Online Consumers Think Pharma Companies Should be Involved in Online Health Communities

42 Percent of Online Consumers Think Pharma Companies Should be Involved in Online Health Communities

– ADD/ADHD and Bipolar Disorder Caregivers Top Groups to Agree

ePharma Consumer® Study Reveals New Trends around How Consumers Interact with Pharma, Including Customer Service Options, Patient Education, and Pharma Websites – Webinar January 25 at 2pm ET

January 17, 2012, New York, NY – On the heels of the FDA issuing its “Guidance for Industry Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices”, pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research releases new data exploring how consumers use social media and other online sources for prescription drug information and pharma interaction.

The ePharma Consumer® study found that 42 percent of online adults agree that pharmaceutical companies should be involved in online health communities for consumers. Additionally, only 19 percent of online adults disagree that pharma should participate in this type of forum - with the additional 39 percent being impartial to the issue.

Interest in pharma involvement is significantly higher among certain audiences, representing stronger opportunities for some pharmaceutical brands than others. According to the study, ADD/ADHD and Bipolar Disorder caregivers are the top groups feeling pharma ought to be active in communities.

Increasing smartphone use among U.S. physicians

This is being republished from http://www.medicalsmartphones.com/

How many doctors are currently using smartphones? Here are some snippets from a recent story on Medical Marketing and Media:

• About 80% of all US physicians will be using smart phones by 2012, and not just for drug reference or clinical information... according to Manhattan Research survey.
• An explosion of new healthcare professional-facing apps - over 1,500 in Apple's app store alone - will expand mobile device usage to include patient care and administrative functions, according to Manhattan Research survey.
• A recent SDI survey found that iPhones were used most among docs using smart phones to access medical information.
• "Handheld devices are becoming more and more useful to physicians, partly because of the boom in physician-oriented apps and portable content," said Monique Levy, senior director of research at Manhattan Research.
• Creating smart phone apps for physicians makes a lot of sense, considering that docs have been using PDAs, with applications, for a long time, said  Jeannette Kocsis, SVP, digital marketing, at Harte-Hanks Direct. The mobile-optimized web is also important, said Kocsis, particularly because updates are managed by the website host, as opposed to a physician having to update an application.

DTC television ads driving consumers to pharma websites

Manhattan research recently conducted some market research studies to see how direct-to-consumer or DTC ads were impacting website traffic to pharmaceutical websites. The findings are from a report titled, "ePharma Consumer® v9.0" and it focuses on the attitudes and behaviors of consumers researching prescription drug information online.

Top Pharma Product Sites in Terms of Percentage of Traffic Driven by DTC Television Ads: 

1. NuvaRing
2. Latisse
3. Cialis
4. Boniva
5. Abilify
6. Gardasil
7. Yaz
8. Viagra
9. Levitra
10. Lunesta

"In today's multi-channel world, marketing initiatives must be designed to work together for optimal results," says Meredith Ressi, Vice President of Research at Manhattan Research. "While the television ad is critical to building awareness, for many patients, the Internet is a next stop for learning more before going on to speak to their physician about a product."

Noticing a theme? How many of the products listed above deal with sexual health? I count six out of ten (some may argue that Gardasil is in a different category).  I think we can be sure that we'll be seeing more ads on TV that focus on sexuality and sexual health. Just watch the Super Bowl and you'll see.

More doctors spending time online

It's no surprise that doctors are spending more time online, right?

The results of a Manhattan Research white paper titled: “How Digital is Shaping the Future of Pharmaceutical Marketing,” reveal that in 2002, physicians spent an average of 2.5 hours per week on the Internet for professional reasons. Compare that to now, where the average physician spends 8 hrs per week on the Internet. They are researching medical information, completing CME activities, and reading medical news. I'm sure Sermo has also bumped those Internet hours. The same report indicates that 64% of physicians use smartphones (that number seems a bit high to me if you consider the wide spectrum of physician ages).

The biggest area of change as we look into the future is smartphones. As these devices become more powerful, physicians will use them to access the web more regularly. Mobile web browsers are now able to view complete web pages and you can simply zoom in and out to view content. Soon, the days of websites being formatted for small screens will be a thing of the past.

As more doctors rely on the Internet, we're also going to see growth in electronic pharmaceutical marketing. Instead of printed journal ads in the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, we'll simply see electronic banners on more websites (like this one). I think we're all getting accustomed to ignoring ads and simply tuning them out.

50% of Physicians are using Wikipedia

According to a study performed by Manhattan Research, almost 50% of physicians are going to Wikipedia to view health condition information. Why? Because they use search engines like Google to look up information about diseases and various conditions. Isn't it amazing how we rely on Internet search engines for information? The Manhattan Research study, titled Taking the Pulse, surveyed physicians during the first quarter of 2009.

Smartphone Use Among Physicians on the Rise

According to a recent study by Manhattan Research, the use of smartphones among physicians is now at 64%. The study is titled, "Taking the Pulse v9.0." The use of mobile devices like the iPhone and BlackBerry increased by 20% in one year. It's not a surprise that the number of physicians who use the iPhone more than doubled in the past year. Now with the availability of the touch screen BlackBerry Storm, I anticipate that more doctors will be using the BlackBerry. Overall, physicians are spending more time online and are using both computers and smartphones to stay current and access medical information. They are also using mobile devices to access CME activities. So smartphones have a bright future ahead in the medical industry. As these devices become more powerful and ubiquitous, they will permeate the healthcare space and play an even larger role in the daily workflow of medical students, residents, physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.

I currently use a Windows Mobile device (the Verizon Wireless XV6800, also known as the Sprint Mogul and the HTC Titan). If I were on the AT&T network, I'd be an iPhone user. If I had to buy a new phone on Verizon, I'd probably get the new BlackBerry Storm that will have Wi-Fi. If I were on T-Mobile, I would get the G1 running Google Android.