2011

FDA's revised draft guidance calendar for year 2011 is missing 'Promotion of Prescription Drug Products Using Social Media Tools,

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #14 (22 SEPTEMBER 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

Despite dire predictions of 'PR failure,' the #rxsave Twitter chat hosted by @AstraZenecaUS on 15 February 2011 was a great success, which is pharma social media speak for 'did not crash and burn.' It was proof that a pharmaceutical company can indeed host meaningful Twitter chats.

This article summarizes the results of a survey of physicians designed to assess the value of various adherence solutions -- including HealthPrize -- and the potential of these solutions to influence physicians' prescribing behavior.

If you're thinking of developing a mobile application (app) for patients or physicians, you need to consider the myriad platforms -- hardware plus software combinations -- that are out there and determine which platform is best suited for your intended audience. Your choice of platform will impact your app's performance, maintenance, and security, which in turn will make or break the success of the app.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #8 (28 APRIL 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.

Sebelius focused on the fact that Teva's study did not contain data for all ages for which this product would be available for use. According to Tina Raine-Bennett, MD, MPH, of the Women's Health Research Institute at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a principal investigator of the University of California-San Francisco study, it is unreasonable and virtually impossible to study the use of emergency contraception in 11- and 12-year-olds, because only a small fraction of them will have had sex by that age.

Should a PR firm or an interactive marketing agency be in charge of pharma social media campaigns?

A Search Ad Format That Has All FDA Could Want... But Pharma Can't Use It! Data suggest that Google's OneBox NIH Rx ads effectively reduce organic search visitation driven to pharma sites pushing the traffic to NIH content instead. Is it logical to conclude that Google stands to gain paid ad revenue when pharma marketers have to compete with OneBox ads by buying more paid search placements to make up for the loss of organic search visits?

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.