Weekly pill dispensary: A summary of the week’s healthcare marketing news

Bonuses For GSK Pharma Sales Reps Won’t Be Tied to Sales

This story really had me scratching my head.  GSK has gone from 9,000+ reps to only 2,000+ reps in three years and from what I know was really pushing reps hard to sell. Now reps are going to get bonuses based on their relationship with HCP’s ?  This is very subjective and is has “litigation written all over it.  Ms Connelly has never been one to be based in reality and according to sources “Such a strategy requires using “robust” market research practices to collect all this qualitative feedback in a statistically significant way, says Redden. And feedback will have to distinguish between the sales rep and the product he or she is selling.  Good luck…it’s a good idea but I don’t believe GSK can pull it off.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Pharma seeks FDA clarity on risky drug safeguards

The FDA held meetings this week to discuss the use of REMS within the pharma industry. The key question is how to reduce the paperwork of drugs that have a Level III REMS so that HCP’s can be more compliant in prescribing Level III medications.  Also at issue is “who should enforce” compliance, drug companies or the FDA ?

Source: Reuters

The Sad Truth About $100,000 cancer drugs

Drug companies are fixated on proving their drugs extend survival or delay cancer progression by as little as a few months or weeks. This could gain them FDA approval and potentially billions in sales.   “We’ve created a multi-trillion dollar edifice for dispensing the medical equivalent of lottery tickets–and have only the rudiments of a system to prepare patients for the near-certainty that those tickets will not win,” he writes.  Life needs to be taken into account for these drugs. It rarely is in the race to try anything that might buy a little more time, no matter how slim the odds.  ”The fact that we may be shortening or worsening the time we have left hardly seems to register”

Source: Forbes

Glaxo is cleverly marketing a supplement as a drug, and making a mint in the process, when people could easily buy the same thing over the counter.

Glaxo is marketing Lovaza hard, though. This was the drug one of the Avandia panelists was being paid to give speeches to promote. I do wish GSK were doing more clinical trials to prove Lovaza does more than just lower triglycerides.  ”My main point was that Glaxo is cleverly marketing a supplement as a drug, and making a mint in the process, when people could easily buy the same thing over the counter.    And by saying that Glaxo is being clever I also meant to imply they are being deceptive.  It’s a nice trick: they have almost no downside, since fish oil is almost certain not to cause the bad side effects we saw with Vioxx (for example).”

Source: Forbes

How One Pharma Company Successfully Manages YouTube

Gary Monk, Product Manager (Marketing) at Janssen-Cilag. Gary is responsible for (among other things) administering the company’s LivingwithADHD YouTube Channel. So, along with commentary, Gary shares his perspective based on his experience with Janssen-Cilag’s relatively popular video, “ADHD: A day in the life.”

Source: Dose of Digital

Novo’s Victoza drains new scripts from rivals

The Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) drug has been racking up market-share gains in the U.S., nabbing 26 percent of the market in GLP-1 drugs since its February launch. Some 33.9 percent of new GLP scrips are going to Victoza.  And that means that Eli Lilly’s (NYSE: LLY) rival GLP product, Byetta, is slipping a bit, analysts say. ”Byetta has lost shares of new prescriptions at a faster pace than in the number of total prescriptions which indicates that more doctors are giving new patients Victoza instead of Byetta,” Citigroup analyst Yaron Werber tells Borsen.

Source: Fierce Pharma

Hospitals engaging patients in social media

Is your hospital still waiting to try social media? Here’s something to consider: All 14 hospitals listed on the 2010-2011 U.S. News Honor Roll are using social media. 78% of the larger Best Hospitals List are also engaged on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

A pharma mareters guide to developing a Facebook page with low risk

500 million people are now using Facebook and with the FDA not likely to issue specific guideline on social media and with the likelihood that your brand is on a Facebook Community page via Wikipedia it’s time to think about getting an agency to develop and launch a Facebook page if you can provide value and if your audience wants to talk and share information on their health conditions.

Source: World of DTC Marketing