Pharma Industry News Update: 9 May 2017
Many mHealth Cancer Apps Unfit for Use Due to Rush to Market Without Adequate Testing
[From mhealthintelligence.com] Mobile health apps designed for cancer survivors aren’t as effective as they should be, according to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California.
A 2016 analysis of dozens of mHealth apps by researchers from CPIC and Stanford University found that few “implemented empowerment elements, underwent rigorous design approaches or included assessment of use in the cancer survivor population.”
In their study, Watkins Davis and Oakley-Girvan say companies designing apps for cancer survivors are skipping developmental and testing steps in order to rush their product to market – including collaborating with cancer survivors. They end up missing or overlooking aspects of an app that could prove harmful to cancer survivors or make the app unattractive.
They recommend app developers follow these guidelines, among others:
- Conduct a needs assessment with cancer survivors and healthcare practitioners;
- Involve healthcare practitioners and staff throughout the app development process;
- Provide potential users with an opportunity to evaluate the user interface;
Achieving Digital Transformation in Pharma: McKinsey’s Four Keys to Success
[From www.mckinsey.com] Most pharmaceutical and medical-technology companies are digital laggards compared with companies in travel, retail, telecommunications, and other sectors. Their digital-transformation efforts can stall for many of the same reasons such efforts are thwarted in other sectors—for instance, a limited understanding of the specific ways that implementation of new technologies across complex product and services lines can create business value, a shortage of native digital talent, and insufficient focus on digital topics from senior leadership.
In [McKinsey’s] experience, the odds of successfully transitioning to digital systems and ways of working increase when healthcare companies focus on four important dimensions of their businesses: critical sources of value for the company, the means by which the company delivers products and services, the company’s IT architecture, and its talent, finance, and governance processes.
Further Reading:
- Digital Disruption is a Fact of Life Throughout the Pharma Value Chain
- Podcast Interview: Pharma 3D – A Script for Marketing in the Digital Age
- Pharma Must Digitize to Be Great Again, Says Accenture
Video Ads May Be Coming to Twitter: Are They Appropriate for Pharma Brands?
[From mashable.com] Twitter Moments, the curated collection of tweets that any Twitter account (from brands to average users) can create, will soon include ads within them, company representatives teased during a #Twitter4News events in Dubai this week.
The ads will be “full-screen vertical video,” just like the 10-second ads you see on Snapchat or between Instagram Stories.
Vertical video, what was once viewed as faux pas, is becoming more and more the norm among creators and advertisers. Snapchat has helped make vertical video mainstream, from consumers and advertisers. Snapchat just released a new self-serve ad platform that will help brands place more vertical video ads within the app.
Further Reading:
