2011

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.'

Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority Issues Social Media Guidance for Pharma. The Brits have won the race to issue social media guidance for the drug industry! In April, 2011, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), which oversees the self-regulatory code of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), published 'informal guidance' providing the drug industry advice on how to use online communications.

Pharma marketers save a bundle repurposing videos for Youtube. They save even more money by hiring real patients to play themselves in these videos! Patients are natural method actors, having actually experienced what they portray. But they are prone to over emote!

When asked what the # 1 concern pharmaceutical marketers have regarding using social media, the adverse event reporting (AER) boogey man is cited most often. The urge to avoid this boogey man at all costs may have more to do with CEO compensation that with fears of rank-an-file marketers.

Were FDA's infamous 14 warning letters to pharma a ploy to force Google into a $500M DOJ settlement regarding illegal online pharmacy ads? In addition, could FDA have been holding back issuing pharma social media guidelines -- which would include guidelines for displayig compliant information in space-limited applications such as Twitter AND Google Adwords -- until Google settled its case with the DOJ?

Economic Experts Disagree Wildly on How Much It Costs to Bring a New Drug to Market. How is it that the Tufts estimate is at least 14 TIMES the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSEPS) estimate? 'Make no mistake,' said Tufts. 'Tufts CSDD will vigorously defend the scholarship, integrity, and validity of all its published research studies.'

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

A conversation with Joseph Kim, MD, MPH, VP of Medical Affairs and Technology at Medical Communications Media, Inc., about the rapid development of mobile medical applications and the legal and regulatory issues that physicians, patients, and pharma developers/sponsors should be aware of.

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?

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.