42 Percent Of Online Consumers Think Pharma Companies Should Be Involved In Online Health Communities – ADD/ADHD And Bipolar Disorder Caregivers Top Groups To Agree

On the heels of the FDA issuing its “Guidance for Industry Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices”, pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research releases new data exploring how consumers use social media and other online sources for prescription drug information and pharma interaction. (PharmaLive)

How to execute digital: Faisal Ahmed explains how to build a website to represent your brand

How to execute digital: Second in a new series from Faisal Ahmed, formerly part of the start-up team at Amazon, explaining the practical steps as to how pharma can use digital technology. This week, Faisal discusses how to build a website to represent your brand. (The Directory)

Stop advertising, start socialising!

There is a single word paving the way of the continuous, uncertain… but exciting future landscape: “change”. (The Directory)

Merck Pours $17M Into Physicians Interactive’s Web Tools for Docs

Marlborough, MA-based Physicians Interactive Holdings announced today that it has formed a deal with Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, a unit of the Whitehouse Station, NJ-based drug giant. Merck (NYSE: MRK) has pledged $8.5 million up front and another $8.5 million in milestone payments to Physicians Interactive, which was founded in 2008 and makes a range of mobile and Web-based tools for healthcare professionals and life sciences companies. (Xconomy)

Compliance with mandatory reporting of clinical trial results on ClinicalTrials.gov: cross sectional study

Most trials subject to mandatory reporting did not report results within a year of completion.(BMJ)

FDA’s new guidance calls for expert speakers and careful conversations

After formal hearings, long delays and years of speculation, the FDA released its first draft social media guidance with almost no fanfare in the quiet days at the end of December. (MedAdNews)

“2012 will be all about patient engagement with brand messaging and being able to guarantee that actions are taken. The challenge the healthcare marketing has is that endemic content areas are more of a reactive approach to advertising and the push needs to be made to more proactive lifestyle areas. ”

“Will companies who have relied on the profits of blockbusters have what it takes to re-think their business model now that the patent has expired? I think some do, but more do not have a clue.”

“More offerings for attainable CME using mobile devices will appear.”

“My top prediction with regards to changes and challenges in 2012 will be associated to languages and effective communication. As a recent research showed, visitors to a website spend twice as long on the page and are four times as likely to buy from the site or engage with the organization if the content is in their own language. With over 75% of online visitors who are non-English speakers, pharma companies in 2012 will  need more than ever to communicate with their audience in a more effective way and this will mean speaking to them in their language!”

“Greater growth in patient communities in the on-line space capitalizing on emerging technologies and the inherent need to discuss treatments, options and overall disease state issues”

“Social media – grows and grows and grows – with or without FDA point of view”

“Continuing MCO and governmental pressures on pricing”

“Due to the time constraints of email (e-lists), news summary services, networking site services, etc and the increasing desire to untether from electronic devices to become more active….twitter still won’t be adopted by the true masses to affect sales.”

“A few more corporate consolidations as the industry is dealing with patent losses”

“Biotech growth”

“Biosimilars beginning to come of age”

“A lot of interesting dialog due to the US election year...”

“Continued push for non-personal promotion from pharma firms”

“Increased familiarity with available content management systems and focusing/narrowing of the options available will simplify the process of accomplishing  complex sites and transition the focus into better organized, sophisticated, and polished web site content development.”

“Redefinition of the term blockbuster (it will be less than $1B)”

Many thanks to all who contributed! If you would like to add your own, email us at comms@informahealthcare.com.

In this EBAC-accredited podcast, Dr. Carlo Briguori provides an overview of the pathophysiology, incidence and prevention of peri-procedural myocardial infarction and contrast-induced acute kidney injury—with the main goal of increasing clinicians’ knowledge of these two disorders and improving their care of patients.

The podcast is available for review at the CMEcast site.

