Native advertising for pharma: Winning format or slippery slope to regulatory headaches?

FiercePharmaMarketing  | By Beth Snyder Bulik

Did you see that ad? In many cases of native advertising, the answer is no--because people can't always tell what's an ad and what isn't. A study in the December Journal of Advertising found that the majority of consumers can't tell the difference between native advertising and editorial content. As more pharma marketers begin to embrace the format, and as the Federal Trade Commission continues to home in on native advertising for any deceptive practices, the findings are worth noting.

In two different experiments, researchers from Grady College in Georgia found surprisingly low recognition of advertising. In the first, consumers were asked to read two stories, one that was native advertising and the other editorial. The native ads were marked with a variety of labels including "sponsored content," "advertisement," and "presented by" placed in different areas around the page. Overall, fewer than 8%--17 people out of 242--recognized the native advertising as an ad.

LinkedIn emerges as popular marketing tool for pharma

Stephanie Katzman

"Healthcare, overall, and pharma is definitely on the developmental side of the LinkedIn spectrum, if you will, from an advertising perspective," said Stephanie Katzman, LinkedIn's healthcare lead in its Marketing Solutions group. "But over the past three years, we've seen a huge growth in having these companies consider LinkedIn as a channel."

Many drugmakers have taken a first step, usually by setting up a company page where drugmakers can build up followers and create an audience with employees, colleagues and associates. But pharmas are increasingly using LinkedIn for paid sponsorships and advertising. Sponsored updates and InMail campaigns are beginning to move from testing to a repeat marketing strategy among pharmas, Katzman said.

InMail, in which sponsored messages are sent directly to targeted LinkedIn members inboxes, tends to be "safe" for pharma because email bypasses any open comment possibilities, she said. LinkedIn will only send InMail paid messages to a user's account once every 60 days, but Katzman said pharma companies who test InMail more often than not will quickly line up for the next opening.

Across her three and a half years at LinkedIn, she said, in the first year there were just two or three pharma companies using LinkedIn for paid advertising, but the number has grown to about a dozen now.

Προσκήνιο και παρασκήνιο σε εκδήλωση της Πανελλήνιας Ένωσης Φαρμακοβιομηχανίας

Ευχές και συνθήματα ακούστηκαν για τη διαμόρφωση ενός βιώσιμου συστήματος φαρμακευτικής πολιτικής που θα ανταποκρίνεται αποτελεσματικά στις ανάγκες των ασθενών και θα αξιοποιεί τις σημαντικές δυνατότητες της ελληνικής φαρμακοβιομηχανίας. Δεν έλλειψαν όμως και οι  λεκτικές κόντρες μεταξύ των παρευρισκομένων στην κοπή της πίτας της ΠΕΦ στην οποία παραβρέθηκαν πολλοί βουλευτές και εκπροσώποι των κοινοβουλευτικών κομμάτων, εκπρόσωποι επιστημονικών φορέων, συλλόγων ασθενών, δημοσιογράφοι, καθώς και στελέχη των εταιρειών-μελών της Π.Ε.Φ. 

Το προσκήνιο

Την εκδήλωση άνοιξε με ομιλία του ο Πρόεδρος της Πανελλήνιας Ένωσης Φαρμακοβιομηχανίας, κ. Θεόδωρος Τρύφων, ο οποίος αφού ευχαρίστησε τους παρευρισκόμενους για την παρουσία τους στην εκδήλωση, υπογράμμισε για ακόμη μία φορά την ανάγκη συγκρότησης μιας εθνικής πολιτικής φαρμάκου. «Η ελληνική φαρμακοβιομηχανία είναι ένας κλάδος που σύμφωνα με όλες τις μελέτες αποτελεί ελπίδα για το μέλλον. Πρόκειται για τον κλάδο που μπορεί να γίνει η αναπτυξιακή ατμομηχανή της χώρας. Η ελληνική φαρμακευτική βιομηχανία μπορεί να καλύψει ένα μεγάλο μέρος των αναγκών της πρωτοβάθμιας και της νοσοκομειακής περίθαλψης της χώρας μας, με ποιοτικά φάρμακα σε προσιτές τιμές, συμβάλλοντας στην εξοικονόμηση και στη  δημιουργία σημαντικής προστιθεμένης αξίας για την εθνική οικονομία». Ο κ. Τρύφων τόνισε ωστόσο ότι: «η Πολιτεία θα πρέπει να κατανοήσει πως Π.Ε.Φ. αποτελεί τη λύση για να τεθεί άμεσα σε τάξη η φαρμακευτική αγορά και να αποκατασταθούν οι στρεβλώσεις στον τομέα του φαρμάκου, που αποτυπώνονται με δυσβάσταχτα rebate και clawback και με συνεχείς μειώσεις τιμών, οι οποίες έχουν ουσιαστικά ως αποτέλεσμα τη μόχλευση της αγοράς». Κλείνοντας την ομιλία του, ο κ. Τρύφων τόνισε ότι η Ελληνική Φαρμακοβιομηχανία θα εξακολουθήσει να βρίσκεται εδώ, να επενδύει και να αντιστέκεται παρά την παρατεταμένη κρίση, ενώ το ελάχιστο που ζητάει από την Πολιτεία είναι μια υπόσχεση τριετούς σταθερότητας στην φαρμακευτική αγορά.

A robotic “pharmacy kiosk” launched across rural Scotland

The kiosk, being trialled in Aberdeenshire, will allow the user to speak remotely to a pharmacist via a webcam – and then safely and securely access either dispensed or recommended over-the-counter medicines near their home.

The service has been developed as part of a research project led by the University of Aberdeen and is part-funded by the Scottish Government.

Professor Christine Bond, chair in general practice and primary care at the University of Aberdeen, said: “The role of the pharmacist and the services they provide has expanded greatly in recent years.

“So in rural areas, where it is not financially viable to have a pharmacy, the local community are disadvantaged.

Why doctors delay switching to new drugs

 Pharmaphorum | Theano Anastasopoulou

Theano Anastasopoulou

A common question from brand teams launching a new drug is how to make it the preferred physician choice over current treatment. Approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other regional bodies before new drugs are licensed ensure that new drugs offer benefits over existing ones for appropriate patient populations.

It follows that a rational healthcare professional (HCP) should be able to compare the benefit or, in economic terms, the 'utility' offered by existing and new products, choose the one with the highest utility and quickly start offering the new option where appropriate. This outcome is predicted by the 'expected utility' theory in economics where people are 'rational agents' acting on a mission to maximise utilities.

However, experience shows that new product adoption does not follow the above rational law and switching to a new drug may be very slow when it doesn't offer a real breakthrough, despite offering clinical benefits. HCP treatment decision making involves a trade-off between various factors. The decision will involve an efficacy target, elements of risk for each patient and possibly a cost target. Cognitive biases may come into play and are likely to make HCPs overwhelmingly choose one treatment over another, objectively similar, one, choose a suboptimal treatment, or even stick to a treatment beyond the point when they should choose another one.