Did Pawn Star Rick Harrison Ask His Daddy About the Value of Vascepa Omega-3 Fish Oil?
Cable-TV star Rick Harrison (host of the show Pawn Stars) is now officially a celebrity spokesperson for Amarin's Omega-3 Vascepa brand Rx drug. A few minutes ago, Harrison made the official announcement via his @GoldSilverPawn Twitter account, which has over 155,000 followers: "Excited to share my story of lowering my very high #triglycerides through the new Lower My Trigs campaign: http://bit.ly/1uXxUSP #spon"“If I hadn't checked with my doctor, I would have made the mistake many make, thinking dietary supplement omega-3s are actually over-the-counter drugs,” Harrison says in a video on the site Lo...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 25, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Celebrity Endorsement Cholesterol Lovaza Pawn Stars Vascepa Source Type: blogs
The Hawaiian Shirt is Back from Italy and Ready for the Next Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award Recipient!
I just received the coveted Hawaiian shirt from Davide Bottalico and the Roche Italy Digital Academy Team, recipients of the Fourth Annual Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award (see "Davide Bottalico and the Roche Digital Academy Team Receive the 4th Annual Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award!").I was a little afraid that Davide would get pizza on the shirt when I spotted an image on his Facebook page of him wearing it. But I see that it is in mint condition -- freshly dry-cleaned and wrapped in plastic! Thanks Davide for taking such good care of this revered symbol of "standing out from the crowd."The Award gives ku...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 20, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: social media Social Media Pioneer Award Source Type: blogs
A Type of Rx Drug Tweet FDA Did Not Consider in its Recent Guidance
I couldn't sleep last night. For some reason I became obsessed with trying to figure out a way that pharma companies can create Rx branded tweets that satisfy FDA's recent "Industry Guidance for Internet/Social Media Platforms with Character Space Limitations — Presenting Risk and Benefit Information for Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices."Is it possible?In a comment to the FDA on Regulation.gov, I described a Tweet that may pass muster with the FDA.Here's my comment:"The draft guidance does not mention Tweets accompanied by images, which is perhaps a way to present ISI along with benef...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 20, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Drug Safety Guidance side effects space limitation Twitter Source Type: blogs
FDA Has One More Internet Guidance to Publish in 2014: Links
Discussion Forums About Branded Rx Products, Sorta, & Kinda Correct Misinformation").Will FDA publish Guidance #3 before the July 9, 2014, deadline imposed by Congress (see here)? Or will it miss that deadline? When it does publish this guidance, will it address ALL the issues about links raised by the FDA prior to the November, 2009, public hearing? What's the opinion of pharma marketers regarding these issues? Read on.Read more » (Source: Pharma Marketing Blog)
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 19, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance guidelines social media Sponsored Link Source Type: blogs
FDA to Pharma: Forget About Tweets! But You Can Host Discussion Forums About Branded Rx Products, Sorta, & Kinda Correct Misinformation
FDA has just released two guidance documents that finally address major issues discussed at the November 2009 public hearing:How to present both benefit and risk information within a “promotion” of their FDA-regulated medical products on electronic/digital platforms that are associated with character space limitations, specifically on through social media such as Twitter and through online paid search (e.g., “sponsored links” on search engines such as Google and Yahoo); and How to respond to misinformation related to a firm’s own FDA-approved or -cleared products when that information is created or disseminated ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 18, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance guidelines social media Wikipedia Source Type: blogs
Fictional Patient Story Wins Gold, Whereas Authentic Patient Story Wins Bronze at Lions Health 2014
Although none of the 517 entries from 35 countries in the Pharma category at the recent Lions Health "Festival" was a a grand prix winner (read "Pharma Advertising is So Bad It Has No Big Winner at Cannes Lions Health 2014"), one campaign did win a Gold Award: Janssen's Simponi's "Cate" campaign. This campaign represents a category that many #LionsHeath tweeters waxed poetic about: patient storytelling. It's all the rage today in pharma and healthcare advertising.Here's how McCann Health Australia, the ad agency who created this campaign, described it:"When you treat RA w...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #LionsHealth Narrative Medicine patient testimonial Source Type: blogs
Christopher Snowbeck writes
Medtronic's Covidien deal spurs debate about corporate taxesIs Medtronic's massive international corporate merger a billion-dollar tax dodge, an indictment of the U.S. tax code, or a business-savvy work-around that would spur investment and growth in the Twin Cities?The answer depends on who you talk to.The $42.9 billion cash-and-stock purchase of Covidien, announced Sunday, comes with plans for Medtronic to decamp its executive suite to Ireland, where Covidien is based.It also will nearly double the size of the Fridley-based medical device maker, and likely result in no significant change in its 8,000-strong Twin Cities w...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pharma Advertising is So Bad It Has No Big Winner at Cannes Lions Health 2014
