By Andrew Tolve
In the US, more than 80
percent of Americans search online for health information, according to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project. On search engines like Google, Bing!, and
Yahoo, health is the third most common topic, meaning that more people turn to
search engines to answer questions about their health than they do to doctors. And
increasingly they conduct these searches via mobile phones.
Nearly a third of Americans
aged 18 to 29 use their phones as conduits for health info, and 17 percent of
Americans overall do the same. Using mobile platforms to engage with health has
led to increased usage of health apps. Ten percent of the American population
currently has at least one app that helps track or manage their health, and
that stat rises to 15 percent for those aged 18 to 29. The market for mobile
health is forecasted to hit $4.5 billion by 2014, according to In-Stats’ latest
projections. Taken collectively, these
data, which are mirrored in other developed markets, reveal that mobile health
is far more than hype.
In the words of John Mattison,
Kaiser Permanente’s Chief Medical Information Officer, mobile phones are “the
new wellness delivery channel.” The pharmaceutical industry has grasped this
and started to act upon it. Companies have created apps and outfitted their
sales forces with mobile devices.
Pharma investments in
smartphone apps, social media platforms, and wireless devices have grown 78
percent in the past year, according to Ernst & Young’s annual global
pharmaceutical report. At same time, companies have struggled to determine the
best places to focus their resources on the mobile front. Many have thrown
money at apps as the next big thing but are yet to determine how to build
mobile into the core of their business strategies and media plans.
“Mobile does not equal apps,
it’s a lot more than that,” says Wendy Blackburn, executive vice president at
the digital marketing firm Intouch Solutions. “It’s text messages and QR
codes, email and media, mobilized websites. Pharma needs to embrace the whole
suite to keep pace with the mobile health revolution.”
Here are three things pharma
can do to capitalize on the mobile opportunity.
1. Mobilize rep-physician
interaction
As physicians become more
difficult to access, pharma must find new ways to maintain relationships and
expand customer pools. Mobile has emerged as a compelling way to do this.
The days of long meetings in
doctors’ offices, when reps had ample time to pull out clunky machines and run
through a Powerpoint presentation, are gone. These days reps are fortunate to
get a minute of face time with a physician, and often that comes on the go in a
hospital corridor. Being able to present engaging information quickly on an
intuitive, mobile platform has become a strategic imperative. More importantly,
it’s become an expectation among physicians, who are among the most active
segments of mobile users.
According to a Manhattan
Research study released in May, 75 percent of US physicians own some form of
Apple device, and 30 percent own an iPad. A more recent Manhattan Research
study found that when physicians access pharma product information, they want
to use online sources 66 percent of the time, rather than offline or print
materials. “Physicians want access to
online details and presentations about products on their smartphones and
iPads,” says Monique Levy, vice president of research at Manhattan Research. “Getting service and learning
on the go seems to come naturally for busy docs.”
To their credit, pharma
companies are trying to accommodate this changed landscape; some have
overlooked sizable existing investments in tablet PCs to deploy iPads across
their sales forces. However, all too often
companies make initial investments in mobile but then cut off the money flow
when it comes to creating native materials and apps that harness the platforms
properly. It may be easier to scan in print materials and call it a day, but
that mentality comes at a cost.
“Physicians are starting to
exhibit ‘shiny object syndrome’,” says Blackburn. “They don’t want to see a rep
presenting an iPad with the same old data on it. They want something of value,
something different with engaging content that invites physicians to interact.
That’s where companies can create competitive advantage.”
2. Provide value to physicians
and nurse practitioners
Pharma reps are a small part
of practicing physician’s lives. Day in and day out physicians diagnose, they
treat, they prescribe, sometimes they’re called into emergency situations in
which the last thing on their minds is a rep with an iPad and his or her slides
about comparative effectiveness. Thanks to mobile, pharma can insert itself
into some of these other job functions, thereby providing value beyond reps. For instance, as physicians
rely more heavily on iPads, pharma can provide apps that turn these tablets
into medical devices that help diagnose conditions and simplify time-consuming
procedures. A number of apps have already been released in this vein.
AirStrip Cardiology, for
instance, allows physicians to view patients’ electrocardiograms on an iPad,
and FDA-approved “Mobile MIM” allows them to view radiology images on their
tablets. Likewise, the GIST Calculator from Novartis helps physicians quickly calculate a patient’s Risk of
recurrence for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) with an iPhone or iPod
Touch.
