Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in the Digital Age Exploring the Role of Social Media and New Internet Technologies in the Promotion of Prescription Drugs in Canada Presented by: Shannon Gibson
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1. Exploring the Role of Social Media and New Internet
Technologies in the Promotion of Prescription Drugs in Canada
Presented by: Shannon Gibson
2. Why is social media important? Increasing prominence of new
Internet and social media technologies in modern communication
Fiscal pressures pushing pharma towards digital channels Migration
away from traditional and more expensive media channels such as
print and television, toward more economical Internet and social
media platform Consumers increasingly seeking health info online In
Canada, 70% of home-internet users consulted the web for health
information in 2009.
3. Regulation of DTCA in Canada 1953: Food and Drug Act enacted
Places a broad prohibition on advertising prescription-only drugs
listed in Schedule F to the public. Section 3(1) and Schedule A of
the Act set out a number of diseases and disorders for which
treatments, preventatives or cures cannot be advertised to the
general public. 1978: Amendment introduces clause C.01.044 Allows
advertising of name, price and quantity 1996: Health Canada policy
statement Gives implicit approval to help-seeking ads 2000: Second
Health Canada policy statement Reminder ads deemed to fit within
clause C.01.044
4. Flickr: Can You Feel My Pain?
5. Concerns About DTCA Prescription drug advertising raises
important safety concerns because of its effects on medicine use:
Rapid uptake of new drugs before their longer-term and/or rare
risks are fully known Increased use of lifestyle medicines among
the healthy Treatment of increasingly mild forms of common chronic
illnesses Increased drug use, leading to higher rates of
polypharmacy (use of many medicines per person) Increased rates of
physician prescribing in response to patient demands, even when
physicians are ambivalent about the treatment decision
6. Case Study: Vioxx From 1999 - 2004, more than 20 million
took Vioxx. In the US alone, its estimated that: Between 88,000 and
139,000 people suffered a heart attack or stroke 30-40% of these
resulted in death During its five years on the market: Merck spent
more than US$500 million advertising Vioxx Generated more than
US$2.5 billion in sales
7. Cost Implications These shifts in medicine use also lead to
higher costs: Use of expensive new drugs when cheaper alternatives
are available Increased overall prescribing volume Increased
consultation rates with physicians for conditions not previously
considered medical Use of many medicines per person, leading to
more adverse drug reactions
8. User-Generated Content Drug companies nervous about
consumers potentially posting info on adverse drug events or
off-label prescribing. Industry mistrust likely also reflects a
broader fear of loss of control over their brand message as
consumers may post negative or even scathing reviews of a drug
product.
9. Anyone can be a Broadcaster Many pharma advertisers use
widgets to encourage consumer to share messages through their
social networks. Ultimate goal is to go viral
10. Unprecedented Targeted Marketing Promoters can target ads
to based on info in users profiles or search history. Age Gender
Occupation Education Location Interests Relationship Status
Etc.
11. Social Media Marketing Guidelines? April 2009: PAAB raised
the idea of Health Canada creating guidelines DTCA in social media.
Health Canada acknowledged the need to be active in this area, but
has not yet made any move to clarify the issue. Fall 2011: ASC
updated its DTCA and DTCI guidance materials to include tips for
social media marketing. December 2011: FDA issues limited social
media guidance re: responding to off-label info requests. Previous
plans to issue comprehensive social media guidance have been
removed from the FDA agenda.
12. Social Media Marketing Guidelines? With the rapid pace of
change in digital media, if we had bowed to pressure and produced
guidance 12months ago, this would have been out of date as soon as
wed written it. - Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry, January 2012
13. Consumer Health Information Site? Third-party health
information sites: maintained by independent organizations that
have no direct ties to government or the pharmaceutical industry
E.g. WebMD, Yahoo! Health, MayoClinic.com Government-sponsored
health information sites: many national and regional governmental
organizations maintain websites and portals with reputable health
information. E.g. MedlinePlus, HealthLink BC
14. Technological Measures? In Canada, nearly all drug product
websites that contain patient information are gated to prevent
consumers from accessing the site. Require patient to enter the
Drug Identification Number (DIN) assigned by Health Canada. Others,
such as the Lipitor website, require patient to register on the
website to obtain a user name and password to enter the site.
Unfortunately, easily circumvented by simply accessing the US
version of the site.
15. Other Recommendations Increase Health Canadas and other
regulators presence in social media. Harness the power of social
media and consumer reporting to improve monitoring of adverse drug
events.