Pfizer May Own Your Penis, But Allergan, Maker of Botox & Kybella, Owns Your Face
Allergan is beginning an aggressive sales blitz for Kybella, the first injectable treatment for what the medical industry terms “submental fat.”The first stage of the "blitz" is focused on dermatologists, the specialist physicians most likely to profit greatly from the use of Kybella by focusing on women. If you do an image search on "Kybella" you'll find many images like the ones shown here currently being used by dermatologists in their online marketing (click on the collage for an enlarged view).The images are undoubtedly supplied by Allergen to its physician clients. All are of about the sam...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - April 22, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Allergan Botox Kybella Pfizer Viagra Source Type: blogs
Gamification Pointsification Pontification
“Gamification has a perennial presence at health tech conferences, but never seems to take central stage,” noted Jonah Comstock on mobilehealthnews (see here).Gamification is also a buzzword often heard at pharma industry conferences (see here). Not only hasn't gamification taken "center stage" in the pharmaceutical industry, it is, IMHO, at the trough of disillusionment of the Gartner hype cycle (read "Is Pharma Gamification Dead in the Water?").One way that Comstock cited to “prod along” gamification is through “pointsification”, or “apps where the only game-like strategy is the use ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - April 20, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: gamification Source Type: blogs
Want to Know Which Fed Laws Apply to Your mHealth App? HHS Has an App for That!
I found this HHS Interactive Tool on the FTC website here. Developing an mHealth App? Want to Know Which Federal Laws Apply? Use This HHS Interactive ToolI used this tool thinking of a few pharma mHealth apps I have seen. To see the results of that exercise, click on "Read more".Read more » (Source: Pharma Marketing Blog)
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - April 16, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: FDA FTC mHealth mobile medical app Source Type: blogs
Another Dark Disease Awareness Youtube Video from Boehringer
Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) is leading the pharma industry in posting disease awareness videos on Youtube. Several focus on cardio-respiratory conditions such ad COPD. See, for example, "2 SIDES OF LIVING WITH COPD," which I said "Tugs at Heart Strings, Then Scares the Bejeezus Out of Us! Is it necessary to pull at our heart strings and then bring us down with scary death mask-like imagery?"Well, if you thought that video was scary, you might "shi* your pants" watching "How does it feel to live with IPF?", which is an even scarier disease awareness video from BI.IPF is shorthand for Id...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - April 15, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Boehringer Ingelheim IPF OFEV YouTube Source Type: blogs
Mobile App Usage Surges. Will Pharma Ads Follow?
According to the 2014 U.S. Mobile App Report by Comscore, U.S. digital consumers now spend more time using mobile apps than they do on desktop computers (see chart below)."Total U.S. digital media time spent has jumped 24 percent in the past year, driven by a surge in mobile app usage, which increased 52 percent," noted the report."While mobile usage has been growing fast, it has not come at the expense of desktop computer usage, which still managed to grow by 1 percent. Apps drive the vast majority of media consumption activity on mobile devices, accounting for approximately 7 out of every 8 minutes."...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 25, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Apps Mobile Advertising Source Type: blogs
FDA's "Off-Label Risk Reduction" Approach to Reprint Distribution is "Misguided," Says Sidney Wolfe
In June, the FDA issued a THIRD draft guidance document regarding reprint distribution by pharmaceutic companies. This new guidance describes FDA’s recommendations for distributing reprints that convey "new risk information" for approved drugs (read "FDA Issues More Guidance Regarding Distribution of Reprints. Is It 'Fair and Balanced?'").The draft guidance states: "FDA does not intend to object to the distribution of new risk information that rebuts, mitigates, or refines risk information in the approved labeling, and is distributed by a firm in the form of a reprint or digital copy of a...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 15, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: FDA Guidance off-label promotion Reprints Source Type: blogs
FDA Targets Companies for Facebook 'Likes.' Is Twitter 'Favorites' Next?
(Source: Pharma Marketing Blog)
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 14, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: social media Twitter Source Type: blogs
Why I Will Be Attending Digital Pharma East
Rich Meyer initiated quite a controversy on his World of DTC Marketing blog when he posted a "guest" article by an anonymous "Senior Director for a top pharmaceutical company" who explained why he won't be attending ExL Pharma's Digital Pharma East conference this fall.Like my friend and fellow conference-goer Zoe Dunn, I have "such a pet peeve with people hiding behind an anonymous post without owning it." It's too bad that some pharma people feel the need to hide their identities when expressing their personal opinions.Meyer says there are "legal and regulatory roadblocks fr...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 12, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Conference Digital Pharma Source Type: blogs
#mHealthEthics: A Call for Pharma to Develop Mobile Health "Guiding Principles"
According to a "Client Alert" from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, FDA’s new draft guidance that would exempt from premarket 510(k) review many low-risk medical devices may "smooth the path to market for many medical mobile apps that the FDA’s 2013 guidance suggested would be subject to premarket approval requirements." By "certain devices," the authors mean those that can convert a cell phone into a medical device, such as a thermometer or a stethoscope. Before the 2013 guidance was released, Bradley Merrill Thompson, General Counsel for the mHealth Regulatory Coalition, thought such...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Ethics Mobile mobile medical app Source Type: blogs
What Types of Health Info Do Mobile Users Seek and Is It Relevant to Advertisers?