And Johnson & Johnson’s Psoriasis App gives
dermatologists an easy and accurate way to calculate PASI scores during patient
check-ups. J&J unveiled the Psoriasis
App in 2010 and the app has already been localized in 25 languages, averages 60
downloads a day, and has diagnosed upwards of 30,000 patients.
Such has been the interest in
mobile apps for physicians, the FDA recently came out with draft guidelines for
mobile health apps. One of the proposed amendments suggests that if an app is
used to diagnose or treat patients, it may need to be regulated as an actual
medical device.
“This has implications,” says
Blackburn, “because all of a sudden companies would need to send apps through
all the rigors and testing of a medical device. It’s definitely something
companies should monitor.” Even if the FDA takes a more restrictive line on
apps for docs, it will remain a viable channel for pharma.
Companies can also look to
registered nurses (RNs), nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants
(PAs) as a second audience for their mobile initiatives. With a shortage of
primary care physicians, RNs, NPs, and PAs are expected to carry more of the
load and, as a result, spend more time directly influencing patients.
According to Manhattan
Research’s Taking the Pulse Nurses Study, PAs recommend or prescribe more than
330 million pharmaceutical products annually, and NPs write more than 590
million prescriptions each year. As it turns out, this segment of the
healthcare community is one of the most active when it comes to mobile and
Internet use. They spend an average of 10 hours a week online for professional
purposes and often leverage digital support materials and tools for patient
education.
“Traditionally, pharma has not
prioritized healthcare professionals beyond doctors, but we’re starting to see
that change,” says Maureen Malloy, senior healthcare analyst at Manhattan
Research. “Nurses, NPs and PAs are tech savvy audiences and very involved in
patient care and support.”
Companies like Roche have
introduced apps like Nursing ACE, which provides nurses with patient educational information and contacts
for nearby clinical coordinators, but more opportunities abound.
3. Improve patients’ lives and
treatments
Patients are in many respects
the engines of the mobile health revolution. As people become more connected,
the expectation for personalized care—whether it be turn-by-turn directions on
a GPS or a tailored calorie counter on a mobile phone—is rising, which in turn
puts pressure on the tech and health sectors to provide solutions. Apps are one
way pharma can respond to this need and put personal value in the pockets of
patients. As of mid-2011, pharma had
more than 50 apps in the Apple App Store, many of which are focused on the
patient segment.
Merck’s iChemoDiary enables patients to track symptoms, treatments and medications during
chemotherapy.
Bayer’s Kid-K teaches kids about hemophilia and the fun they can have despite their
chronic condition.
Sanofi-aventis' GoMeals lets users access nutritional information of everyday foods, track the
values of their food intake by meal and by day, and monitor personal
consumption of carbs, fats, and proteins.
While some of pharma’s apps
have garnered attention in the patient community, others have languished in
obscurity, which is significant when you consider that the average apps costs
between $150,000 and $1.5 million, according to a general study from Ad Week.
Therefore, it’s critical when
creating an app to reach out to the patient community, get their input on the
real needs, and determine which users the app will be targeting—the patient,
the caregiver, kids, teens, adults?
As Jan Geissler, a founding
member of the European Cancer Patient Coalition and co-founder of the CML
Advocates Network, puts it, “Mobile in isolation doesn't work.” It’s also critical to consider
other ways, and arguably simpler ways, to harness mobile beyond apps. “Apps are sexy and shiny and
that’s where everyone goes when they think mobile, but there’s a lot of basics
that people skip over,” says Blackburn.
As more patients access health
through mobile platforms, the need for basic mobile compatibility grows. If a
company sends out emails as part of an adherence campaign, those emails need to
be viewable on a mobile device. Likewise, product and company websites should
be optimized for mobile platforms. This requires time and money and patience - guiding
another site through legal, medical, and regulatory isn’t easy - all of which
requires senior level support.
“Even if there’s general
interest, when it actually comes to executing these basic steps, things fall
apart and get cut from the budget,” says Blackburn.
“Leaders throughout pharma
need to fight for this, or else it won’t happen.”
Source: Eyeforpharma
