Pharma Industry News Update: 16 August 2016
Allergen Seeks to Own Women’s “Lower Face” with New Indication for Kybella. DTC to Follow.
Dublin drugmaker Allergan is initiating trials of injectable Kybella for treatment of “bra-line fat” and fat around the knees and ankles. And it’s hoping those will eventually help it add some new indications to the mix, on top of Kybellas current approval for busting chin fat [read “New Drug Kybella Zaps Double Chin: Facetious FAQ“]. Allergan expects Kybella to “serve as a gateway to the lower face,” commercial chief Bill Meury told investors.
Also read “Pfizer May Own Your Penis, But Allergan, Maker of Botox & Kybella, Owns Your Face”
Oncologists Say Cancer Drug Advertising Fosters Misinterpretation of Efficacy by Patients
Cancer-related, direct-to-consumer advertising (CR-DTC) is prone to cause harm in many ways, say oncologists writing in JAMA Oncology.
These harms include potentially fostering patient misinterpretations of expected efficacy [read, for example, “Do Desperate Consumers Believe Cancer Drug DTC Ads?“] and toxic effects of drugs with concomitant harm to the patient-physician therapeutic relationship; encouraging patient interest in new drugs when their toxic effects are not fully appreciated; and failing to present alternative treatment approaches that may be less toxic or costly.
More oncologist opinions on CR-DTC here…
Also read: “BMS: Thank Opdivo Trial Participants by Pulling Ads from TV – It Doesn’t Work!” and “Deutsche Bank Analyst Questions Value of DTC to Promote Cancer Drug”
Now May Be the Time for Pharma to Get Serious About Instagram
According to eMarketer, now that Instagram is open to all advertisers, by the end of 2016, 48.8% of marketers are expected to the platform.
Of course, due to FDA regulations, the necessity to expend resources to monitor comments for adverse reactions (read “One (BIG) Reason Pharma Shouldn’t Reconsider Instagram”), lack of expertise in measuring social media ROI, etc., pharma marketers have not given social media a warm reception no matter what the platform.
But Instagram’s new “Stories” feature will make it more appealing to pharma marketers.
IMS Health Sees EU #Pharma Lagging in Multichannel/Digital HCP Engagement
IMS Health sees Europe significantly lagging behind the US and Japan in terms of the volume share and relative impact of digital contacts with prescribers. While digital by no means encompasses all of multichannel, it’s impossible to imagine a mature multichannel model without digital.
A report published by Cegedim Strategic Data found that many physicians do like the convenience of digital marketing, especially email communications, video streaming, automated detailing, and webinars. For more on that and access to the report findings, read “Pharma Sales Reps: Declined & Denied!”
