2012

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue #4 (19 APRIL 2012) of Pharma Marketing News.

Laura Kolodjeski (@lkolodjeski), Community Manager for Sanofi US Diabetes, sent me a Twitter DM announcing the launch of Diabetapedia (di-ah-bee-tah-pee-dee-ah), a new site 'to help meet educational needs of diabetes community.' According to Laura, the goal is to create 'a single, comprehensive place where anyone can find and share definitions of diabetes-related terms and phrases.' The site's tag line is 'Diabetes doesn't define you... so define diabetes.'

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue #4 (19 APRIL 2012) of Pharma Marketing News.

As reported by Nielsen, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising spending by the pharmaceutical industry was down by 1% compared to 2010. I did a little exercise to predict that DTC spending in 2012 will see a further 3% decrease compared to 2011 solely due to an expected drop in Lipitor advertising. Here's how I came up with that estimate.

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue #4 (19 APRIL 2012) of Pharma Marketing News.

This article reviews two recently published and important guidances from the FDA that concern the dissemination of drug information to consumers.

Although many pharmaceutical companies actively use Twitter and other social media tools to push out positive news about their companies and products, very few use these tools for systematic support of patients who depend upon their drugs, which may be short supply.

Coupons for drug co-payments are illegal and drive up long-term health-care costs for all, a consumer group and four trade-union health-insurance plans said in announcing lawsuits against eight pharmaceutical companies. The lawsuits claim that although coupons reduce the consumer's out-of-pocket cost, the health insurer still pays the previously negotiated price to the drug company. With no savings from generics, health plans will need to charge patients more to keep up with rising costs, the lawsuits say.

Welcome to Volume 11, Issue #3 (19 MARCH 2012) of Pharma Marketing News.

Practically every pharmaceutical company has one or more apps. The ones I am interested in are apps designed to help doctors in their diagnosis of patients. Big among these are the