A lesson why a patient uses the Internet for health information, in his own words

Feb/16/2010 09:40

"I’ve said that revealing my prostate cancer here brought me great value: support, links to sources of information, incredibly candid and helpful previews from patients who’ve gone before, and the opportunity to spur others to check for the disease." This quote is from Jeff Jarvis about his fight against prostate cancer. This in a nutshell is why people use the Internet for health and it should be a lesson for every DTC marketer. Read More...

Tags: internet health

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Is it time to ditch tradional media for all DTC ?

Feb/11/2010 05:40

If marketing is about going to where consumers are than there is no doubt that the drug industry is going to have allocate a lot more dollars to online marketing. But how do you engage consumers and get them key information with so many restrictions on marketing activity ? The answer may be to think outside the box and get content to consumers where they are are online rather than trying to have them come to you. Read More...

Tags: Payors

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The quality of online health information

Feb/08/2010 06:14

I had an interesting Twitter conversation last week about the quality of online health information. Late last year we recruited an online panel to review health information for 3 months and while a program monitored their Internet usage. We then followed up with some surveys to try an gauge the "quality" of online health information and the "experience" of their searches. Here are the results... Read More...

Tags: Online health

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Time to embrace change, not fight it

Feb/05/2010 06:47

A new tax on profits from some patents and other intangible assets parked in overseas tax havens by American companies. That was the land mine in President Obama's budget this week. The drug industry giant Pfizer which has said that 88% of its $56 billion in income from 2004 through 2008 originated overseas, could be subject to the corporate 35% tax rate on at least some of its foreign profit in the future if the president’s proposal goes through. Read More...

Tags: Off-shore

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A focus on diseases for which it believes it can develop more valuable drugs

Feb/04/2010 04:03

GlaxoSmithKline said it will stop research into new antidepressants and focus on diseases for which it believes it can develop more valuable drugs, a major shift for a company that developed some of the biggest-selling antidepressants of the past 20 years. The key question is "valuable to who" , investors or patients ? Maybe the reason is because physicians and patients are buying the marketing that led to a lot of people taking antidepressant medications ?

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Tags: GSK

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Could the healthcare system be any more broken ?

Feb/04/2010 07:04

In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago. The U.S. spent $2.472 trillion on health care last year, according to a paper out today in the journal Health Affairs. That’s $282 million an hour. In the meantime Pfizer said it sees R&D spending falling to between $8 billion and $8.5 billion by 2012 or over $1 billion. Read More...

Tags: US Healthcare

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Is social media ready for the restrictions on the drug industry ?

Feb/02/2010 05:49

Twitter is locking many users out of the system this morning, and sending them notices that they need to change their passwords in order to regain access to the service, due to concerns over a possible phishing attack. 70% of Facebook users are outside the US and growth is continuing to come from outside the US. So at a time when a LOT of people think social media can save the drug industry one has to wonder if in fact social media is ready for the drug industry ?

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Tags: Privacy & Social Media

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Fines: small part of doing business?

Jan/29/2010 05:57

Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. paid big fines and pleaded guilty to illegal marketing of their drugs over the past year, while AstraZeneca PLC in September reached a preliminary deal to pay $520 million to settle a federal investigation into its marketing. Novartis agreed to plead guilty to violating the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and to pay a $185 million fine. At this rate we may be able to have the drug industry pay a substantial part of healthcare legislation.

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Consumers want transparency and tust. So where is the drug industry ?

Jan/27/2010 05:24

And you thought people were just upset at government ! Consumers are now judging companies on trust, transparency and "a company I can trust". Looks like the drug industry has a long road to travel before they can earn consumers trust again.

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Tags: Edelman

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Focus on customers not shareholders

Jan/25/2010 04:59

"The harder a CEO is pushed to increase shareholder value, the more the CEO will be tempted to make moves that actually hurt the shareholder"* I don't think that anyone can argue that most of the recent moves of the drug industry, acquisitions and mergers, have been more about shareholders than customers.
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Tags: Stock value vs. customers

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Lipitor co-pay card makes debut and allows patients to save money

Jan/24/2010 03:18

Lipitor, the biggest blockbuster ever, is getting more aggressive with it's marketing offering a promotion that save current Lipitor users money regardless of their income. While most insurance premiums and co-pays are going up this handy card could ensure that patients on Lipitor stay on Lipitor instead of generic equivalents.
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Tags: Lipitor

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DTC marketing: Organizational change begins with Linchpins

Jan/24/2010 10:12

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Seth Godin, via his new book Linchpin, has discovered a fundamental truth about work and it applies to the drug industry in a big way. Passion is a trait that is sucked out of most DTC marketers as they try to conform to bigger matrix organizations. The challenge therefore is going to be to identify ways to contribute that nobody ever thought of, generate new ideas, and stand out for their creativity and in the process make a difference in patients lives.
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Tags: Linchpin

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Should pharma Tweet ?

Jan/20/2010 05:28

One thing I learned while attending law school was to "look at the facts of a case" before forming an opinion or argument. So while the debate rages on about whether drug companies should use Twitter let's look at the facts of the case.
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Tags: Twitter

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