March 2012 Issue of MMM

March 2012 issue

Editor's Desk

Desperate measures

Researchers are sensing a waning influence within their companies

Features

MM&M Awards 2012: How to Win an Award

James Chase asked 16 of last year's judges about how entrants can improve their chances of winning an MM&M Award

State of Market Research: Analyze This

Market research must transform itself or run the risk of becoming obsolete. Marc Iskowitz teams with the PMRG and TGaS Advisors to review the cold ...

Specialty Pharma: Niches to Riches

Specialty biopharma firms are using razor-sharp therapeutic focus to target "niche buster" categories.

Co-pay Cards: House of Cards

Co-pay cards have proliferated, undermining payer benefit plans. Now, insurers are striking back against the cards.

MAHF Inductees 2012: Heroes' Welcome

It was a night to remember as the stars of medical advertising came out to welcome three more legends into the Hall of Fame

Headliner: Making tomorrow's portal personal

Jeff Arnold, co-founder, chairman and CEO, Sharecare

Vantage Point

Vantage Point: How social media can make an impact

Social media can have a far-reaching impact on study time, costs, quality and outcomes

Antidote

Antidote: The problems facing Avastin

Counterfeiters are making a version of Avastin that lacks the drug's main active ingredient

In Focus

Komen Foundation nurses damaged brand

Why the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation's previously unassailable brand in healthcare fundraising may have sustained some permanent damage.

Professional Marketing

AstraZeneca to cut 7,300 more jobs

AstraZeneca confirmed rumors of another round of deep cuts, announcing that it will eliminate 7,300 positions.

Solicitor General sides with reps in GSK overtime case

The U.S. Solicitor General has filed an amicus brief taking the side of two pharmaceutical sales reps in the overtime case that they filed against ...

Professional Marketing briefs—March 2012

News on D&R Communications, Publicis Touchpoint Solutions, Santarus and Physicians Interactive

Med Ed Report

Allergan scrubs some patient data

Allergan removed some doctor-payment records from its website that the drugmaker had posted from 2010-2011 as a result of a Botox legal settlement.

Study says docs favor COI disclosure

About 65% of the 1,800 physicians surveyed in a 2009 study discussed in Health Affairs support disclosing potential conflicts of interest to patients.

Success seen in fighting CME bias

Progress in keeping commercial bias from industry-based certified CME is at hand, say those who produce and fund it.

Med Ed Report briefs—March 2012

News on FDA, Med-IQ, the American Medical Student Association, Best Practices, the American College of Physicians and CECity

Professional Media

Academics blast publishers' methods

An online protest has pulled the scientific publishing industry, and particularly Dutch publisher Elsevier, into a tug of war with writers.

Media Choice—March 2012

Glenn Kolansky, Board Certified Dermatologist, Adv. Dermatology Surgery & Laser Center, Red Bank, NJ.

Checking 'sanity,' but not accuracy

Open-access research project F1000 has launched a program in which submissions are published following an "initial sanity check" from the project's director of new product ...

Professional Media briefs—March 2012

News about Jobson Medical Information Holdings, Medical Prescribing Reference, DTW Research Marketing Group and Communications Media Inc./Compas

Partner Forum

Do reviews have an evidence gap?

Missing documents allegedly kept a review of Tamiflu from conclusively examining the drug's efficacy. Are reviews marred by publication and reporting biases? What can be ...

Digital Media

Coalition's gameplan for digital regs

Weary of FDA foot-dragging on digital and social media guidance for pharmas, a group of industry digerati put together guidelines of their own.

P&G plans to cut its ad costs by shifting to digital media

P&G has historically spent 9%-11% on advertising, but the company is looking for corners to cut and finding them in social media.

Digital media briefs—March 2012

News about AstraZeneca, Everyday Health and the AMA

Consumer Marketing

FDA study finds little harm in 'distracting visuals'

An FDA study on the power of background visuals found no evidence that consumer understanding of risk info is affected by the "emotional (affective) tone ...

DDR on DTC: Toviaz vs. Vesicare

Two brands are fighting for attention from OAB sufferers: GSK-Astellas's Vesicare and Pfizer's Toviaz. Their DTC approaches couldn't be more different.

J&J names new OTC group chair

J&J named Roberto Marques to serve as the company group chairman responsible for the recall-plagued McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit

Marketing Research

Market research kept out of Sunshine law

The Physician Payment Sunshine Act maintains the exclusion for marketing research incentives

German firm accused of data breach

Market research firm Pharmafakt GFD is accused of selling prescription info without removing data that can be used to trace identities.

Agency Business

Merck respiratory goes to McCann

McCann HumanCare landed the agency of record assignment for consumer advertising and communications on Merck's respiratory franchise

Dixon to lead MSL Group's measurement and analytics

MSLGroup Americas named Unilever's Janelle Dixon SVP director of insights creation and measurement.

Agency business briefs—March 2012

News about Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, Draftfcb, D&R Communications, Moroney & Gill

Beltway Insider

As I See It: Global systems for quality and safety

It's time for a regulatory Marshall plan to help build global systems for quality and safety

Sens. Klobuchar, Collins push drug-shortage bill

U.S. senators Amy Klobuchar and Susan Collins are trying to quickly pass a bill addressing the growing drug shortage problem

User-fee inaction could cause logjam

Congressional inaction could lead to a huge new products-review backlog, according to FDA Matters editor Steven Grossman.

Viewpoint

The very public risks of celebrity endorsements

What happens when a celebrity goes off message, gets a DUI or is photographed eating a hamburger?

Private View

Private View: Breaking the Healthcare Barriers

Consumer work that creatively breaks the healthcare barriers and, most importantly, drives customers to act

At Work With

At Work With: Marsha Braverman

Marsha Braverman, Exec. Dir. of Marketing & Communications, Drexel Univ. College of Medicine

People

Upward Move: Chris Guiffre

Chris Guiffre, SVP and Chief Business Officer, Cerulean Pharmaceuticals

People Moves: March 2012

Manufacurer and agency hires and promotions

Name That Brand

Name That Brand—March 2012

This first-to-market drug's campaign asks consumers why they want to increase their chances of being cured.

Back Talk

CES: Convergence continues

The desire to reduce the cost of delivering care has led to redefining 'point of care'