Monthly Archives: January 2012

New drug websites allow patients to read about side effects

Posted on January 31, 2012 | 3 Comments

Web MD is still the top destination for consumers looking for healthcare information but today it’s just one stop in the search to collect comprehensive health information.   Two new website allow consumers to search for more health information such as how many other people have reported side effects—and how your drug compares with similar drugs?  But will they build an audience ? Continue reading →

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Posted in Health information online

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Did Novo make a huge mistake with Paula Deen ?

Posted on January 30, 2012 | 2 Comments

There has been a lot of talk, and criticism, around Novo’s decision to use Paula Deen as a spokesperson for one of their diabetes drugs.  It was also reported last week that Ms Deen was in fact using a competitors drug before Novo approached her and that her family was concerned about her switching medications.  One has to wonder if a polarizing person like Ms Deen was a good choice in an age of transparency and social media truths. Continue reading →

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Posted in Bad practices

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Pharma samples and sales force effectiveness

Posted on January 28, 2012 | 2 Comments

For many marketers, the era of large sales forces is over and more and more companies are talking about the resulting shift in their marketing approach. We are beginning to see new sales models that are less focused on revenues and reward the representatives for their knowledge and physician satisfaction. In such a situation, the quality of the call becomes a key parameter to be taken into consideration. Continue reading →

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Posted in Marketing to health care professionals

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This week in healthcare news

Posted on January 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Type 1 diabetes — the autoimmune disease that begins in childhood and used to be called juvenile-onset diabetes — is rising, around the globe, at 3 percent to 5 percent per year. And at this point, no one can quite say why. Continue reading →

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Posted in Weekly news mash-up

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Another indication for antidepressants ?

Posted on January 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Psychiatrists are debating whether or not to change the definition of depression in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  With 1 in 10 Americans currently on some type of antidepressant medication one has to wonder if this change would lead to another indication for Rx medications and expand the 11 billion market. Continue reading →

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Posted in in the news

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Is there an opportunity for mobile health apps ?

Posted on January 25, 2012 | 1 Comment

I keep hearing about how mobile is “set to explode” for brands and marketers but is this true for health ?   The answer to that it depends if pharma can really deliver on the promise of mobile applications for health which means putting users first. Continue reading →

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Posted in Health information, Mobile healthcare marketing & trends

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Want more new drugs ? Extend patent protection

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 6 Comments

Good medicine equals good profits but in today’s complex regulated environment for new drug approvals pharma companies cannot afford to innovate because it costs more to develop new drugs and it can take longer to get approval from the FDA. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business of the drug industry

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Lap band surgery: An easy way for clinics to make money at patients expense ?

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

Here on the West Coast there is an interesting legal case unfolding around lap band surgery.  It seems that a woman, who was not a good candidate for surgery, had the surgery after a clinic allegedly ordered her surgeon to perform the surgery despite his “concerns”.   The FDA is going to need to ensure that lap band surgery is performed as a “last measure” and that some medical clinics don’t see it as “a profitable” option where money comes first. Continue reading →

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Posted in Bad practices

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Health emergency: Type 2 diabetes

Posted on January 21, 2012 | 5 Comments

Unless we develop better programs for detecting people with elevated blood sugar and helping them to improve their diet and physical activity and control their weight, diabetes will inevitably continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world,“ Goodarz Danaei said from the Harvard School of Public Health in the United States.   The most common type of diabetes, Type 2, is strongly associated with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, which means Americans are not doing what the have to stay healthy and fit. Continue reading →

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Posted in Cost of healthcare in the U.S.

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Healthcare headlines this week

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

U.S. drug regulators need further clinical data, possibly including new clinical studies, before approving a new diabetes drug from AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb.  The two companies said on Thursday they had received a so-called “complete response letter” from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for dapagliflozin as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in adults. Continue reading →

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Posted in Weekly news mash-up

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Are ePatients self diagnosing too much ?

Posted on January 19, 2012 | 5 Comments

Last month I heard the story of a fairly young man who had to have the lower half of his leg amputated because he thought he thought the numbness and tingling were “nothing”.  It turns out that he was an undiagnosed diabetic whose diabetes was out of control.   One has to wonder how many more people are out there who are undiagnosed with a variety of health problems and the long-term social and financial costs ? Continue reading →

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Posted in Health information online

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