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IMS Health: Pharma Should Make Better Use of Social Media To Engage Patients and Improve the Use

of Medicines - Yahoo Finance


IMS Health: Pharma Should Make Better Use of Social Media To Engage Patients and Improve the Use of Medicines - Yahoo Finance

PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-With the role of social media rapidly expanding, nearly half ofpharmaceutical manufacturers are now actively using this channel toengage with patients on healthcare-related topics, according to a newreport released today by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.While regulatory uncertainty remains a factor limiting social media use,some drug companies are establishing an active digital presence tocontribute to the overall healthcare discussion. Advancing social mediato a more central position in healthcare " particularly in theappropriate use of medicines " requires improved quality of information,a more proactive embrace of technology tools by pharmaceuticalmanufacturers, and greater recognition by healthcare professionals ofthe positive role social media interactions can play in wellness,prevention and treatment. The study " Engaging Patients through Social Media " found thatamong the top 50 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, nearly halfactively participate in social media on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.However, only ten companies utilize all three of these major socialnetworking services for healthcare topics. Many companies are usingsocial media primarily as a unilateral broadcasting channel tophysicians and patients, with limited interaction or fostering ofdiscussion. Smaller manufacturers with narrower therapeutic focuses andconsumer health companies typically have the highest levels of socialmedia patient engagement. To examine the current state of consumer behaviors on Facebook, Twitterand YouTube, researchers developed the IMS Health Social MediaEngagement Index. The proprietary Index assesses reach, basedon the total number of individuals exposed to a message via likes,shares or re-tweets; relevance, the degree that content is founduseful and shared across social networks; and relationship, thelevel of direct interaction around specific content. "Increasingly, patients are turning to social media as an essentialforum for obtaining and sharing information related to their health,"said Murray Aitken, executive director of the IMS Institute forHealthcare Informatics. "This trend only heightens the need forrelevant, accurate content that can be accessed and used throughout thepatient journey. Healthcare professionals, regulators and pharmaceuticalmanufacturers all need to overcome their reticence and acknowledge thevital role that they can and should play as participants in thehealthcare conversation." The report"s key findings include the following: Twenty-three of the top 50 global pharmaceutical manufacturers havesome level of healthcarerelated social media engagement. Of thecompanies reviewed by the IMS Institute, the top-ranked organizationbased on the IMS Health Social Media Engagement Index isJohnson & Johnson, with an overall score of 70. Other companiesincluded in the top ten Index ranking have scores ranging from 25 tonine. Mid-sized organizations, including Novo Nordisk, BoehringerIngelheim and UCB, are

utilizing social media as effectively, or moreeffectively, than the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers. Theoverall level of engagement between pharmaceutical companies andpatients has steadily increased during the past year as moreorganizations become active in this area.Regulatory agencies are active in social media even asmanufacturers await final guidance on requirements. Regulatorsincreasingly are utilizing social media channels to connect to a widerhealthcare audience. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), whichhas a particularly strong Facebook presence, ranks highly on socialmedia engagement and has a higher relationship score on the IMS HealthIndex than any pharmaceutical company. The European Medicines Agencyoperates its Twitter feed with one of the highest reach index scores,second only to the FDA. The direct involvement of regulators intohealthcare discussions online indicates their understanding of thevalue of a strong social media presence. The FDA has committed by themiddle of 2014 to deliver its final regulatory guidance on socialmedia usage, which is expected to provide the industry with moreconfidence in its social media participation.Wikipedia is the single leading source of medical information forpatients and healthcare professionals. The top 100 EnglishWikipedia pages for healthcare topics were accessed, on average, 1.9million times during the past year. Rarer diseases, which often havefewer available information sources and are less understood bypatients and clinicians, show a higher frequency of visits than manymore common diseases. In an assessment of 50 major diseasespecificWikipedia articles, the Institute found a strong correlation betweenpage views and medicine use, with online information-gatheringoccurring throughout the patient journey. Content incorporated orupdated on healthcare-related Wikipedia pages is subject to constantchange, often overseen by informal or formal working groups. Anassessment of Wikipedia disease articles indicates that at least halfof the changes made are related to patient-relevant information.Social media engagement lags significantly within the populationsegment that uses healthcare services the most. Age is one of afew differentiating factors in the use of social networking sites,where utilization is less dependent on gender, education, income orother forms of social advantage. Younger people tend to conduct onlineinvestigations before the start of therapy, as measured byprescriptions or sales of medications. By contrast, patients age 50 orolder tend to begin their treatments prior to seeking informationonline. The difference of utilization by age groups will diminish as"digital natives" increase their involvement and influenceprofessionally and privately within their networks. The full version of the report, including a detailed description of themethodology, is available at www.theimsinstitute.org.It can also be downloaded as an app via iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/app/ims-institute/id625347542.The study was produced independently as a public service, withoutindustry or government funding. About the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics provides key policy settersand decision makers in the global health sector with unique andtransformational insights into healthcare dynamics derived from granularanalysis of information. It is a research-driven entity with a worldwidereach that collaborates with external healthcare experts from acrossacademia and the public and private sectors to objectively apply IMSHealth"s proprietary global information and analytical assets. Moreinformation about the IMS Institute can be found at:? http://www.theimsinstitute.org. About IMS Health IMS Health is a leading global information and technology servicescompany providing clients in the healthcare industry with comprehensivesolutions to measure and improve their performance. By applyingsophisticated analytics and proprietary application suites hosted on the? IMSOne? intelligent cloud, the company connects more than 10 petabytesof complex healthcare data on diseases, treatments, costs and outcomesto help its clients run their operations more efficiently. Drawing oninformation from 100,000 suppliers, and on insights from more than 45billion healthcare

transactions processed annually, IMS Health"s 9,300professionals drive results for over 5,000 healthcare clients globally.Customers include pharmaceutical, consumer health and medical devicemanufacturers and distributors, providers, payers, government agencies,policymakers, researchers and the financial community. As a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy, IMS Healthuses anonymous healthcare data to deliver critical, real-world diseaseand treatment insights. These insights help biotech and pharmaceuticalcompanies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and otherhealthcare stakeholders to identify unmet treatment needs and understandthe effectiveness and value of pharmaceutical products in improvingoverall health outcomes.

Health Care IndustryHealthpharmaceutical manufacturersIMS Healthhealthcare professionalsContact:IMS Health Tor Constantino, +1 484-567-6732 tconstantino@us.imshealth.com http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ims-health-pharma-better-social-140000558.html

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