Next week is one of the big Pharma events of the year – the 11th annual e-Pharma Summit at the Sheraton  in New York City.

Due to a resource crunch, Pixels and Pills won’t be able to bring you our usual coverage of the show. But we’re still totally excited to hear about the speakers and the ideas being presented at the show. If you’re tweeting, shooting video or making a product announcement at the show be sure to reach out to us. We’ll be happy to share your experience with your fellow readers and give them a little tast of one of the biggest Pharma conferences of the year!

By Sven Larsen(@svenplarsen)

Who’s doing it right?

That’s a question we’re often asked since we’ve routinely challenged Pharma to embrace social media and an expanded dialogue with their customers. So it’s gratifying to find a prime example in our own backyard.

P & P’s parent company, digital agency Zemoga has worked with Weisscomm, EMD Serono and Pfizer on their MS Voices project for over a year now. We’ve written before about the MS Voices Facebook page and the industry leading approach that this partnership has developed to handle comments and questions from consumers. But Facebook is only part of the outreach efforts being made to the MS community.

At the heart of the project is the MS Voices call center, a remarkable customer service operation that has answered over a million inbound calls from the MS community. How’s that for starting a conversation? The call center includes patient enrollment specialists, patient support specialists, nurse support specialists and reimbursement specialists. Whenever someone in the MS community needs to speak to a live person, support is available toll free at 1-877-447-3243. The Ms Community can also visit MS Lifelines online at www.mslifelines.com or on the MS Voices Facebook page.

The call center it truly devoted to providing the highest level of service to it’s callers and this week they announced that they received certification from the JD Power and Associates Call Center Program (the firs time JD Power has recognized a Pharma call center for service excellence). Certification requires passing a rigorous audit of service practices and receiving positive feedback from customer surveys and it’s a major recognition of the great work being done by the call center.

The MS Voices program is a terrific example of how two Pharma companies embraced a community and created a win-win situation for all involved. It’s also a great example of what the future of our industry may look like.

What do you think? Who else is doing it right and putting the customer first?

Last week Pixels & Pills’ editor Briana Campbell had the pleasure of sitting down for a Skype chat (so the quality is a little lower than our normal, professional videos) with Dr. Darshan Kulkarni (@FDALawyers) of the Kulkarni Law Firm in Philadelphia. And while the questions answered in the conversation don’t constitute legal advice and should not be constructed as such, we were very happy to get the thoughts of a lawyer on the recent FDA draft guidance. And to have him address some questions that you all had put forth on Twitter.

Further information on some of the things Darshan touches on can be found in the following sources:

The Park Doctrine

Par Pharmaceutical versus the FDA

FDA’s Cease and Desist to Triple Flu Defense

One more time, Jonathan Richman’s handy flow chart

He also mentioned to us, after we’d turend the camera off, that the FDA uses draft guidance as a way to express their thoughts on certain issues without the rigor of regulations. There is much draft guidance out there that never becomes finalized. To us, this means that we should take the guidance for what it is – all we are getting on emerging electronic/social media platforms at this time. And maybe ever.

Do you have questions for Dr. Kulkarni? Thoughts on this conversation? Leave them in the comments and we’ll continue the discourse.

We’ve entered conference season and there are a lot of great ones on the horizon in the next few weeks. Our friend John Mack has a fairly comprehensive list over on his website, but he’s missing one that we’re particularly excited about.

The Life Sciences Innovation Forum, from Microsoft and our friends at ExL Pharma, promises to addresses how to excel in this shifting global climate, with the rise of the emerging technologies in the healthcare and pharma world, along with globalization and shifts in demographics, we’re seeing a change from the traditional model – and doors being opened to previously unthought of opportunities.

This is the first time this forum is being held and we’re happy that we’ll be there, interviewing attendees and speakers alike, bringing in as much information and content that we can, for you, our readers.

The forum will address questions like:

• What is the role of eHealth in clinical research?

• FDA is encouraging technology solutions to capture source data electronically – what does eSource really mean?

• How can we enhance collaboration by having the ability to access, share and analyze data more efficiently?

There will be presentations from Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Microsoft Health and Life Sciences, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and more.

Will we see you there?

Date: January 26 & 27, 2012
Location: Marriott Forrestal Village Conference Center, Princeton, NJ
Website: http://www.lsinnovation.com/
Discount Code: C210PPS

Here at Pixels & Pills, we like to push the envelope (or, better, encourage all of you to push it) when it comes to innovation in the healthcare space. That’s why we were so excited to have the opportunity to cover the Life Sciences Innovation Forum, produced by our friends at ExL Pharma in a partnership with Microsoft.

