Corporate Web sites from pharmaceutical firms with broad portfolios draw the most primary care physicians on a regular basis, new research shows.
Pfizer.com and Merck.com command 50 percent and 44 percent of the market share, respectively, according to the 2005 ePharma Physician study of 48 Web sites from Manhattan Research. Market share was measured as a function of total number of U.S. physician visitors, out of 1,251 surveyed, compared with frequency. Eli Lilly (25 percent), GlaxoSmithKline (24 percent) and Novartis (22 percent) round out the top five most visited by PCPs.
Companies with more targeted portfolios, like Berlex and Organon, rank above average on relevance among PCPs and specialists, perhaps because they know their audience and are able to provide rich, relevant content, said Manhattan Research vice president of research Meredith Abreu.
As far as product Web sites, GSK’s asthma drug portal Advair.com garners the highest share among general practitioners, with 18 percent, followed by Allegra.com, the allergy product site from Aventis Pharmaceuticals, at 15 percent.
Seventy percent of the 606,000 practicing U.S. physicians have used technology such as e-detailing or e-sampling; have visited a pharma or related website in the last year; or searched for Rx or related information online in the last month.
Some segments also rely primarily on physician-targeted portals, such as Medscape, MDConsult, UpToDate and MerckMedicus, which has a 20 percent to 25 percent overall reach among physicians and is especially read by high-prescribing PCPs.
