useful and safe mHealth apps for cancer patients?
- Are there other structural obstacles to the full integration of mHealth apps in the cancer patients’ journey?
A New TV DTC Disease Awareness Ad Suggests That Donald Trump May Be “Bent Out of Shape” Find out what the ad is for here.