Cannes Lions Health 2014 was a new two-day "festival of creativity" in healthcare communications, actually more of a contest among healthcare and pharma advertising agencies vying for awards and honors meted out by their peers."Made by advertising agencies and for advertising agencies, Lions Health could not find a grand prix winner in Cannes this year," noted Piotr Wrzosiński, Digital Marketing - Informatics Project Manager at Roche and author of K-Message."Does it prove lack of creativity, or rather that the whole concept of advertising in the healthcare industry is wrong?," asks Wrzosińsk...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #LionsHealth Awards DTC Advertising Unbranded Advertising Source Type: blogs
Baron and Budd Announces $177 Million Settlement for Seven States Against Avandia Manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline
DALLAS, Jun 13, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The national law firm of Baron and Budd has reached a $177 million settlement with GlaxoSmithKline on behalf of the states of Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia regarding the deceptive advertising of the diabetes drug Avandia. This result represents the largest settlement of a pharmaceutical case ever for several of the involved states, and a much higher settlement for each individual state than what they would otherwise have received in a multistate settlement reached in 2012. Baron and Budd attorneys Russell Budd, Burton LeBlanc, Lau...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 13, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Things that make you go hmmm! EMA policy on transparency is “strikingly” similar to deal struck with drug company, say experts
Peter Doshihttp://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3852?sso=A US drug company seems to have influenced the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) draft policy on access to clinical trial data, which academics have claimed keeps too much information hidden.Documents obtained by The BMJ under a freedom of information request showed a significant overlap between what the US drug giant AbbVie had agreed with the EMA could be released about its drug adalimumab (marketed as Humira) and the agency’s draft policy on providing public access to drug company data.In 2012 the EMA announced a new, “proactive” transparency poli...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 12, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Former Novartis Japan Employee Held for Data Manipulation
A former employee of Novartis AG (NOVN)’s Japanese unit was arrested in Tokyo on charges of manipulating data on a drug study, the latest setback for the pharmaceutical company in the country.Nobuo Shirahashi, who was a director of the unit’s scientific affairs department, violated pharmaceutical law by understating side effects in a study that evaluated hypertension drug Diovan’s efficacy in cutting stroke risk and getting researchers to publish it, the Tokyo prosecutors office said in a faxed statement today.Shirahashi couldn’t be reached and Novartis Japan declined to make contact information for him or his...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Gefällt Mir! Boehringer Ingelheim Invites Two-Way Communication Via Social Media
"Boehringer Ingelheim is a leader in healthcare social media," according to video the company has just recently uploaded to YouTube for the whole world to see (the video is embedded at the end of this post).I'm on record for pointing out that some pharma companies are getting very comfy with Facebook, YouTube, blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, and even Tumblr to reach its many and diverse audiences (read, for example, "Pharma and Social Media - Comfy Bedfellows"). And I've given Boehringer (BI) kudos (e.g., "Boehringer Ingelheim Shows How to Support Patients via Twitter and Beyond") as ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 10, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Boehringer Ingelheim social media YouTube Source Type: blogs
FDA Issues More Guidance Regarding Distribution of Reprints. Is It "Fair and Balanced?"
FDA seems obsessed with the distribution of reprints by the pharmaceutical industry.In January, 2009, FDA "finalized" its "Good Reprint Practices for the Distribution of Medical Journal Articles and Medical or Scientific Reference Publications on Unapproved New Uses of Approved Drugs and Approved or Cleared Medical Devices U.S." (see "FDA Finalizes Guidance on Distribution of Reprints").That guidance, however, was not well-received by the pharma industry and in February, 2014, the agency released a new draft guidance document entitled "Distributing Scientific and Medical Publications on U...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 10, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Drug Safety FDA Guidance off-label promotion side effects Source Type: blogs
Don't mess with Cali Attorney General Kamala D. Harris
SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced a $105 million multistate settlement with GlaxoSmithKline, LLC (GSK) to resolve allegations that the company unlawfully promoted its asthma drug, Advair, and antidepressant drugs, Paxil and Wellbutrin. California’s portion of the settlement is the largest of any state, at $7,087,897.For the first time in a settlement with a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, GSK is prohibited from providing incentive payments to its salespeople, which serve to encourage off-label promotion of drugs, and from using paid doctors to promote its products.“Patient care is u...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 10, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Pharma "Insiders": Change Enemies or Back Stabbers?
My friend Rich Meyer, author of World of DTC Marketing Blog, once again has gone on a rant. This time his target is pharma "insiders.""One of the reasons that pharma marketing has been in a funk is the simple fact that there is a lack of people who are willing to change processes to focus on patients," Meyer says. "Instead, most pharma people are too busy attending meaningless meetings from morning till night and trying to 'get along' with others rather than rock a boat that very much needs rocking. My personal belief is that most pharma executives are afraid to hire smarter people than th...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 5, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Social Media Pioneer Award Source Type: blogs
