December 2008 43 12 Issue of MMM

Editor's Desk

Change we can believe in?

I have a confession to make about this year's MM&M Awards evening and it has nothing to do with any adverse events at the afterglow ...

Features

MM&M Awards 2008: Stars align on big night

More than 750 healthcare marketing and communications execs flocked to the MM&M Awards gala presentation dinner at New York's Tavern on the Green on October ...

Outlook 2009: Just the Change We Need?

The Democrats are mixing up some strong medicine for the pharma industry. Matthew Arnold performs a risk-benefit analysis

The 2009 Pipeline Report

MM&M takes a detailed look at key products in the pipeline, highlighting the most promising with insights and ratings from top analysts, to provide an ...

12 Steps to a Winning Pitch

In today's market, with a dwindling pharma pipeline, there are fewer launches to pitch for and more competition among healthcare agencies for those coveted launches. ...

Headliner: Shire HGT's Cynthia Phillips

As director of regulatory advertising, promotion and global labeling for Shire Human Genetics Therapies (HGT), Cynthia Phillips supports the marketing team to ensure compliance for ...

Antidote

I have written about the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs in this space before. All my readers know I am a big fan of these drugs, prescribe ...

In Focus

Industry shakeups lead to job losses in '08

Merck's announcement in October to reorganize its business—and shed 6,800 employees in the process—caps a year of heavy job losses across the industry.

Med Ed Report

Ads, training aim to lift sagging CME

A new training effort aims to help med ed faculty distinguish between certified and promotional CME, while separately, an ad campaign running in journals promotes ...

GSK vows to disclose payments to docs; details to come

GlaxoSmithKline plans to disclose payments to US physicians and impose a cap of $150,000 per year, per doctor, but details of the disclosure scheme are ...

Professional Media

Everyday Health climbs past WebMD

In the battle for unique visitors, Waterfront Media's Everyday Health has surpassed WebMD to lead the online consumer health space.

LWW to publish AANN's journal

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), a division of Wolters Kluwer Health, has signed an agreement with the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses's official journal.

Media Forum

Grabbing people's attention online

When it comes to online activity, everyone has short attention span. How do websites and other applications draw and hold consumers for long-form media like ...

Direct Marketing

50,000 docs download iPhone app

San Mateo, CA-based Epocrates announced that hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals and consumers, including more than 50,000 US physicians, have downloaded its drug and ...

Old sales force model losing traction

The traditional sales force model is no longer effective as doctors are no longer the key prescribing decision makers, according to the results of a ...

Docs want more info, less rep chat

The results of a recent study revealed that doctors want more clinical information from drug reps but want to spend less time interacting with them.

DTC Report

FDA raps Amgen, Bayer for promos

The FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC) issued an untitled letter on a patient brochure for Amgen's Sensipar.

Watch those advertising and promo claims, say laywers

Attorneys at the Washington law firm of McDermott Will & Emery advised in October that companies wishing to avoid FDA challenges to drug ads and ...

Digital Media

Web Watch

It seems like there are thousands of web communities online these days.

Everyday Health to team up with Yahoo! Health

Waterfront Media's Everyday Health Network announced that it will provide content to Yahoo! Health under a new partnership.

Sermo, Bloomberg developing forum

Sermo has teamed up with Bloomberg to develop a groundbreaking forum that gives investors instant access to medical information and the opinions of its community ...

Public Relations

PR View by Tom Jones

Nearly five years after the human genome was decoded, the age of genetics is finally upon us; "personalized medicine" has arrived.

Covidien launches site on bariatric's benefits

Medical device and surgical manufacturer Covidien has launched a website to educate patients and physicians on the benefits of bariatric surgery as a treatment for ...

Porter Novelli ponders life and death

During a period of economic instability, consumers tend to focus on day-to-day life, rather than considering the long view.

Marketing Research

Vantage Point

It's that time of year again—time to organize our thoughts for the new year and get ready as healthcare marketing researchers to make the biggest ...

Global market to grow about 5% in 2009: IMS

IMS Health is forecasting a 4.5% to 5.5% growth in the global pharmaceutical market during 2009, with dollar amounts exceeding $820 billion.

Diverse market still largely untapped

Rapidly changing demographics are affecting the complexion of America, and many groups aren't adequately targeted for healthcare products and services.