From the website:

The Life Science business environment and model is in a state of accelerating change. More drug approvals occurred in 2011 than any other year in the past decade. This brings some very exciting new opportunities to our industry. The traditional operating model separating Payers, Providers, and Government Health Agencies is under increasing pressures from globalization, healthcare reform, demographic shifts, and emerging healthcare technologies. The Life Sciences Innovation Forum addresses how to excel in this shifting global climate.

There is untapped potential for Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Biotechnology companies to reap the benefits of the post-reform healthcare market. From discovery to product marketing, from manufacturing and distribution to patients, there are enormous opportunities to better leverage technology to create new business models, further differentiate your organization, and thrive in this dynamic environment.

At the upcoming LS Innovation Forum we are enlisting industry recognized experts and thought leaders to lead engaging sessions that provide you with strategic information to help you achieve goals in areas including:

• Patient Engagement
• Leveraging Enterprise Content
• Global Regulatory Collaboration
• Innovation Networks
• Leveraging Health Information Technology

Please take this opportunity to participate in the dialogue and be part of the exciting changes that our industry will experience in the coming months and years.

Register today for this exciting new event.

Date: January 26 & 27, 2012
Location: Marriott Forrestal Village Conference Center, Princeton, NJ
Website: http://www.lsinnovation.com/
Discount Code: C210PPS

We recently chatted with Paul Simms, Chairman of eyeforpharma, the mastermind behind the ‘Pharmasuiticus reps’ YouTube nature “documentary,” which you may have seen doing the rounds in your social networks.

Pixels&Pills: Why did you decide to make this video?

Paul Simms: We find ourselves quite frustrated with the current situation in pharmaceutical sales management. This is still the area of highest expenditure in medical promotion, and whilst we have seen some movement, there is still a hardcore group resisting the new methods which will ultimately make a great improvement to healthcare at large. This is despite the swathes of industry insiders preaching the need for change. So, to really incite action, we simply went to great lengths to emphasise the ridiculous nature of the once-saturated pharma sales landscape.

P&P: Has it worked?

PS: Depends what you mean.  After a week, there were over 5,000 views without us any real promotion from us, and we’re currently close to 10,000 views, so people are obviously watching and sharing.

Of course, numbers aren’t the point. We hope that it will switch on some light bulbs and make people think about changing their ways of working.  But it’s too early to say whether it has achieved this – ask me again in a year!

P&P: Popular it may be, but some people haven’t liked it, as evidenced by a few detractors on Pharmalot. Do those people have a point?

PS: The main objection seems to be a belief that we are poking fun at the pharma sales rep. And this is a group of people who are going through tough times. There is plenty of fear, diminishing returns and plenty of lay-offs within this group, and we’re kicking them while they’re down.

Laughing at others’ misfortune is certainly not our intention, nor do we want to rub people’s noses in it. The theme of the film was ‘evolution’, not ‘death’: we have used parody in an attempt to reduce or remove the ‘old style’ of rep from the face of the industry and make no apologies for communicating that in the most effective way we can think of. There are now plenty of examples of where a more mature focus on the differing types of customer and an individual level of communication has created great returns – for both the pharma company and patient. The changes within healthcare systems across the world provide an unprecedented opportunity to improve communication and rid this industry of its terrible reputation. But action, not sympathy, is required in order to make that happen.

P&P: What’s next for eyeforpharma?

PS: Well, connected to this film is the 10^th anniversary of our annual flagship event in Barcelona. This time we’re co-locating our eMarketing event with it, so we’ll have more than a thousand people in one space.

It’s interesting to me that whenever we’ve mentioned to the sales community that we’re bringing the online marketers to the same venue, they’ve welcomed this with open arms.

However, the opposite has been true of the online community. Their reaction has been either sheer ambivalence or more of a ‘what, those guys? What have they got to offer?’

For us, it’s clear that progress will only happen when both groups understand how to work together. And we’ve still got a fair bit of work to do in order to answer the question: ‘with 1000 pharma executives in one place, what together can we achieve?’ That’s the opportunity we have. Indeed, e would welcome input from anyone out there as to how to get the most out of this unique gathering. We may even let you take control!

Apart from that, we have a lot more initiatives in the pipeline. Some of them are even quite serious – for example we are currently running a mobile health competition which will really improve the lives of teenage cancer patients. It has backing from Livestrong and 9 other charities and we’re very excited about that.

P&P: And tell us… What will your next acting gig be?

PS: Hopefully none for a while! I hadn’t even intended to be in this one; clearly the camera crew decided I was the most Neanderthal-like and simply had to play the ‘alpha rep’. I guess it’s praise of a sort.

by Briana Campbell (@MsMatchGirl)

“If it’s not mobile, it won’t work in 2012 and beyond,” Jason Falls is quoted as saying in Awareness Networks 2012 Social Marketing and New Media Predictions. “We’re a marketplace conditioned to look down on our screen first. It’s not a B2C vs. B2B thing. If your users are people, you’re going to need to be mobile.”