Further information on CMEcast

The sentiment in the room was akin to the forlorn gaze one gives out the window before setting out on a perilous journey. Our guests had clearly been preparing for the terra nova of social media – they bandied around the name of Alex Butler and outlined the implications of the Bayer ABPI breach on their own internal policies. But hovering somewhere between uncertainty and outright fear, it was hard to tell if they were gearing up towards brinkmanship or just waiting to indulge in a bit of schadenfreude when their colleagues got it wrong.

So, will there be a paradigm shift in 2012? Most likely not, unless ‘big pharma’ – who some believe hold more sway with regulatory bodies – take some bold steps first. It’s questionable whether in a year of further healthcare reforms and intense economic pressure that an aggressive entree into social media will be supported by senior management.  Then again, companies may have to seek out new spaces to establish competitive advantage.

What is slightly more certain, though, is that pharma will be looking to engage with patients more directly, albeit in an earned rather than owned way. The changes are most likely to be modest but will be an important first step in establishing pharma as a trusted healthcare partner. Pharma (including medical) will be re-looking at the information they provide online and making it easier for patients to comprehend, share and even perhaps shape further patient information. It is also likely that pharma will continue to work with patient groups and professionals to help counter false and misleading information on their products – but across a wider spectrum of communications channels than in 2011.

Will congress participation, reprints and GP summits be phased out? No, although their value will be under scrutiny. According to one delegate, ‘we just can’t justify organising events where no one turns up.’ And according to another, ‘we’re still buying reprints, but not nearly as many as we did in the past.’ So what, if anything, is going to take its place? Prepare to see pharma focus more on supporting GPs in a topical way, for example, helping GPs secure funding for medications that may be deprioritised in NHS reforms. More focus will also be given to maximise the rep-professional relationship, including greater use of tablet technology in product demonstrations.

So while 2012 will most likely be a year of modest change, it will be one of more circumspect evaluation and increasing customer-centricity. It will also be a year of preparation and ultimately, we hope, one of lessening fear.

Informa Healthcare is a participant in the gCMEp, which is a working party of the European CME Forum and committed to the highest standards in CME delivery.

This letter can be read at http://www.gcmep.eu/gcmep_open_letter_081211.pdf

It’s nice to sit back before the hustle and bustle of the upcoming Holiday season and take a look at what’s been accomplished in the past year.

In June, we partnered with the European CME forum to successfully launch the Journal of European CME. a peer-reviewed journal for the European CME community. JECME is solely focused on the practical application of European CME-CPD methods, techniques and case studies, as well as opinion pieces on European CME-CPD regulatory issues. The online-only, open-access journal currently has three articles in peer review and several more great papers on the way soon.

In October, we unveiled our latest CME service for physicians: CMEcast. This proprietary platform for self-serve CME offers physicians anytime, anywhere learning through MP3-format courses; easy CME tracking; and an “Ask an Expert” feature. CMEcast also offers sponsors a variety of program support options, hosting choices and full usage reporting. Our first four cardiology podcasts received prestigious EBAC accreditation approval in early November, with a fifth podcast currently under undergoing EBAC evaluation.

We also got a chance to see fellow CME experts at the GAME, European CME Forum and UEMS conferences and discuss the latest best practices in the field from provider, regulator, physician and patient perspectives. And as a member of the Good CME Practice (gCMEp) initiative, we’ve had a role in looking at how the European education provider/agency community works in CME and in developing the appropriate operating standards.

So after such an exciting 2011, we’re looking forward to enhancing our existing CME services, expanding into unexplored areas of CME, and meeting again with our existing partners and new CME colleagues in 2012!

