2011

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.

Are we witnessing an exodus of social media

This article focuses on Adobe Connect for eDetailing, a specific collaboration between Adobe and ConnectSolutions, a leading provider of private cloud deployments of web conferencing and collaboration solutions.

The authors of a physician survey published in the November 8, 2010, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine conclude 'given that 83.8% of physicians have PIRs, it is clear that industry still has substantial financial links with the nation's physicians. These findings support the ongoing need for a national system of disclosure of PIRs [Physician-Drug Industry Relationships].' Such a system is part of the Physician Sunshine Law, which is scheduled to go into effect in 2012 with public disclosure of payments scheduled to begin September, 2013.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising spending suffered a 'double dip' recession between 2007 and 2010, according to data presented in the AdAge Insights Whitepaper

A study led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers of 192 pharmaceutical advertisements (83 full unique advertisements) in biomedical journals found that only 18 percent (15) were compliant with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, and over half failed to quantify serious risks including death.

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.

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.

A conversation with Preeti Pinto, Principal at Preeti Pinto Consulting, LLC and former Executive Director & Head of Promotional Regulatory Affairs at AstraZeneca US, about the use of comparative effectiveness and health outcomes data in the support of drug promotion to physicians, payers, and consumers.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #5 (10 MARCH 2011) of Pharma Marketing News.