2011

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue No. 1 (Jan 12, 2011) of Pharma Marketing News. This issue of Pharma Marketing News is devoted to the Pharma Marketing Yearbook (PMY), which is a commemorative record of pharmaceutical marketing issues and highlights of the past year.

A conversation with Elizabeth A. Cermak, EVP, and Chief Commercial Officerat Pozen, Raj Amin, CEO and Co-Founder of HealthiNation, and Bonin Bough, Senior Global Director of Digital and Social Media, PepsiCo, about the who, what, why behind the Pozen Digital Advisory Board, an esteemed group of digital thought-leaders both in and outside of healthcare.

The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER); responsible for regulating medical devices, have issued guidance for mobile medical applications. The guidance focuses only on a select group of applications. Meanwhile, many pharmaceutical companies, such as Janssen, are developing mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad. Can some of these apps be considered medical devices requiring approval by the FDA?

This article summaries research data exploring why physicians interested in using online peer-to-peer social communities outnumber by 2 to 1 physicians who are actually using them. Includes suggestions for what these communities must do in order to provide more value to physicians.

According to a recent CDC Data Brief, antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years. From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%. Perhaps not so coincidentally, antidepressants are among the TOP advertised Rx category in 2010, according to the recent AdAge analysis.

Rules for Third-Party Engagement in Patient/Physician Social Networks. A Social Media Policy is not just an agreement that users must abide by. More importantly, it is a PROMISE to users from site owners/sponsors concerning how they will protect or attempt to protect user-generated content, personal conversations, interactions, and engagements with third-parties on the site. These policies should comply with as-yet-to-be-determined, universally accepted 'fair social media practice principles.'

A conversation with Mark Bard, founder of the Digital Health Coalition, regarding the mission of the Coalition and what companies and individuals are involved.

Self Care Catalysts' Patient Intelligence Insights Guide™ on Diabetes is the only integrated patient-and consumer-centric report that explores how people suffering from an invisible condition such as diabetes actually circumnavigate their health condition, using the unique Self Care Health Decision Making Dynamics framework™. It is an example of what Grace Soyao, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Self Care Catalysts Inc., a health research and strategy company, means by 'Finding the Consumer within the Patient.'

David Epstein, head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said eighty percent of his company's sales reps will give up their PCs for iPads in 2012. Will they do it?

According to a Bad Ad Program 2010-2011 Year End Report just issued by the FDA, the program is a success despite the fact that ONLY 125 complaints were deemed worthy of