Digital Pharma: Pfizer, J&J and Merck withdraw iPhone apps
pharmafile | January 7, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications | Android, Blackberry, Digital Pharma blog, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, apps, ipad, iphone
Big pharma companies have pulled a number of apps from the iTunes store, but it’s not a sign the industry has fallen out of love with Apple’s iPhone.
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Merck have withdrawn nine apps between them, but all continue to work with the technology.
It’s a further sign that pharma’s relationship with mobile apps is evolving, following the recent launch of the industry’s first Android apps.
Pfizer has retired its Dos Au Mur, Les Meningo – Smash Pursuit and HemoTouch apps, three French iPhone apps for patients and their families that focused on ankylosing spondylitis, meningitis and haemophilia respectively.
Johnson & Johnson has withdrawn its Pneumonia Management Tool, a US app for healthcare professionals from Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals to assist their clinical decision-making.
Also no longer available on the iTunes store are five apps from Merck – the Temodar Dosing Calculator, DAS28 Calculator for Healthcare Professionals, Remicade Dosage Calculator for Healthcare Professionals, Remicade RRP Matrix for Healthcare Professionals and Bridion Dose Calculator.
The Remicade and Bridion apps were unusual in being branded apps produced solely for the UK market.
Two of the companies underwent major mergers in 2009 – Pfizer with Wyeth and Merck with Schering-Plough – and their withdrawn apps mostly originated with the acquired companies, the only exception being Merck’s Temodar app.
Pfizer, Merck and J&J still have a number of iPhone apps available, including ones for healthcare professionals as well as patients.
Details of these and other mobile apps, including the Android apps I exclusively revealed earlier this week, can be found in the new Digital Pharma links part of this blog.
Its mobile apps section is the first to go live and contains details of 65 apps for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android devices. Over the next few weeks additional sections focused on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, online video and more will follow.
Dominic Tyer is web editor for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and the author of the Digital Pharma blog He can be contacted via email, Twitter or LinkedIn.
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