the-information
Oncologists Criticizes CMS For Provenge Review
In a sharply worded letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the American Society of Clinical Oncology takes the federal agency to task for conducting a coverage review of the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine. You may recall that CMS unexpectedly disclosed plans for a National Coverage Analysis in late June in response to inquiries from regional Medicare programs about the novel therapy. Ever since, CMS has been bombarded with comments from patients, doctors and investors, among others
Johnson & Johnson Urges FDA to Be As Flexible As FTC in Its Regulation of Social Media, But…
In comments to the FDA, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) stated “Flexibility in regulatory approach is crucial in the evolving digital world.” The comment was part of an 8-page document submitted to Docket No. FDA‐2009‐N‐0441 regarding Promotion of FDA‐Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools ( find it here ). JNJ especially would like FDA to be as flexible as the FTC in regards to disclosure of important drug safety information within the context of space-limited digital applications
Read the full storyHow to earn back trust with a very skeptical audience
The drug industry does not have a good reputation right now with either consumers or physicians when it comes to the marketing of drugs. It’s important however to understand where you are when it comes to developing new marketing programs and not overreact to the media news. Here are some recommendations; Health Care Professional Marketing 1
A search engine just for health ?
There is no shortage of health information on the Internet but who has time to sort through all the sites ? I have been saying for years that Google is missing an opportunity by not having a search engine devoted strictly to health that separated good sites from garbage sites and it looks like a site that launched today has solved that problem for a LOT of people. When you come to Healthbase’s homepage just type in the keyword, in this case Diabetes and Healthbase returns search results like you have never seen them before
Is search becoming to complicated for health information?
When we conducted usability testing for a new website earlier this year we started by following people as they searched the Internet for health information. The older the user the more difficult it was for them to get to the information they really wanted (defined by credible information from credible sources).
Hospitals already using social media
Hospitals are fighting for business and have realized that patients/consumers have a choice when it comes to where, what, how and when. As the chart below illustrates more and more hospitals are using social media to reach out to consumers and answer any questions they may have as well as to assure them that they offer a great health experience. This is another possible opportunity for DTC marketers, not to intrude on the development of the relationship, but to give hospitals the information they need to communicate with patients
At last a search engine for health ?
There is no shortage of health information on the Internet but who has time to sort through all the sites ? I have been saying for years that Google is missing an opportunity by not having a search engine devoted strictly to health that separated good sites from garbage sites and it looks like a site that launched today has solved that problem for a LOT of people. When you come to Healthbase’s homepage just type in the keyword, in this case Diabetes and Healthbase returns search results like you have never seen them before.
How Transparent is the FDA Transparency Blog?
Last month, I wrote a posting called " When Transparency is Easy -Advisory Committee Transparency" suggesting that the transparency at FDA would be greatly enhanced if there were once again links from the rosters of advisory committee members to their CVs.
Mastering the obvious…
So let’s looks at the facts; 1. More people are going online for health information than at any other time in our history.
Depressed ? Instead of a prescription maybe your vitamin D levels are low
As I found out when awhile back when I conducted research with online health seekers the biggest challenge they face is “what information to believe”. This is true especially when it comes to new web sites and social media websites. Online health seekers need to not only decipher complicated medical terminology they also then need to determine if the information is believable





