Pharma Marketing Blog: The Year 2013 in Images

T H E S E A R E M Y F A V O R I T E I M A G E S T H A T A P P E A R E D I N P H A R M A M A R K E T I N G B L O G P O S T S M A D E I N 2 0 1 3

THE YEAR 2013 IN IMAGES

Pharmaguy

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Pharma Marketing Blog 2013: The Year in Images

LIPITOR & PLAVIX: THE LAST OF THE SMALL MOLECULE BEST SELLERS?

The products in the Forbes list of “Best Selling Drugs of All Time” that are best positioned to record an increase in peak annual sales over the next five years are biologics. Humira, Enbrel, Rituxan, Herceptin and Lantus being the chief candidates.

Posted January 28, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum012813

http://bit.ly/PMBalbum012813




ELUSIVE UNIVERSAL FLU VACCINE

I once made a living building molecular models of complex proteins for life science researchers. One such model was of the influenza flu coat protein, which I built for Dr. Ian Wilson, who is now Chairman of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, which is part of the Scripps Research Institute. The model is currently on display in the lobby of the Institute.

The model looks as if it were built yester-day! Kudos to Scripps for the excellent maintenance.

Posted January 29, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum012913





GSK: THE CLAES OLDENBURG OF PHARMA

GSK launched a recycling program that includes an “Oldenburgesque” large-scale sculpture of a mundane object—a metered dose inhaler!

Here it is in London’s Victoria Station.

Posted February 11, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum021113





AN ANTI-DTC CROSSWORD PUZZLE

The theme of this Newsday cross-word puzzle was an anti direct-to-consumer (DTC) TV ad quip:

“ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF TAKING MEDICAL ADVICE FROM A TV AD IS RIGHT FOR YOU”

This is a take-off of the call to action of every DTC TV ad; i.e., “Ask Your Doctor if [INSERT BRAND NAME DRUG HERE] is right for you.”

Posted February 15, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum021513A

http://bit.ly/PMBalbum021513A

http://bit.ly/PMBalbum021513A



NOVARTIS PRESERVES VASELLA IN ASPIC

Novartis reached a deal to retain former CEO Vasella as a paid con-sultant restrained from working for competitors for a number of years.

“After 17 years in charge,” said the Financial Times, “there is little more he can offer Novartis. His wealth of experience would be better employ-ed advising start-ups and on new drug development. Instead, it will be preserved in aspic inside Novartis.”

I thought the “preserved in aspic” comment deserved a visual rendering.

Posted February 18, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum021813





LAZY IT “NAZIS” THWART IPAD USE BY SALES REPS

During a roundtable discussion at a Sample Management and Mobile Sales conference, I heard from some pharma people about the “limitations” of iPad use by sales reps.

One person mentioned that her IT people took away all the iPads from reps and replaced them with MS Surface Tablets so that reps can use MS Excel and Word desktop appli-cations without switching to a laptop.

Someone at the table called this “The Excel Spreadsheet Hurdle.”

Posted March 20, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum032013





IS THIS THE TYPICAL MOBILE HEALTH APP DEVELOPER HIRED BY PHARMA?

The availability of so many mobile health apps and the low economic and technical barriers to entry in this market begs the question: Who is the typical mobile Health App Developer?

The closest I could come to the answer to that question is this graphic in an article published in the Wall Street Journal.

Posted March 28, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum032813





DIGITAL AD SPENDING DOWN ONE-THIRD!

Nielsen data indicate that the overall decline in DTC spending in 2012 was 11-12% compared to 2011.

Meanwhile, TV ad spending de-creased 10% whereas Internet display ad spending (excluding search) decreased 33%!

Internet measured media spending is only 2% of the total. This is a number that hasn't changed much since 2000 when I started tracking it.

Posted April 2, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum040213





DTC DOWN THE DRAIN

“Direct-to-consumer advertising, as we’ve known it, at least, is not the be-all and end-all of marketing prescription drugs to patients anymore,” said Matthew Arnold in an MM&M report with the provocative title “DTC Drain.”

Yes, and the spending trend shows it. DTC ad spending decreased 12% in 2012 compared to 2011.






PHARMA SALES JOBS TAKE A(NOTHER) TUMBLE!