You don't hear much about it, but pharma advertises on mobile devices. An Astellas marketing campaign for its overactive blade drug, Myrbetriq, for example, included an interstitial ad in a mobile app that drove viewers to a mobile-optimized product information Web site (listen to this Pharmaguy Audio Snippet).So, which medical conditions are most relevant for advertising by pharma on mobile devices? You might think that no matter what the platform -- PC, tablet, or mobile -- users would seek information about the same medical conditions, more or less. Thus, it's a no brainer for mobile advertisers -- just target t...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 6, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Astellas Mobile Mobile Advertising Myrbetriq OAB Source Type: blogs
Do PDUFA Fees Encourage Approval of Dangerous Drugs and/or Undermine FDA's Regulatory Oversight of Approved Drugs?
A new study by researchers from Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, Boston Medical Center (BMC)/Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), City University of New York School of Public Health, and Public Citizen, reveals that drugs released after the 1992 enactment of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which allowed the FDA to collect fees to expedite drug approvals, were more likely to be withdrawn or have a black box warning, with 26.7 percent of these drugs receiving such a warning compared to 21.2 percent in the pre-PDUFA drugs that underwent the longer approval process (see press release here)....
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - August 5, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Black Box Warning Drug Safety FDA PDUFA Public Citizen warning letters Source Type: blogs
The "Risk-Only" Landing Page Requirement: Can We Get FDA to Adopt FTC's Thinking and Drop This Rule?
One of FDA's Ten Commandments -- the FIRST one, in fact -- states:You shall have no other regulatory agencies before Me.Several people have asked me, "John, what other agency could pharma worship before FDA?"Glad you asked.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also regulates product advertising. The FDA, however, as per its first commandment, lords it over prescription (Rx) drug advertising, whereas the FTC regulates advertising of other health products, including supplements and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. FDA, however, regulates what is claimed on the labels of OTC drugs.Whatever. The main point is that FDA ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 23, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Drug Safety FTC guidelines one-click rule regulations social media Source Type: blogs
Even Though There Are Fewer Sales Reps, More Physicians Deny Rep Access
According to the spring 2014 AccessMonitor™ report from global sales and marketing consulting firm ZS Associates, pharmaceutical access to physicians continues to decline. Only 51% of physicians/prescribers now allow access to sales reps, down from 55% in 2013 (see chart): Source: ZS AssociatesEven among traditionally pharma-friendly prescribers (e.g, dermatologists), access is down dramatically as illustrated in this chart:Source: ZS AssociatesThe decline in access continues despite the downsizing of the pharma sales force by one-third since 2008. But, the downsizing has actually helped pharma deliver better sales call...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 22, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Physician Marketing Sales and Sales Reps Sales Force Effectiveness Source Type: blogs
Why is PhRMA Defending Gilead's Sovaldi Pricing?
In an article published in The Hill, Lori Reilly, vice president for policy and research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), whose job is to develop federal legislative, regulatory and political strategies, defended the pricing of Sovaldi, Gilead's Hep C drug (see "Defending Big Pharma"). Her argument was simply this: "While Sovaldi may cost $84,000 or more for an individual patient’s 12-week treatment, Reilly argues it will save money by decreasing the need for liver transplants for patients whose organs fail."Let's do the math on Sovaldi, using some numbers ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 22, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Gilead HepC PhRMA Sovaldi Source Type: blogs
FDA's Ten Commandments
Remember FDA's Social Media Webinar? It was supposed to answer all our questions about the two recent social media guidances issued by the FDA.There were technical difficulties and when participants could actually gain access and hear what was being said, they were surprised that the FDA presenters were simply reading the guidance documents verbatim. "The #FDASM webinar, a haiku: Reading verbatim. Good use of my precious time? I'm not sure it is," tweeted @whendanieltalks. This reminded me of Moses reading the ten commandments to the Israelites, who afterward agreed to obey those laws. Whether or not the ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 21, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: FDA Tom Abrams Source Type: blogs
