the impact of social media on the pharmaceutical sector

Changing lives through healthcare engagement

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

Paul GrantHead of Strategy Implementation


Insurer

Patient

Doctor

Specialist

Media

Hospital

Pharmacist

The Internet


New socialized ‘touch’ pointsCu

stom

er lo

yalty

Time

Search, or respond to a social message

Visit website

Discuss online/offline Visit GP

Engage in online community

Share positive

Share negative


Very personal when N=1Re

turn

on

inve

stm

ent?

Time


Health


What might they find?•People are sharing very personal and sensitive user

generated content (UGC).

Using ‘ADHD’ as an example, there are already;• More than 1,540 ADHD social groups on Yahoo!

• Over 7,155 photos ‘tagged’ as ADHD in Flickr

• More than 3,550,000 ADHD forum discussions

• More than 3,500 views per day (average) of the Wikipedia ADHD page. It has been viewed 116,564 times in the last 30 days

• More than 40,543 resolved questions about ADHD in Yahoo! Answers

• 100's of ADHD related Facebook groups


Can UGC = clinical data?


Community

CompetitionCollaboration

Content

CredibilityConversation

Cause

Why are they doing this?• Historically, we would

say something like…• In health social

media, it’s more like…

Physical/SafetySource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg


The age of the ‘e-Patient’• Equipped with the skills to manage their own condition• Enabled to make choices about self-care and those choices are

respected• Empowered• Engaged in their own care• Equals in their partnerships with the various physicians involved

in their care• Emancipated• Expert patients can improve their self-rated health status, cope

better with fatigue and other generic features of chronic disease such as role limitation, and reduce disability and their dependence on hospital care

Source: E-Patient, //en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=E-Patient&oldid=437847665 (last visited Oct. 4, 2011).


Our idea of the world

Source: http://worldmapper.org © Copyright SASI Group (University of Sheffield)


The world by population



The ‘English’ language world



The ‘Chinese’ language world



% e-Patients by country

Sample size: 5,183– US: 1,000– UK: 1,078– Germany: 1,000– Russia: 1,081– China: 1,024

Source: Health Influence in the Era of Public Engagement. Edelman, (January 2009)


‘Participatory’ role in outcomes

• It is largely accepted that when patients DO play a role in their care, there are benefits:– Improved experience and thus better overall

outcomes • (Stewart et al., The Impact of Patient-Centred Care on Outcomes,

Journal of Family Practice, September 2000, Vol. 49, No. 9)

– Improved adherence • (Robinson et al., Patient-centered care and adherence: definitions

and applications to improve outcomes, J Am Acad Nurse Pract. 2008 Dec;20(12):600-7)


Mmmm - ‘So what?’

• There are many ‘Social’ opportunities for pharmaceutical companies:– Clinical trials recruitment– Engaging with HCPs– Raising awareness– Monitoring product safety– Learning about personalised health solutions– Accessing real-world data– Crowd-sourcing research– Etc.


Insurer

Patient

Doctor

Specialist

Media

Hospital

Pharmacist

The Internet

Pharma

Pharma

Pharma Pharma

‘Social’ Pharma


What about regulation?

“…the complex regulatory requirements for pharmacovigilance, brought in to protect

patients at a time of information scarcity, are now acting as a barrier to the use of this information as an important additional

resource to protect public health”

ABPI 13 June 2011

Source: Pharmacovigilance and the Internet: A Call for Change http://www.abpi.org.uk/our-work/library/industry/Pages/pharmacovigilance-the-internet.aspx


Nothing has really changed

“If you are a pharmaceutical company in Europe, don’t inappropriately promote

prescription-only products through digital, or any other channels.”

Paul Grant 13 April 2011


Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/davedufour


Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nosheep


“A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.”James 3:5


• Integrated offline/online communications centre

• Internal/external expenditure• Remove inefficiencies

• Listening– Reputation– Trends– Opportunities

• Engaging– Real-time response team– Long term relationship building

(i.e. Journalists, Physicians)– Pharmacovigilance

• Protocols– Scenario scripts– Crisis resolution– Clear and resourced

escalation/approvals process

Requires a ‘paradigm shift’


External Creative Agency

IT

Communications

Medical Information/SafetySource: http://www.iconarchive.com/show/vista-people-icons-by-icons-land/

Who owns ‘engagement’?

Brand team

Information Technology


How? What don’t we know?Know

Know

Don’t Know

Don’t Know

What we know we know

What we don’t know we know What we don’t know we don’t know

What we know we don’t know

Engagement

Source: Adapted from http://www.doceo.co.uk/tools/knowing.htm


Other tips for starters• Plan for change • Where is the weakest link?• Think about duration – not just launch; the total cost of ownership • You do not have control (over 3rd party platforms e.g. Facebook)

– They can and will change things without notification– At any point, your initiative can be removed, irrecoverably lost or be unavailable– You do not usually own the rights to content, but are responsible for it

• Build a repository of knowledge about your company initiatives– For an emergency response and for best practise/precedent sharing

• Take a view on: – the landscape, experience you have to date, your own resources and risk profile

• Don’t join in because everyone else is• Demonstrate intent/compliance with existing code and regulations


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the impact of social media on the pharmaceutical sector

Health & Medicine