Category Archives: in the news

“I thought this drug was safe ?”

Posted on September 6, 2011 | 1 Comment

My mother in law is upset. She has been taking a drug for osteoporosis for some time now and then she reads a story that the “F.D.A. is Reviewing the Safety of Popular Bone Drugs”. ”No matter what drugs I take sooner or later I hear that the drug may have some problems what in the hell is going on here. These drugs are supposed to make me better not worse”. With all the conflicting medical information about FDA approved drugs one has to wonder exactly the effect it’s having on patient compliance and attitudes around newly approved drugs. Continue reading →

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Merck Vs. Vertex in promotional spending

Posted on August 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

In May, two new drugs were approved for the treatment of Hepatitis C – Incivek from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Victrelis from Merck. Both drugs must be administered in combination with Peginterferon Alfa and Ribavirin. Incivek offers the possibility of a shorter course of treatment and also offers a simpler dosing scheme than Victrelis which requires 12 capsules a day. So far, sales of Incivek have significantly outstripped the Merck drug with Vertex reporting $75 Million at the end of June and Merck reporting $21 Million in sales. In addition to heavier spending on meetings, Incivek’s meetings generated significantly more positive response from attendees than the Victrelis meetings. Continue reading →

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Tagged Food and Drug Administration, Hepatitis C, Merck, Merck & Co, Patient, Ribavirin, United States, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

“I had cancer” startup launches

Posted on July 27, 2011 | 3 Comments

There is nothing worse for a patient than to hear the the “c” word. Research shows that most patients believe a diagnosis of cancer is paramount to a death sentence but that isn’t true by a long shot. Now a new startup called “I had cancer” is going to try and win an audience of patients who are effected by this terrible disease and allow them to share stories using the Internet to bring people together. Continue reading →

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Tagged cancer, Conditions and Diseases, Facebook, Google, Health, Patient

It’s not about online health information, it’s what consumers do with that information

Posted on July 26, 2011 | 5 Comments

There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of health information on the Internet. Unfortunately there is also a lot of bad health information on the Internet and consumers have to pretty much figure out for themselves which sites offer credible and good health information, that they can understand, and which ones are full of garbage. What we should be worried about however is not all the health information that’s out there but what decisions consumers are making with information in hand. Continue reading →

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Tagged FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Google, Health, Health care provider, Health informatics, Patient, Physician

Lilly feels the pain of patent expirations

Posted on July 22, 2011 | 1 Comment

By 2014, Lilly will have lost patents protecting drugs that generated 64 percent of its American product sales last year. Lilly also plans to cut costs by $1 billion by the end of this year. Patent expirations will sweep over the pharmaceutical industry in the next few years and hit Lilly especially hard. The drug maker loses American patent protection of Zyprexa in October, a month after it loses protection in most of Europe. Lilly said it expected a “rapid and severe” sales decline for the drug, which generated $5 billion last year. Continue reading →

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Tagged Eli Lilly, Long Tail, Olanzapine, Patent, Pharmaceutical industry, Sildenafil, United States, Zyprexa

The healthcare headlines this week…

Posted on July 22, 2011 | 1 Comment

Prices for widely used generic drugs fell by an average of 7.8 percent in 2009-the fifth consecutive annual price decrease-while general inflation fell by 0.3 percent, according to AARP’s latest Rx Price Watch report. The report by AARP’s Public Policy Institute comes as many seniors are reaching the coverage gap in Medicareprescription drug coverage, known as the doughnut hole. More stories—> Continue reading →

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Tagged Annals of Internal Medicine, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Food and Drug Administration, Prescription drug, Quetiapine, Ticagrelor

The way in which patients think about prescription drug choices

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

I was going over some research we earlier this year for a biopharma company and one thing that seems to have popped really stood out is the way in which patients are thinking about prescription drug options. It used to be that you went to the doctor, received a diagnosis and, in all likelihood, started taking your Rx. With some many warnings about prescription drugs that have already been approved and all the information on the Internet that just isn’t true anymore. Continue reading →

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Tagged Health, Health care, Health care provider, Medicare, Patient, Pharmacy, Physician, Prescription drug

Why waste time with “draft” guidelines for the FDA ?

Posted on July 20, 2011 | 2 Comments

I just don’t get it. Here, again, I read that another group is drafting guidelines for the FDA on mobile health applications. This is in addition to the guidelines that people are drafting for social media marketing and pharmaceutical drugs. It’s kind of like building a big new ship but not having anyone to man the engine room or the controls. However, let’s be honest here the only ones who really benefit from these guidelines are agency people not patients, not customers and not pharma. Continue reading →

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Tagged Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Health care, Marketing, Pharmaceutical lobby, Social media, Social media marketing, Twitter

Hospitals enter the dark side: Learning to become marketers

Posted on July 19, 2011 | 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to speak to business people from 5 local hospitals here in Ventura County. I opened up my talk with a bold statement “patients are becoming consumers of healthcare and want to be seen as people not patients”. I then went on to talk about how patients are now choosing where to have medical procedures and how they are making those decisions. The number one criteria when selecting a hospital for treatment ? They treated me as a person and the staff was really nice. Continue reading →

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Tagged Facilities, Health, Health care, Hospital, Medical procedure, Medicine, Patient, Richard Pryor

What potential budget cuts at FDA mean for drug marketers

Posted on July 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

As reported in the New York Times this weekend our economy is anemic right now. However politicians driven by ideology seem bound and determined to cut spending and the FDA is sure to see it’s budget cut down at a time when they need more money to keep up with new media and marketing. not to mention the 900+ cancer drugs that are in development. What does this mean for drug makers ? Look up the word “slow” in the dictionary and print it for future reference. Continue reading →

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Tagged FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Health, Health care, Manhattan Research, New York Times, Pharmaceutical industry

Warning: Storm approaching for drug makers

Posted on July 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

The drug industry contributed $80 billion toward the cost of last year’s health-care law, helping Democrats make up for new spending in the bill. With cuts to Medicaid and Medicare on the table as part of deficit talks, the industry may have to give up more as an Aug. 2 deadline looms. Make no mistake about it this is going to lead to an even further decline in R&D spending which in turn means that fewer new drugs are going to be developed. The real losers here are patients. Continue reading →

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Tagged Food and Drug Administration, Health, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Pharmaceutical industry, Prescription drug, United States