Jack vs. Jill, Two Different Kinds of Pharma Sales Reps

Jack, the traditional pharma sales rep, drove his Ford Taurus all around town,To detail and distribute free samples to his physician clients.Jack banged his head against a doc’s door and broke his crown,Because physicians would not let him in to see and feed them.

Meanwhile, Jill the virtual pharma sales rep, opened her iPad,To Skype & email her physician clients and offer them free sample coupons.She “visited” many docs this way, made a bundle, and was glad,Because busy physicians prefer to get drug info & samples "virtually.”






THE FDA DIRECTOR MAN WHO CRIED “SOON!”

There once was an FDA-OPDP Director man who was besieged whenever he spoke to conference attendees and the press. “When will you publish the social media guidance you promised?”, he was asked. To save himself from further shame he took a great breath and sang out, "Soon! Soon! The social media guidance is coming … soon!”

The pharma social media hopefuls & pundits & consultants came running up the Hill to visit the Director man to drive all doubt away. But when they arrived at the Hill, they found no guidance. The Director man laughed at the sight of their angry faces.






NOVARTIS WINES—ER, BEERS—AND DINES DOCS AT HOOTERS!



MOST PHYSICIANS AGREE THAT DTC ADVERTISING LEADS TO INAPPROPRIATE PRESCRIBING

A snap poll of 104 physicians by CMI/Compas revealed that nearly two-thirds of both primary care and specialty physicians agree (20% strongly; 45% somewhat) that DTC pharmaceutical advertising leads to inappropriate pre-scribing.

Posted May 2, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum050213



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X549v9ZVr6Q/UYKgi16OVtI/AAAAAAAAF7Y/XW7cgN5GvLw/s1600/cmiPoll-DTC-prescribe-effect-chart.jpg



WAS 2013 THE YEAR OF “DIGITAL PHARMA” (FOR HCP PROMOTION)?

Forecasters predicted that Healthcare Professional (HCP) MEASURED MEDIA digital spending by pharma will equal that of print in 2013.

Digital promotion is only 5.2% of the $17 billion total spent on HCP promotion (including detailing). This means that the U.S. pharma industry, which spends nearly $1 billion on professional digital promotion, has a long way to go before it reaches “digital maturity” on a par with other industries. I estimate that “par” to be 20%.

Posted May 21, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum052113





PHARMAGUY EU TOUR 2013: THE INFOGRAPHIC

This infographic was created as I was making my “Overcoming Pharma's Social Media & Mobile Challenges” presentation at Bayer Healthcare’ HQ in Berlin as part of the HealthCare Grants4Apps™ program.

Posted June 19, 2013. http://bit.ly/PMBalbum061813






GRADUATION DAY AT THE ROCHE DIGITAL ACADEMY

I was a guest “lecturer” at the Academy in June and received the Academy’s 2013 Award for “Performance in Excellence in Social Media Regulatory Management.”

Posted July 3, 2013. http://bit.ly/PMBalbum070313





THE “PHARMA DIGITAL HYPE CYCLE”

Lately, several major pharma com-panies have initiated programs to identify, reward, and work with innovative technology companies, and to increase the digital “smarts” of their employees via structured educational activities.

Is pharma on the path to benefiting from all this technology being developed by innovative companies?

I modified the “Gartner Hype Cycle” graph to illustrate where I believe pharma is today. My version is called the “Pharma Digital Hype Cycle.”

Posted July 19, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum072913





FANS & BANANAS: VIAGRA ADS IN JAPAN

As reported by RocketNews24, hand-held fans like these—emblazoned with commercial messages and logos—are popular in Japan when it gets hot.

Personally, I'd rather die of heat exhaustion than use these fans in public! (although I'd love to get my hands on one :-).

Posted July 29, 2013. http://bit.ly/PMBalbum072913






PHYSICIANS ARE POWERLESS PAWNS OF PHARMA PSYCHOLOGY

According to Harvard and Georgetown University ethicists and academics, “pharmaceutical and medical device companies apply social psychology to influence physicians’ prescribing behavior and decision-making.”

“Physicians fail to recognize their vulner-ability to commercial influences due to self-serving bias, rationalization, and cognitive dissonance,” claim the authors. Moreover, the authors claim that “professionalism offers little protection; even the most con-scious and genuine commitment to ethical behavior cannot eliminate unintentional, subconscious bias.”