Many publication professionals aware of selective data availability

Many medical publication professionals are aware of unpublished negative data from clinical trials and many believe obligations to make these data available should go beyond current legal requirements in the US and the EU, a new survey has found. (PharmaTimes)

Putting our house in order

Recent developments suggest that if these worst case scenarios continue to be tolerated, then everyone stands to lose. Unless we find a way to consistently ensure the highest of operating standards in European CME, then its future could look very different. (PMLive)

PMEA awards 2011

Recognising and rewarding true marketing excellence in an ever-changing and increasingly challenging environment, the Pharmaceutical Marketing Excellence Awards (PMEA) is highly regarded by individuals and the industry alike. (PMLive)

Pragmatism vs. Possibility: the false pharma fight over the iPad

The pace of adoption of the iPad continues to startle, and already half of the top 20 pharma companies have bought into the tablet platform. But now comes the tricky part: how will pharma actually use their fancy new machines? (MM&M)

Boehringer’s Pharma-ville could salve industry’s bad reputation

Boehringer Ingelheim is hoping to create a new Facebook phenomenon with the development of a pharma civilization game that could give industry reputation a shot in the arm. (MM&M)

Smartphone Health Applications Will Exceed $400 Million Annually by 2016, Says ABI Research

The sports and health mobile application market will grow to over $400 million in 2016 – up from just $120 million in 2010. (PharmaLive)

Key highlights from the survey include:

• Most medical publication professionals were aware of unpublished negative trial data: 32% (193/607) of respondents were aware of negative data from a trial in the past 3 years that has not been published.
• A sizable proportion felt that pharmaceutical companies should be obliged to publish data prior to phase II, which is earlier than either the US or EU legislation mandates.
• Furthermore, most felt that all analysed data, at least for specified endpoints, should be made available, and not just brief summary tables. The main cited barrier to making more data available was fear of data misinterpretation.
• Views of medical publication professionals should be taken into account when guidelines and legislation relating to publications are drafted.

The research findings will be published in Current Medical Research & Opinion in 2012 (pending peer review).

Related: Resources for Publication Professionals, Journal of Drug Assessment

EBAC is an initiative by the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), which represents more than 70,000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. ESC comprises 54 national cardiac societies, 34 affiliated cardiac societies, 19 working groups, five associations and five councils.

“EBAC’s principal responsibility is assuring the quality of international CME in cardiology, as well as facilitating and stimulating participation of individual physicians in CME activities. In accrediting these four courses, EBAC has vigorously reviewed and affirmed that these educational activities have met EBAC’s high standards for quality and balance,” says Jay Magrann, Publisher of CMEcast. “The four courses in cardiovascular medicine, available at www.informacmecast.org, now can offer global cardiologists valuable EBAC credit for their regulatory requirements and career advancement needs.”

The EBAC-accredited podcast program is directed by world-renowned author and researcher Dr. Dimitri P. Mikhailidis of the Royal Free Hospital, London. The first four individual podcasts–featuring Dr. Mikhailidis (Non-Cardiac Vascular Disease: An Overview), Dr. Tony Wierzbicki (Hypertriglyceridaemia: epidemiology, pathophysiology & management), Dr. Ioanna Gouni-Berthold (LDL-lowering Drugs in Addition to Statins) and Dr. Devaki Nair (Familial Hypercholestrolaemia)–are available free of charge to site registrants for an introductory period.

CMEcast also announced that they have just added another CMEcast-accredited course for healthcare professionals: “Peri-procedural Myocardial Infarction and Contrast-induced Acute Kidney Injury” by Dr. Carlo Briguori. CMEcast also will be applying for EBAC accreditation of Dr. Briguori’s podcast.

CMEcast is a new audio podcast-based platform to meet physicians’ needs for flexible global unaccredited and accredited continuing medical education. This service connects busy physicians with high sound quality MP3-format podcasts for anytime, anywhere learning. For further information, please visit the CMEcast website: http://www.informaCMEcast.org.

Of special interest to us both will be sessions on principles of good CME practice by Jacqui Thornton and the Good CME Practice Group (of which Darren is a member), CME’s effect on clinical practice, alignment of regulations for compliant CME, and practical lessons Europeans can take away from the US accreditation system.

Also while in Amsterdam, attending members of the Journal of European CME Editorial and Advisory Boards will take the opportunity to meet and discuss the new journal’s progress and future initiatives. Please e-mail us if you’d like to meet with Darren or me at the ECF meeting!