Amazing Social Media Campaign or Creepy Spam?

Pharmaguy interviews Jonathan Richman, founder of Dose and Expound. You might remember Jonathan as the creator of the blog Dose of Digital, which provided insights on the use of digital technology in healthcare marketing. We discuss the Melanoma Likes Me social media campaign, which won a Silver Award at the 2015 Lions Health Festival. Jonathan called this the "best healthcare social media campaign [he's] ever seen." Pharmaguy called it the "creepiest healthcare social media campaign [he's] ever seen." Can't we all just get along?

Sanofi's Mission T1D for Children with Type 1 Diabetes

Pharmaguy interviews Becky Reeve, Head of Professional Relations, Diabetes Franchise Sanofi UK & Ireland.  We talk about Mission T1D, a new gaming app for children with type 1 diabetes in the UK. Mission T1D aims to support a serious message through gaming and play to encourage children with T1D (and their family, teachers and friends) to learn more about how to live with diabetes.

Questions/Topics of Discussion

Please tell us more about Mission T1D; specifically describe the game, how it is meant to be played, by whom and in what settings.Is Mission T1D an example of what is often called "gamification?" In general, what role do you see for "gamification" in pharma promotion and patient support?Obviously, this is an educational game. How do you incorporate education into the game. How do you ensure that kids will not abandon the game if it is "too educational" and not fun?This is not the first diabetes mobile app created by Sanofi Diabetes for kids in the UK. What is the value proposition for Sanofi to develop these apps?Are there plans to introduce this game to the U.S. market?

Pharmaguy interviews Duncan Lennox is CEO and Co-founder of Qstream, a mobile sales performance platform for igniting high-performing teams, about the use of gaming and mobile technologies to increase the effectiveness of pharma sales teams.

Questions & Topics Covered:

Why is game mechanics playing a larger role in pharma companies’ mobile-first sales strategy? What industry factors are behind this change(s)?What is the difference between game mechanics and gamification? Why is that important to know?Studies show that reps – even those with extensive market and product training – will forget up to 79% of new information within days and months. Can you explain this “forgetting curve?”  How does game mechanics solve this challenge?We’ve been talking about how game mechanics-based sales performance methodologies can help sales reps – what about their managers? What kinds of data do sales managers have access to? Explain how game mechanics might help a typical pharma salesforce?

Apps for Rx Adherence & Outcomes Support

Pharmaguy interviews Rob Dhoble, CEO of Adherent Health, LLC., about Mobile Health LibraryTM (MHL), which is a HIPAA privacy-protected mobile app platform built for the unique education, service, and support needs of health-related customers, including patients, health professionals, caregivers, and consumers.

MHL Key Facts:

MHL apps can include valuable discounts and savings.MHL apps can help patients better understand their health, health conditions, and related treatments.MHL apps can be received via email or SMS from a healthcare professional, friend, family member, or loved one.MHL apps may receive direct-to-app updates.MHL apps are confidential, meaning that user identity remains unknown to medication, medical device, and medical diagnostic product sponsors.MHL app "tags" may be placed on posters, printed materials, advertisements, websites, or brand-related packaging.MHL apps can be shared with friends, family, and loved ones via email and SMS.

Questions/Topics of Discussion

Why are there so few successful pharma brand patient support apps?What are patients, doctors, and payers looking for in mHealth apps?Good privacy practices & pharma industry trust issuesOutcomes tracking using de-identified patient/app engagement dataApp building vs. app marketing: Which is best for Pharma?

PharmaGuy interviews Thomas P. Stossel, M.D., visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, about his new book, PharmaPhobia, and his call to action against the "Conflict of Interest Movement."

In PHARMAPHOBIA: How the Conflict of Interest Myth Undermines American Medical Innovation (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2015), Tom Stossel describes how an ideological crusade, stretching over the last quarter century, has used distortion and flawed logic to make medical innovation even harder in a misguided pursuit of theoretical professional purity.

Questions/Topics of Discussion

What is the "conflict-of-interest myth" (you also refer to the "conflict-of-interest movement" and the "conflict-of-interest narrative")?What regulations have been adopted as a result of this conflict-of-interest narrative?Are there legitimate conflict-of-interest concerns that should be addressed by policymakers?How have bureaucrats, reporters, politicians, and lawyers benefitted by attacking the medical products industry?What solutions and reforms do you advocate?

Which Pharma Companies are Succeeding in the Social Media Space?