Posted August 17, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum081713





BARCELONA, CATALONIA, AND GLOBAL PHARMAGUY

Many Catalonians want independence from Spain. While attending the 3rd Annual Pharma eMarketing Congress in Barcelona, Spain, I joined the September 11 “Human Chain” demonstration in the Plaça d'Espanya just prior to 17:14, which symbolizes the year 1714 when King Philip V abolished the Generalitat after the War of the Spanish Succession.

Does that mean I support the independence of Catalonia? I'm not sure. I was there because it was an event not to be missed and why not take part rather than just observe? It's what a true proponent of social media would do and since there was no “counter” demonstrators, I joined the line.

Posted September 17, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum091713





JUST AS I SUSPECTED: PHARMA COMPANIES SET UP GOOGLE+ GHOST TOWNS

Eye On FDA's Mark Senak is keeping tabs on pharma’s social media assets. With regard to Google+, Senak notes that there are 79 Google+ pages in his database that are sponsored by pharma companies. Of these, 31 have no followers at all and 23 are inactive.

Posted October 29, 2013.http://bit.ly/pgdaily102913-3

http://bit.ly/pgdaily102913-3




FDA’S BADAD CE PROGRAM

I completed FDA’s BadAd online course for healthcare professionals who can earn Continuing Education (CE) credits while learning how to identify potentially untruthful or misleading drug ads and promotional materials. The course is offered on Medscape.

Although I don't get any CE credits—I only pretend to be a doctor on Medscape—I did get a nice Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

Posted October 29, 2013.http://bit.ly/PMBalbum102913





J&J JOINS PHARMAGUY’S CRIMINAL & CIVIL SETTLEMENT PLANETARY SYSTEM

Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5.3 Billion in fines and settlement fees, which may represent as much as one-third of J&J's annual profits!The Pharmaguy “Pharma Criminal & Civil Settlement Planetary System” poster was updated to illustrate the seven highest multi-million/billion dollar settlements that drug companies have agreed to pay federal and state authorities for inappropriately, and in some cases illegally, promoting prescription drugs.

Posted November 13, 2013.http://bit.ly/pgdaily111313-2





PHARMA TV ADS SHOULDN’T DROP THE “F BOMB,” SAYS EXPERT. I DISAGREE.

Fearing that mentioning a list of “really bad potential side effects” in TV DTC ads turns consumers off, blogger Richard Meyer offered this advice: “If your product has fair balance that includes the word ‘fatal’ think about the channel you’re using.”Using urban slang, Meyer's advice to pharma marketers might be summed up as: Do not use the “F (fatal) Bomb” in TV ads.






FDA AXES MARKETING OF 23ANDME’S “SPIT FOR CANCER” KIT

The FDA sent a WARNING letter to the CEO of 23andMe saying the company illegally marketed its 23andMe Saliva Collection Kit and Personal Genome Service.

Genentech teamed up with 23andMe—a personal genetics firm—to collect spit from volunteers to find out why people respond differently to Avastin, which is Genentech's expensive (up to $100,000 per year per patient) drug for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, among others.






PHRMA SAYS THROW UNUSED DRUGS IN HOUSEHOLD TRASH

The pharmaceutical industry is challenging local governments over ordinances that require drug makers to cover the cost of prescription drug “take back” disposal programs.

Through its “SMARxT Disposal Program,” PhRMA is “edu-cating” consumers and urging them to discard unused pills with “normal household trash” and let Waste Management or some other trash disposal com-pany dispose of it in landfills or wherever.

Posted December 4, 2013.http://bit.ly/pgdaily120913-1





MY MAN IN MILAN

You have to be a big guy or gal in the pharma social media arena to wear the shirt off my back. Davide Bottalico, MD, Digital Marketing Manager at Roche, Italy, fits the bill as is obvious from this photo taken at the IAB Forum 2013 Milano.

Posted December 6, 2013. http://bit.ly/PMBalbum120613





BEING TOO “PATIENT-CENTRIC”: SPYING ON PATIENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

“Patient-Centricity” seems to be an overused buzzword among pharma marketers these days.

Using “publicly available infor-mation,” it is possible to find and track conversations of individual patients on Twitter and Facebook using Big Data analytics.

Now that would be patient-centric—maybe TOO patient-centric.

Posted December 11, 2013.http://bit.ly/pgdaily121213-1




WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pharma Marketing Blog: The Year 2013 in Images

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Transcript of Pharma Marketing Blog: The Year 2013 in Images