Bob Crimmins: February 2010 Archives

There has been a conversation about a conversation going on for some time now, namely how the pharma industry can (i.e. regulatory perspective) and should (i.e., effectiveness perspective) engage with physicians in the new and largely-uncharted world of online social media.  This is one focus of the upcoming ePharma Summit happening in Philadelphia February 8 - 10.  The event will bring together major players in the digital marketing space together with some the some of the nation's leading pharma brand teams.

The marketing landscape has changed a lot over the past few years as new regulatory constraints, changing behaviors of physicians and attitudes of administrators around access issues have turned the traditional pharma marketing model upside down.  With physicians spending more and more time online and gaining more and more control over the kinds of conversations they are willing to have, pharma is intent on figuring out how to engage physicians online in a way that supports both sides of the conversation.  What we hear from physicians is that they want, neigh demand, that their engagement with pharma must be "value-add", e.g.:

• efficient use of time
• simple engagement tools
• high-quality, relevant and timely information

Online research tools, eDetailing, eSampling and virtual conferences are examples of services that can be delivered in an effective way through online media channels and each offers the potential for pharma to add value to physicians' lives.  The regulatory issues surrounding these online engagements are non-trivial and the vagueness of the FDA has been a barrier; but online media companies (including iMedExchange) pursuing innovative solutions will arrive at useful, value-add conversations between pharma and physicians.

Given that the technical and regulatory challenges are resolved, the next question for physicians is: "if pharms wants to talk... do you want to listen?"