POST SUMMARY: The model for pharma growth seems to be to merge or buy smaller biotech companies, but is this a viable business decision?
An estimated 50% of men have histologic evidence of BPH by age 50. However one of the biggest complaints of aging males is both the loss of energy and lower sex drive. Is testosterone therapy the answer and are the current DTC spots that are running for testosterone therapy making promises that aren’t proven by clinical evidence ?
POST SUMMARY: According to the Pew Internet Project, 72 percent of US internet users look up health-related information online. But an astonishing number of the pages we visit to learn about private health concerns—confidentially, we assume—are tracking our queries, sending the sensitive data to third party corporations, even shipping the information directly to the same brokers who monitor our credit scores. It’s happening for profit, for an “improved user experience,” and because developers have flocked to “free” plugins and tools provided by data-vacuuming companies.
Fresh from a Bloomerg news story comes this tidbit “Gilead Sciences Inc., whose $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C treatment is one of the world’s most expensive drugs, is avoiding billions of dollars in U.S. Taxes by booking profits overseas.” This is pure chutzpah and, it tells American consumers that we are going to put profits ahead of everything else and gives all of pharma a black eye.
Sigh…as I sit here and read the Tweets from ePharma I am once again reminded why pharma is lagging in digital marketing. I mean to say WebMD is the number one health portal on the web? Come-on everyone should know that, but what they also should know is that very few people go to WebMD and use that information for treatment decisions.