Medical Marketing & Media

Pharmas are from Mars, Payers are from Venus

Pharma needs to step up its sales pitch, looking beyond a drug's top attributes, to convince payers that their drugs are worth the cost.

Goodbye Plavix, hello competition

Long-running blockbuster Plavix has joined the patent graveyard, and competitors are all in.

Indian conglomerate buys Manhattan Research parent for $635m

A Mumbai-based pharma custom manufacturing firm is buying the parent company of Manhattan Research.

Sales forces shrank in 2011, but not everywhere

Pharmas shrank their US sales forces by 7% between 2010 and 2011, but the pain wasn't shared evenly between the biggest of pharmas, as a number of players scaled up.

National plan seeks Alzheimer's treatment by 2025

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease at the second day of the National Alzheimer's Research Summit Tuesday.

Coach vs. cancer in BMS-backed awareness effort

Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher is fronting a Bristol-Myers Squibb-backed Melanoma Exposed awareness campaign.

Wolters Kluwer deals health analytics unit to private equity firm

Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm, acquired the healthcare analytics business of Wolters Kluwer, the companies said.

RX-to-OTC proposal gets mixed reviews

Industry and physician groups expressed wary support for the FDA's "new paradigm" drug proposal, which would create a nonprescription "Behind the Counter" class of drugs available through pharmacists.

Siding with Lilly, appeals court overturns decision in rep overtime case

The latest round of Sales Reps vs. Pharma has favored...the pharma industry. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said that Eli Lilly did not owe former rep Susan Schaeffer-LaRose overtime.

Humira on solid ground, analysts say, despite vote on Pfizer hopeful

The general consensus surrounding the FDA advisory panel's 8-2 vote in favor of Pfizer's rheumatoid arthritis hopeful tofacitinib yesterday was that Abbott's Humira doesn't have to watch its back.

Makers of pain pills, advocacy groups at center of Senate probe

The Senate Finance Committee is looking to crack down on unnecessary pain prescriptions and is using a money trail to do it.

Saatchi shop rebrands to sharpen specialty focus

Saatchi & Saatchi Innovations, Publicis' Pennsylvania-based outpost servicing specialty pharma, is rebranding as Saatchi Science.

Docs trust ED drugs above all, go with their emotions when prescribing

Viagra and Cialis took top honors for most trusted pharmaceutical brands in a poll of physicians.

Doximity goes back to school, creates alumni app

Physician social network Doximity announced Saturday that it is creating an app just for Stanford Medical School students and alumni. Co-founder Jeff Tangney said it's the first of several university groups.

Roche ends dalcetrapib trial, questions linger on CETP class

A treatment Roche called a longshot has been left in the dust, throwing the fate of CETP inhibition into doubt once again.

Nurses get their own app with Lippincott launch

As of Monday, nurses will be able to tap into the Nursing Drug Handbook with an app, a first for the 32-year-old publication.

CMS pulls plug on transparency deadline

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said manufacturers won't have to start collecting physician payment data until January 1, 2013.

Pfizer restructures comms, Kerins to depart this summer

Several communications staffers at Pfizer will exit the company in coming weeks as part of a restructuring effort, PRWeek reported.

Report: FDA hitting PDUFA targets, critics be darned

The latest word from the Government Accountability Office: back off the FDA. The government research agency's newest report says the FDA is plowing through new- and biologics- drug applications at a speedy pace.

Germany rejects GSK's lupus drug Benlysta

Things are looking dim for lupus drug Benlysta, which hit price walls in the UK and Germany.