Quintiles formed a Digital Patient unit, aimed at combining its online communities and digital expertise for clinical trial recruitment, among other things. Digital Patient will let firms recruit patients “by combing the digital universe” for patients seeking health information. That universe includes its patient communities MediGuard.org (with 2.5 million registered users) and ClinicalResearch.com (165,000 registered users).

Pfizer tops pharma companies in social media spending and presence, said Cegedim Strategic Data in a study comparing spend in traditional media to that on Facebook and Twitter. The pharma giant was first in Twitter followers and third for Facebook Likes. Second-biggest spender Novartis ranks seventeenth in Facebook Likes and fifth in Twitter followers. Merck, the industry’s third-largest promotional spender has the most Facebook pages, but is just fifteenth in Twitter followers.

Elsevier‘s The Lancet launched its first app for iPad, as did Wolters Kluwer’s Oncology Times.

Doctors.net.uk named Dr. Tim Ringrose CEO. The physician social network, acquired by MDLinx owner M3 USA in August, named Ringrose to replace Richard ­Adams in that role.