Drugs.com partnered with Understand.com, a 3D animation and patient education firm, to deliver branded video and education tools for consumers and its advertising partners.
Animation and educational content for a given brand will be developed on a custom basis with drugmakers, and will be placed on the Drugs.com site. The 3D animations will also be made available for use on pharma web properties, according to Rob Griffin, SVP of business development at Understand.com. The joint program, called The Mechanism For Action, is PhRMA compliant and designed “for consumers to take action,” according to the Understand.com website.
Griffin said the content is PhRMA compliant in that pharma companies can give the animation and video materials to doctors for use with their patients, and it doesn’t qualify as a gift since it’s designated for educational purposes. The goal is to educate patients, and that new comprehension “will drive adherence and compliance,” said Griffin.
Drugs.com posted a sample of the new content online, which features a six-step 3D video explaining how finasteride — the active ingredient in Merck’s Propecia — works to regrow hair. “Ninety percent of the [mechanism of action animation] out there is targeted to doctors,” said Griffin. “We want to educate the consumer.”
Drugs.com joined the WebMD Health Network at the beginning of 2010, which provides WebMD with exclusive consumer advertising rights on the site, including all display or banner ads. The Drugs.com website is owned and operated by the Drugsite Trust, a privately held trust administered by two pharmacists in New Zealand, according to the website.
