Vol. 11, Issue No. 2: 22 FEBRUARY 2012 – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
Welcome to Volume 11, Issue No. 2 (22 February 2012) of Pharma Marketing News. Thank you for visiting. See the featured article summaries below.
John Mack, Publisher & Editor
editor@news.pharma-mkting.com
@pharmaguy Big Bad Pharma How Bad Drug Shortages, Bad Drug Supply Chain, Bad Manufacturing, Bad Ideas, and Bad Journalism Contribute to Pharma’s Bad Reputation
The drug industry is contending with a storm of unsavory media coverage documenting drug shortages in the U.S., drug counterfeiting, and recalls due to manufacturing faults. Some say bad journalism is heightening the “bad” news while ignoring the good that the industry does, which includes creating life-saving drugs and jobs.
This article reviews the confluence of several trends that are putting the industry on the defensive with data from several surveys and studies that put these issues into context of the age of social media amplification of news sound bites and instant online collaboration.
Topics include:
- Has Pharma Cured Cancer?
- Creating Jobs
- Is Pharma’s Bad Reputation Deserved?
- Is the News Media to Blame?
- Drug Counterfeiting
- Drug Supply Chain Safety
- Drug Shortages
- Lack of Patient Support Via Social Media
- Americans’ Attitude Regarding Drug Safety
Download full article (PDF)
Mobile Regulatory Fears PhRMA Raises an Alarm
In a blog post provocatively titled “An App for That, But For How Much Longer?”, PhRMA’s Kate Connors agreed with a Washington Times op-ed piece that suggested the FDA will soon require apps such as medication prescription renewal reminders and blood glucose level tracking functions to be regulated as medical devices.
The op-ed author, Joel White, executive director of the Health IT Now Coalition, “suggests that this effort would lead to increased costs as well as constraints on user access to these apps, which ‘may cause developers to move on to other, less burdensome endeavors.’ In the end, this could hinder the way that patients can actively improve their own care,” said Conners.
But, is this likely to happen? What does the FDA say?
Find out here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn112-article02.htm
Some Unregulated Physician Smartphone Apps May Be Buggy Especially “Calculator” Apps Like These…
Practically every pharmaceutical company has one or more apps. The ones I am interested in are apps designed to help doctors in their diagnosis of patients. Big among these are the “calculator” apps, which calculate things such as glomerular filtration rate (GFR), Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), Delayed Graft Function (DGF) Risk, creatinine clearance, dosing algorithms, Body Mass Index (BMI), and, my favorite, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI).
At least one of these apps has been recalled due to a software bug. But recalling does not mean it’s not still being used by physicians.
Find out here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn112-article03.htm
The Coming Pharma Digital Depression P&G Discovers It’s “Free” to Advertise on Facebook! Pharma Next?
A “recession” in pharma marketing is likely considering the well-known “patent cliff” that’s currently in progress; ie, blockbuster drugs with a combined $170 billion in annual sales will go off-patent by 2015. That means even less mass media advertising and more digital advertising.
But more digital advertising does not mean that much more money will be spent in the digital arena. That’s because of social media, where it’s virtually free to advertise!
Read more about that here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn112-article04.htm
