2011

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #11 (21 JUNE 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

The Death of the Traditional Pharma Salesman and the Birth of the 'Sales Cyborg.' eDetailing in one form or another seems to be making a comeback since the recession hit the drug industry in 2007 and 2008. Which is the 'chicken' and which is the 'egg'? Did the uptick in adoption of eDetailing technology lead to the recent layoff of pharma reps or were reps laid off because of the economy and subsequently replaced by machines?

Boehringer-Ingelheim (BI) stands out in its attempt to stand out from the social(ist) cookie-cutter crowd of pharma FB pages. Shows what you can do with dedicated resources and creativity.

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?

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.'

The year 2010 was all about me. By 'me' I mean Pharmaguy, which is the Twitter handle and Facebook name of John Mack, Editor and Publisher of Pharma Marketing News. It's all about YOU too! This is where you can 'sign' the 2010 Pharma Marketing Yearbook and and document that you were part of it all.

Social media occupied a good deal of our attention in 2010 and many of the pharma people Pharmaguy met and interacted with in 2010 are involved in social media campaigns in one way or another.

Pfizer's US corporate Facebook page was hacked by some 'Kiddies.' What should the industry learn from this experience?

More and more pharmaceutical company employees are using Twitter. Pharmaguy is looking at pharma employees who have personal Twitter accounts, how they use these accounts, who follows them and whom they follow, and how influential they are. This article is an introduction to the first round of members of this group.

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.