Recent Project News
Data mining makes it possible not only to suggest new friends on your social media account and follow you around online shopping, but also to promote prescription drugs through doctor-only platforms. Big Pharma's modus operandi has long been drug rep visits, article reprints, and peer pressure, but more and more, manpower and paper are being exchanged for digitally automated marketing strategies.
Certainly, drug companies still rely on face time with drug reps to promote their products. But according to several news stories this year, digital marketing efforts are increasing. The November Vox article that quoted Dr. Fugh-Berman focused on three of Pharma's digital platforms: Electronic health records (which are replacing hospital paper records); physician social media sites (the Facebook or LinkedIn equivalents for health care providers); and phone apps (which provide on-the-go information about drugs and ailments).
These are ideal places for Pharma to advertise, and they're upping the ante on audience engagement. For example, hard-copy reprints of journal articles favoring a company's drug used to be Pharma's second-highest marketing expenditure. Last year, Medical Marketing & Media reported that reprints — even electronic versions — are out of favor: "They have to find a way to make the content more engaging and interactive than a PDF," said Nicole Woodland-De Van, SVP of buying services and deliverables at Compas. According to Christopher Manz MD in The New England Journal of Medicine, physician social media site Sermo created games like "an 'Alzheimer's Challenge' that allowed physicians to read through clinical trial data (in a format similar to print journal advertisements) for a brand-name medication and answer questions about its indications to earn points redeemable for cash."
Electronic health records (EHRs) and phone apps also make data collection far easier for drug companies. "For decades, companies have been able to tell which drugs I prescribe but with EHRs they can tell when and why I prescribe," said Manz. And as Dr. Fugh-Berman told Vox, searches from Epocrates and other apps are also collected by Pharma for targeted marketing purposes.
Regulations have yet to catch up with pharmaceutical digital marketing practices, and it may be difficult to achieve. Consumers are so accustomed to custom-picked ads every time we use the Internet that it has become a normal, expected part of a streamlined online experience. PharmedOut has focused on exposing subtle marketing messages that evade regulations on drug rep visits and advertising. It doesn't get much more subtle than "targeted banner advertisements, e-coupons, or even curated drop-down menus" on digital tools for physicians.
***
News Round-Up
(for more, please follow @pharmed_out on Twitter!)
November 1: The Telegraph: "Doctors refusing to prescribe statins" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11201669/GPs-refusing-to-prescribe-statins.html
November 3: HealthDay via WebMD: "Room to Improve in Typical ADHD Care: Study" http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/news/20141103/typical-adhd-care-leaves-room-for-improvement-study-finds
November 4: WSJ Pharmalot: "Some Payments to Docs Don’t Have to be Reported to Sunshine Database" http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/11/04/some-payments-to-docs-dont-have-to-be-reported-to-sunshine-database/
November 9: The Daily Beast: "Mother’s Little Anti-Psychotic Is Worth $6.9 Billion A Year" http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/09/mother-s-little-anti-psychotic-is-worth-6-9-billion-a-year.html
November 13: The New England Journal of Medicine: "High-Cost Generic Drugs — Implications for Patients and Policymakers" http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1408376
November 13: Los Angeles Times: "Op-Ed: The sham drug idea of the year: 'pink Viagra'" http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-laan-tiefer-pink-viagra-20141114-story.html
November 13: Newsweek: "Big Pharma Plays Hide-the-Ball With Data" http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/21/medical-science-has-data-problem-284066.html
November 13: WSJ Pharmalot: "How Lobbying for Rare Disease Research Influences Congress and NIH" http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/11/13/how-lobbying-for-rare-disease-research-influences-congress-and-nih/
November 13: The New England Journal of Medicine: "Marketing to Physicians in a Digital World" http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1408974
November 14: Bloomberg: "Top U.S. Drug Official to Push for More Inspectors in China" http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/top-u-s-drug-official-to-push-for-more-inspectors-in-china.html
November 18: The Week: "Over a million people each year get pointless surgery" http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/272184/speedreads-over-a-million-people-each-year-get-surgery-that-has-no-inherent-benefit
November 18: The Washington Post: "Does it really cost $2.6 billion to develop a new drug?" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/18/does-it-really-cost-2-6-billion-to-develop-a-new-drug
November 19: Bloomberg: "Drug Trial Results Can’t Be Hidden Under Proposed Rules" http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-19/drug-trial-results-can-t-be-hidden-under-proposed-rules.html
November 20: WSJ Pharmalot: "Prescription Drug Spending Will Reach $1.3 Trillion – That’s Trillion – By 2018" http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/11/20/spending-on-prescription-drugs-to-continue-defying-gravity-study-says/
November 21: Al Jazeera America: "The dirty motivation behind Gilead’s hepatitis C agreement" http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/11/pharmaceuticals-gileadhepc.html
November 21: The Nader Page: "Big Pharma—Crony Capitalism Out of Control" https://blog.nader.org/2014/11/21/big-pharma-crony-capitalism-out-of-control
November 21: WSJ Pharmalot: "Testosterone Drugs may – or may not – Cause Heart Risk: EMA" http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/11/21/testosterone-drugs-may-or-may-not-cause-heart-risk-ema
November 23: The New York Times: "Debate Persists Over Diagnosing Mental Health Disorders, Long After ‘Sybil’" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/debate-persists-over-diagnosing-mental-health-disorders-long-after-sybil.html
November 23: The New York Times: "Private Oncologists Being Forced Out, Leaving Patients to Face Higher Bills" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/health/private-oncologists-being-forced-out-leaving-patients-to-face-higher-bills.html
November 24: The Wall Street Journal: "Surgical Tool Gets Strongest Warning http://online.wsj.com/articles/fda-adds-new-warning-to-labels-for-laparoscopic-power-morcellator-1416842439
November 25: The New York Times: "Panel Rejects Sternest F.D.A. Warning for Steroid Shots" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/science/panel-decides-against-strongest-fda-warning-on-steroid-injections.html
November 25: BioClinica: "3 Reasons to Share Data from Unsuccessful Clinical Trials" http://www.bioclinica.com/blog/3-reasons-share-data-unsuccessful-clinical-trials
November 26: The New York Times: "The Problem With Prostate Screening" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/opinion/the-problem-with-prostate-screening.html
November 26: Nature: "Publishing: The peer-review scam" http://www.nature.com/news/publishing-the-peer-review-scam-1.16400
November 26: JAMA: "US Food and Drug Administration and Design of Drug Approval Studies" http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1938552
November 27: The New York Times: "Using Doctors With Troubled Pasts to Market a Painkiller" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/business/drug-maker-gave-large-payments-to-doctors-with-troubled-track-records.html
November 27: The Washington Post: "Two former NFL players describe prescription drug practices" http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/two-former-nfl-players-decribe-prescription-drug-practices/2014/11/27/6cfb8768-768c-11e4-bd1b-03009bd3e984_story.html
November 30: The New York Times: "Naloxone, a Drug to Stop Heroin Deaths, Is More Costly, the Police Say" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/nyregion/prices-increase-for-antidote-to-heroin-overdoses-used-by-police.html
***
Check These Out!
FDA's new Drug Trials Snapshot is a new resource that provides breakdowns of demographic subgroups participating in clinical trials, as well as differences found among them.
In 12 minutes, this New York Times "Retro Report" covers the rise of Prozac and "lifestyle" drugs, and industry's marketing of them.