Pharmaguy interviews Rebecca Canvin, Social Media Manager, and Rick Evans, Digital Strategist at Ogilvy Healthworld.We discuss the "Connecting the Dots" survey, which evaluated how 14 major pharma companies  were  performing  across  six  key  categories:  

Social presence: How  many  social  networks  was  the  company  on?   Activity: Was  the  content  kept  fresh  with  regular  updates?Engagement: Were  the  companies    engaging  their  users  and  generating interest?    Social network: How  simple  and  intuitive  was  the   connection  between  social  networks?    Virality: Was  the  content  spread  around   the  social  sphere?Community Size: How  big  was  the  community?

Topics & Questions for Discussion, include:

Background to the report – the pharma social media landscapeWhat was analysed – the categories and how they are definedWhat was learned – three distinct groups, key insightsSuggestions on how pharma can improve social media engagementWhat's next this year?

A Roadmap for Patient-Centric Conferences

Pharmaguy interviews Casey Quinlan, Co-Founder at Patients for Clinical Research, journalist, author, ePatient and patient advocate, about Patients Included: A Charter for Conferences and how the pharmaceutical industry can help ensure more patients are able to attend and participate in patient-relevant healthcare conferences.

"Patient centricity" is all the rage these days among pharmaceutical industry conference attendees and speakers. It is even becoming more common for actual patients to be part of the faculty/speakers and/or attendees of these conferences. 

Questions/Topics of Discussion

The discussion focused on the following Charter clauses copied from the patientsincluded.org site:

Patients or caregivers with experience relevant to the conference's central theme actively participate in the design and planning of the event, including the selection of themes, topics and speakers.Patients or caregivers with experience of the issues addressed by the event participate in its delivery, and appear in its physical audience.Travel and accommodation expenses for patients or carers participating in the advertised programme are paid in full, in advance.Scholarships are provided by the conference organisers to allow patients or carers affected by the relevant issues to attend as delegates.The disability requirements of participants are accommodated. All applicable sessions, breakouts, ancillary meetings, and other programme elements are open to patient delegates.Access for virtual participants is facilitated, with free streaming video provided online wherever possible.

Should Pharma Replace the Term “KOL”?

Pharmaguy interviews Sanjay Singhvi, Director, System Analytic, about KOL terminology and the research his company conducted around it with KOLs and pharmaceutical executives.

Topics/Questions discussed include:

Are pharmaceutical companies still using the term KOL?Why the interest in changing the terminology?Is this a divisive/controversial issue?Is this a superficial change or reflective of something deeper?What about "KOLs" themselves? What do they think?How does all this affect vendors/service providers? E.g. What are they searching for in Google - still searching for "KOL Mapping"?!

Input, Solutions, Culture

Pharmaguy interviews Anne C. Beal, MD, MPH, Chief Patient Officer, Sanofi, and Melva T. Covington, MPH, MBA., PhD, Project Leader, Research and Develooment, Sanofi. They talk about their roles in bringing the patient perspective into Sanofi's work to advance Sanofi's ability to deliver health care solutions that matter most to patients and those who care for them.

Questions/Topics of Discussion

How do you define "Patient-Centricity?"Tell us more about the three pillars of Sanofi's Patient-Centric Strategy. How do you get patients' input? Do you have any patient advocates on your team who are not physicians but who have worked extensively with patients?Are we talking only about patient-centricity in the context of research & development? What about corporate and marketing communications?What's the most difficult hurdle for pharma to overcome to be truly patient-centric?Why did Sanofi create the role of "Chief Patient Officer?" How is it different from "Chief Medical Officer?" What do you do as Sanofi's Chief Patient Officer? Can you relate a case study which demonstrates how you implemented your strategy?What other pharmaceutical companies have Chief Patient Officers? Do they all have similar roles? Will all pharma companies follow?

Will New FDA Guidelines Allow Pharma to Join In?

Pharmaguy interviews Peter Kirk, CEO & Sermo, who talks about the nature and value of physician discussions on Sermo and how pharma can engage docs on social media sites and online discussion boards.

Questions/Topics of Discussion

Tell us a bit about Sermo and the physician members.Are physician members engaged in meaningful discussions on Sermo? What are they discussing? Jeff Tangney, CEO of Doximity, said most online physician discussions were mundane and not related to medical practice.In the past Sermo has worked with pharma companies such as Pfizer to bring them into these discussions (see here). How did that work? Was it successful? What kinds of discussions do physicians on Sermo want to have with pharma?In your opinion, what impact will the recent FDA guidelines have on how the pharmaceutical industry engages physicians on social media sites and discussion boards such as Sermo.What value can pharma marketers gain from engaging in physician discussions via social media? What values can physicians gain?