We’ve been talking about the importance of thinking mobile not just for pharma and healthcare marketing, but to provide much needed health services in the developing world for a while now. We feel strongly that including a mobile strategy in your plans will not only help you stay in business, it will help push innovation in healthcare to the next level.

With people turning more and more to the “second screen,” it’s important for us to think on how that screen can be best utilized. From The Department of Health & Human Services Health Data Initiative, which encouraged competitors to innovate around open data available from the government to make smartphone apps to improve health, to the insights shared by Jonathan Richman in his 2011 SXSWi presentation, “Your Computer is the Next Wonder Drug,” digital innovation is what is moving the world of healthcare forward. And pharma needs to keep pace.

Some quick facts for your consideration:

By 2015, 500 million people will be using mobile healthcare applications. [source]

Smartphones will offer the best opportunities for mobile health by 2015. [source]

17% of cell phone owners, or 15% of adults, have used their phone to look up health or medical information. [source]

Later this month, we’ll be at the Mobile Healthcare Communications 2012: Case Studies and Roundtables, taking place January 26, 2012 in NYC. This half-day conference will present case studies demonstrating how major healthcare brands are connecting with consumers and professionals through mobile communications. Case studies will be presented by representatives from Allergen, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center – New York, Daiichi-Sankyo, and more. Interactive roundtables will follow the presentations. We’re looking forward to learning more about what companies have been successfully doing with mobile in the healthcare space, and talking about how we can keep innovating.

Use promo code P&P for a discounted rate of $175.

Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Location: The Graduate Center of The City University of NY
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), Conference Level C, New York, New York 10016
Website: http://www.bdionline.com/mobilehealthcare2012.html
Discount Code: P&P

We’re always pleased to cover BDI’s Case Studies and Roundtables. With more and more consumers turning to their phones for interactions once reserved for in-person consultations and visits to the pharmacy counter or doctor’s office, the Mobile Healthcare Communications 2012 Case Studies & Roundtables is perfectly positioned to inform pharma and healthcare marketers about the possibilities that can open up for them, if they embrace this technology.

While pharma companies have been reticent to embrace social networks and unproven (read: new) platforms to get their message across, the time has come to figure it out. The latest Pew Internet Study on The State of Social Media: 2011 reveals that 35% of US adults own and smartphone. Out of those smartphone owners, one in four say that they mostly go online using their phone. That’s a whole lot of people that marketers are missing out on reaching if they stay away from mobile platforms.

Not convinced? Perhaps a morning of case study presentations, with successful healthcare campaigns, and a chance to network with others – who are doing it and have been doing it right – will help you wrap your head around the best way to approach mobile healthcare communications moving forward.

Mobile Healthcare Communications 2012: Case Studies and Roundtables is taking place January 26, 2012 in NYC. This half-day conference will present case studies demonstrating how major healthcare brands are connecting with consumers and professionals through mobile communications. Case studies will be presented by representatives from Allergen, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center – New York, Daiichi-Sankyo, and more. Interactive roundtables will follow the presentations. Use promo code P&P for a discounted rate of $175.

Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Location: The Graduate Center of The City University of NY
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), Conference Level C, New York, New York 10016
Website: http://www.bdionline.com/mobilehealthcare2012.html
Discount Code: P&P

See you there!

Here on Pixels & Pills, we spend a lot of time talking about the e-patient. About how technology has helped patients become more involved in their own recovery, about how advances in social networks have helped people connect better to those facing the same challenges as they are. We offer advice on how pharma companies can take advantage of these communities to offer services and raise compliance rates.

Recently, MS Lifelines, an educational support service for people living with MS and their families, sponsored by EMD Serono, Inc. and Pfizer Inc. (client of WCG in conjunction with Zemoga), launched a new project, Words 4 MS.

From the announcement:

In order to inspire others through compelling real stories, MS LifeLines asked the MS community to tell its story through four words in a video earlier this year.  Now, you can check out some of these stories from Words 4 MS and share them with friends at http://on.fb.me/ucIogz.

Starting in March, to honor MS Awareness Week, MS LifeLines invited the MS community to submit a video that uses four words to illustrate how individuals feel, what inspires them, or reminds them of someone who helped them through their MS journey.  Now, a video montage of select submissions is available for viewing.  The video features individual stories from people impacted by MS.  You can also go to www.MSLifeLines.com/Words4MS to submit your own video today.

Are you an e-patient? Do you live with a disease, like MS, that affects your everyday life?

We’re curious about how you use technology in your day-to-day life.

Share your thoughts in the comments section or e-mail us at info [at] pixelsandpills [dot] com to apply to be a guest blogger, and share your story with us here on Pixels & Pills.