eHealth Solutions for Pharma: Strategies for salesforces, marketing, patient compliance and clinical trials

The online channel offers a key opportunity for pharma companies to restructure their sales and marketing model, improving their relationships with physicians and increasing compliance among patients. At the same time, patients are demanding a greater role in treatment decisions and seeking information from a range of online sources, resulting in a new age of consumerism in healthcare.

eHealth solutions for Pharma is a new report that provides an overview of the changing pharma market place, providing solutions on effective three way communication between pharmaceutical companies, patients and physicians. Online strategies such as eDetailing, eSampling, eCME and eCompliance are explored, enabling you to gain best practice advice on the opportunities offered by eHealth technologies.

Use this report to identify ways to increase productivity and improve communications between your company, physicians and patients, and implement eHealth strategies to ensure your products achieve commercial success.

Report Highlights


• An immediate opportunity exists for pharmaceutical companies to greatly expand eDetailing services (including technology-enabled rep visits) offered to physicians in all markets surveyed.
• There are three fundamental areas that present opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to provide value-added website features: professional development; patient resources; and clinical tools.
• Pharmaceutical companies that provide eCME activities in combination with access to expert opinions and disease information on their physician facing websites are likely to attract new and return users.
• The eCompliance market has become markedly more evolved, with novel techniques such as SMS reminders and mobile phone diagnosis tools being employed.
• An established relationship with the organization conducting the trial is commonly cited as an important factor in the decision-making process of many surveyed physicians.
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eHealth Solutions for Pharma
Executive Summary 10
The changing pharmaceutical marketplace 10
eHealth solutions for the salesforce 11
eHealth tools for reaching physicians 12
Reaching physicians through eCME 13
eCompliance 14
eHealth solutions for clinical trials 15
Chapter 1 The changing pharma
marketplace 18
Summary 18
Introduction 19
Market challenges 20
Greater involvement of patients in prescribing decisions 20
Price controls, reimbursement policies and generics 21
Strong competition in high profit markets 22
Poor public perception of the pharmaceutical industry 22
The changing role of sales and marketing 23
Chapter 2 eHealth solutions for the
salesforce 26
Summary 26
Introduction 27
Key challenges 29
eHealth strategies for the salesforce 30
eDetailing 31

Physician demand for eDetailing services outstrips current supply 33
Strong growth is expected in the use of representative-assisted
eDetailing sessions 34
Word-of-mouth as a method of recruitment 35
eSampling 36
An inconsistent sample supply makes eSampling an attractive option
for many physicians 39
In support of ‘on demand’ sampling 39
Mobile capability and PDAs 41
Conclusions 43
Chapter 3 eHealth tools for reaching
physicians 46
Summary 46
Introduction 47
Current approaches to physician-facing websites 48
Effective website strategies 51
Professional development 52
Product and disease information 52
Continuing Medical Education 57
Online forums 58
Patient resources 62
Patient education materials 63
Clinical trial information 64
Disease management and compliance tools 66
Blogging 68
Best advice for blogging 69
Blogs as a market research tool 70
Building a blogsite 70
Conclusions 75
Websites 75
Blogging 77
Chapter 4 Reaching physicians through
eCME 80
Summary 80
Introduction 81
Europe 82
US 82

Online CME versus traditional CME programs 83
eCME activity 84
Geographical differences 86
Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship of eCME 86
Meeting the needs of physicians 89
Moving services from offline to online 89
Reduction in real-time CME events 89
Building effective eCME services 90
Success factors 92
eCME website visibility 93
Advertise 93
Organize 94
Deliver 94
Physicians have been disappointed in the quality of many eCME
activities 95
Conclusions 99
A continuing role for pharmaceutical companies in CME 99
Does pharmaceutical sponsorship factor into physicians’ decisions to
use eCME? 100
Working with the eCME providers to develop educational
opportunities 101
Chapter 5 eCompliance 104
Summary 104
Introduction 105
Barriers to effective communication in the EU 105
Barriers to effective communication in the US 106
Effective communication with patients 107
Disease management and compliance tools 107
Text messages and email reminders are the most popular consumer
channels 108
Compliance programs 109
Technology to enable eCompliance 110
Main eCompliance channels 111
Online channels 111
Product websites can help boost compliance 113
Email reminders can work in some patient populations 114
PDA’s – mobile access to online compliance tools 115
SMS messages provide a direct, personal reminder 117
Rapid answers to individual questions 117
Mobile phones as disease monitors 118
Mobile technology – increasing the options 118
Other tools 119
Key considerations for eCompliance tools 121
Using the right channel to relay the message 121

The age effect 121
eCompliance recommendations 122
eCompliance incentives 124
Demographic differences 125
Target conditions for ecompliance 126
eCompliance services 127
Chapter 6 eHealth solutions for clinical trials 130
Summary 130
Introduction 131
Market challenges 132
Clinical trial websites 133
Physician-facing clinical trial websites 133
Keeping physicians current 134
Use branded clinical trial websites to leverage existing relationships 135
Physicians need an online database for clinical trial outcome data 135
Conclusions 137
Index 138
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Table 3.1: Key guidelines for blogging 74
Table 4.2: AMA identified subject areas in which CME is needed 102


Figure 2.1: Prescribing decisions of physicians survey 29
Figure 2.2: How popular is eDetailing among physicians? 32
Figure 2.3: To what extent should detailing be made available online? 33
Figure 2.4: Have you used eDetailing in the last 12 months? 34
Figure 2.5: How frequently do you use eSampling? 37
Figure 2.6: How effective are detailing sessions? 38
Figure 2.7: What type of sampling method do physicians prefer? 40
Figure 2.8: The use of PDAs among physicians 42
Figure 3.9: What types of websites do physicians use to look for health information? 48
Figure 3.10: How do physicians rate current online healthcare resources? 53
Figure 3.11: Adequacy of online information provided in physicians’ native languages 55
Figure 3.12: Factors influencing physicians decision to use a healthcare website 56
Figure 3.13: How often do physicians participate in online forums? 60
Figure 3.14: What role should the Internet play in the physician-patient relationship? 63
Figure 3.15: What clinical trial information should appear on a healthcare website? 65
Figure 3.16: Would physicians like to use the Internet to monitor patients? 67
Figure 3.17: Preferred sources of health information for consumers 68
Figure 3.18: Driving traffic to blogsites and online forums 71
Figure 3.19: The involvement of healthcare professionals can drive participants to blogsites 72
Figure 3.20: What features dictate whether consumers participate in a blog discussion? 73
Figure 4.21: CME requirements in the US and EU 81
Figure 4.22: Would pharmaceutical sponsorship of eCME deter physicians from accessing it? 88
Figure 4.23: Doctors.net.uk 90
Figure 4.24: Provide a well-organized and searchable interface for eCME 95
Figure 4.25: Engaging eCME formats 98
Figure 4.26: Financial support for eCME from pharmaceutical companies 99
Figure 5.27: Barriers to effective communication in the EU 106
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