Archive for the ‘Pharma’ Category

Anthony LaFauce
Anthony
LaFauce

Where Does Protection End and Smother Begin? FDA Requires 45 Days to Review Ads

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

fda agentThe FDA is an interesting agency when it comes to the American public and credibility. Think about it: whenever most government agencies release a report or statistic, the general public tends to question its validity. But when the FDA publishes a report, the public (with the exception of people who work in the food/drug industry) just assumes they are right.

The FDA has just submitted a document to the Federal Registry stating all television ads that are ‘direct-to-consumer’ have to be pre-submitted to the FDA for review and approval. The Federal Registry is the “official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.” In layman’s terms: if something is published here it is permanently “on the record” and part of American history.

I understand the argument for this approach: “The FDA just wants to make sure that my health interests are being protected.” Ok, I get that. But what if the FDA fails to review an ad during that 45-day period? And then that ad doesn’t run and the public doesn’t know about a drug? No big deal, right? Wrong. (more…)

Posted in FDA, New Media, Pharma
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Ken
Rabin

The Journal of Health Communication Celebrates 100 Issues – What’s Next?

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Milestones matter, and achieving a century of anything is worth noting. In Poland, where I have lived and worked since 2005, birthdays are celebrated not with a chorus of “Happy Birthday to You,” but with a raucous song called “Sto Lat!” that means “100 Years.” My adopted country clearly gets the message.

There is no question that over the span of its existence, the Journal of Health Communications has made a real difference in advancing and diffusing knowledge in this critical sector of the communications discipline. As a member of the Journal’s editorial board, I’m excited to celebrate this 100 issue achievement, however, the question that I ask myself is, “Where do we go from here?” I think that the challenges of staying relevant in the years that lie ahead will be both plentiful and, hopefully, invigorating ones for this journal, its editors, contributors and readers.

The first change I expect to see is in the focus of the articles we publish. These changes will be driven by a combination of profound global demographic changes, ongoing economic pressures and the plethora of new media and media apps that are the currency of early 21stcentury communications. With respect to demographics, we are right now in the midst of two profound currents of change: on the one hand, western society is aging rapidly, and on the other hand, the number of young people in the developing societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America is growing at an extraordinary rate. (more…)

Posted in Health Policy, Pharma, PR Industry
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LukeDickinson
Luke
Dickinson

Medical Device Recall and Crisis Response

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

There have been countless recalls of faulty drugs and medical devices in the pharmaceutical and device industry. Some have been the result of malicious actions by external parties, while others can be attributed to production faults or other random incidents. No matter what the cause, the manufacturer is always placed directly in the spotlight and how they respond can have lasting effects on their reputation.

The most recent to capture the media’s attention – as they inevitably always do – is a voluntary recall of around 600,000 contact lenses made by New York-based CooperVision, Inc. Federal health officials claim that an “undefined residue” on the lenses has caused a range of eye problems, from blurred vision to painful corneal tears.

CooperVision has come under heavy criticism for their slow response to the recall. This delay has resulted in threats by the FDA to issue a public health warning and sweeping negative media coverage for CooperVision. As a voluntary recall, the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates contact lenses as a class III medical device, has only limited authority to force CooperVision into action, with much of the onus for notification and action placed on the individual retailers.

(more…)

Posted in Biotechnology, Community Involvement, Crisis Management, FDA, Health Care Industry, Medical Devices, Pharma
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Anthony LaFauce
Anthony
LaFauce

Digital Pharma East 2011 Day One

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

A big thank you is in order to my employer, Spectrum, as I attend Digital Pharma East this week. Day one kicked off with a great session lead by Takeda Pharmaceuticals Chad Ballentine who spoke about how to use a patient focused, multi-channel, customer relationship management (CRM) to really capitalize on your database to assure you are getting the right information to the right people…and of course increase sales.

Chad had a ton of good points but I was blown away by his simple, and spot on, key points on how to get the best value out of your CRM.

  1. Use digital [technology] to grow your database
  2. Use your database: Chad said that nearly 60 percent of marketers don’t actually use their DB
  3. Minimze duplication: With budgets scalling down, efficiency is key. If you have a high conversion touch point, make sure to increase your efforts toward that touch point and scale back those that don’t work well

Social Media & Pharma…it’s out there

As I sit here and type, drinking my coffee, Todd Kolm from Pfizer is on the stage talking about some of the great tools Pfizer is using to engage customers. Pfizer is taking to social media and positioning YouTube as an educational tool for consumers by using a blend of paid ads and search ads which link to channels with custom play lists.

As a lover of PR/Digital media I am constantly getting hit with, “oh Pharma doesn’t really do social” or “we don’t want to deal with the legal issues.” I am surrounded by around 700 people who see things differently. I am energized by hearing not what we COULD do but hearing about what we ARE doing.

Anyone else out there excited about this?

Posted in Digital Pharma East, Health 2.0, Health Care Industry, Innovation, New Media, Pharma, PR Industry, Public Health, Social Media, Technology
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Anthony LaFauce
Anthony
LaFauce

What does Google’s Fine Mean for Your PPC?

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Today or tomorrow the Department of Justice is expected to announce Google will have to pay half a billion dollars in fines for ads run on its network that sold illegal drugs.  For the better part of a year, Google had been battling with online  ’pharmacies’ about the products they sell.

Google had stated in official documents, due to the difficult nature of regulating ads on their network they shouldn’t be held accountable for ads they were actively removing.  Google’s official statement, “… it’s obvious with hindsight that we shouldn’t have allowed these ads on Google in the first place. Given the extensive coverage this settlement has already received, we won’t be commenting further,” is clear and concise. They messed up and they know it.

(more…)

Posted in Congress, Health 2.0, mobile, New Media, Pharma, Social Media, Technology
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