2011

No doubt you've heard that as of August 15, 2011, Facebook opened up comments on ALL pharma pages with some exceptions. That means that the pharmaceutical industry will no longer be able to shut off comments on their Facebook pages.

Pharmaceutical marketers have jumped on the mobile application bandwagon as more and more companies roll out health-related applications for smartphones and touchpads such as Apple's iPhone and iPad. But will the FDA regulate certain smartphone apps as medical devices? This article discusses the regulatory and other issues associated with pharma developed or sponsored health apps.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #1 (JANUARY 12, 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

Every year without fail there are revelations about pharmaceutical companies behaving badly -- companies that have been charged with crimes such as making kickbacks to physicians, engaging in Medicare and Medicaid fraud, promoting products off label to physicians or companies that are called to testify before Congress about sub par manufacturing practices. 2010 seems to be unique in the number of companies behaving badly.

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.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #3 (17 FEBRUARY 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #10 (8 JUNE 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

In a recent blog post, PhRMA said 'Without Promotion Research will be Useless.' To support its case, PhRMA cited 'an interesting opinion editorial' in the latest edition of the Annals of Emergency Medicine -- the medical journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). In the op-ed, entitled 'Limiting Gifts, Harming Patients,' Emory University economist Paul Rubin, Ph.D. expressed concern that ACEP policy regarding Gifts to Emergency Physicians from Industry 'could have the unfortunate effect of limiting the exchange of critical information between medicine makers and physicians about the benefits and risks of new medicines, how to use them properly and how best to diagnose the right candidates for particular treatments.'

The long-awaited social media guidance from the FDA -- whenever it arrives -- may turn out to be nothing more than a stamp of approval on activities in which the industry is currently engaged. Practically every issue that FDA guidance is expected to address has already been handled independently by a few pioneering pharmaceutical companies. Rather than waiting for FDA's anti climatic guidelines, Pharmaguy decided to publish The Pharmaguy Social Media Timeline™ now, at a time when the industry already has set precedents in every social media application.

The long-awaited social media guidance from the FDA -- whenever it arrives -- may turn out to be nothing more than a stamp of approval on activities in which the industry is currently engaged. Practically every issue that FDA guidance is expected to address has already been handled independently by a few pioneering pharmaceutical companies. Rather than waiting for FDA's anti climatic guidelines, Pharmaguy decided to publish The Pharmaguy Social Media Timeline™ now, at a time when the industry already has set precedents in every social media application.