2011

A conversation with Monique Levy, VP Research at Manhattan Research, about the changing pharma eDetailing landscape. Ms. Levy discusses how the online pharma promotion landscape has changed, and which types of programs garner the largest audience as well as how the rep relationship is evolving and the role of new technologies such as tablets.

This article summaries research data exploring why physicians interested in using online peer-to-peer social communities outnumber by 2 to 1 physicians who are actually using them. Includes suggestions for what these communities must do in order to provide more value to physicians.

The pharmaceutical industry has been very generous in making payments to physicians. Last year (2010), for example, a mere dozen pharmaceutical companies paid $760 million to physicians and other health care providers for consulting, speaking, research and expenses. On average, how much do you think that comes to for every physician in the U.S.?

This article summarizes Eli Lilly's European experience using TeleWeb e-detailing, which combines a personal sales rep phone call with Web site surfing.

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.

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.

Welcome to Volume 10, Issue #12 (20 JULY 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?

Why do pharma companies bother developing drugs for for a disorder affecting fewer than 200,000 people? Willie Sutton's ghost may have the answer.

A discussion with Jonathan Richman, Group Director, Insights and Planning at Possible Worldwide about Facebook's changes to its commenting policies and his recommendations for pharma marketers who wish to develop Facebook pages.