Digital Pharma: Big pharma’s iPhone apps (part two)
pharmafile | July 5, 2010 | Feature | Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Apple, Digital Pharma blog, app, ipad, iphone
Part one of Big Pharma’s iPhone Apps covered apps produced by Pfizer, Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis and you can read it here.
It rounded up 26 apps produced by the five largest pharma companies, revealing branded and unbranded apps, patients and healthcare professional apps, and apps aimed at a variety of markets, including the US, UK, France and Turkey.
Part two continues the investigation of prescription product-minded apps, and covers those produced by the next five biggest pharma companies, as listed in our Insight section: Roche, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly and Abbott.
Two of the companies don’t seem to have produced any apps yet, so as an added bonus I’ve added to the list Bayer (who have three apps to their credit).
In total these six companies have so far produced 13 apps between, for markets such as Germany, France, the UK and the US.
Big pharma’s iPhone apps
Roche iPhone apps
BioOncology: Produced by Roche’s biotech arm Genentech this app features oncology news from Reuters, polls, information on Genentech’s cancer research and a ‘contact us’ facility. Planned expansion to the app will see information on clinical trials, patient services and publications added soon.
Nursing Ace: An app for US nurses to access information found at NursingAce.com. It includes branded and unbranded patient educational materials, product information and a listing of Genentech’s local oncology clinical coordinators and a facility to contact them via email.
iMPL: A medical laboratory app from Roche Diagnostics France that allows real-time tracking of lab results. Currently has a price tag that comes in at $37.99.
CongressUS: A medical congress app for physicians. It allows to physicians to quickly find sessions of interest at the congress they’re attending and offers reviews and ratings from a board of experts and key opinion leaders on the sessions. Released just last month, the example screenshots on the iTunes store feature cancer conferences SABCS and ASCO as examples of the kind of meetings the app could help users follow.
AstraZeneca iPhone apps
One of two top ten pharma companies (the other being Lilly) not to have yet produced an iPhone app, or not one I could find at least. Should they be marked down for this? I’m not sure. But it’s interesting to note, especially given their willingness to devote a page on their US website to their various social media presences.
Johnson & Johnson iPhone apps
Pneumonia Management Tool: US app for healthcare professionals from Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals that provides a range of tools to assist their clinical decision-making. It also includes current trends in national and local antibiotic resistance patterns.
Blackbag Medical Resources: Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ Blackbag app offers medical news, tools and resources for US healthcare professional working across multiple specialties and therapeutic areas. It includes breaking medical news, conference coverage, journal summaries, videos, podcasts and FDA MedWatch safety alerts.
Crohn’s Diary: US patient diary app from Centocor Ortho Biotech. It allows patients to track their symptoms and look for patterns in their diet and lifestyle that may be aggravating their disease symptoms.
CL PASI Calculator: An unbranded app for UK healthcare professionals from Janssen-Cilag, and the first ever psoriasis iPhone app. The disease calculator can be used to determine how severely a patient has been affected and is based on the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). It’s currently priced at £4.99 at the iTunes store.
Care Connector: A personal organiser app from Johnson & Johnson’s consumer division for US carers. It records healthcare professional contact information, insurance policy numbers and prescription information. It also has a journal facility to record notes and take photos and there are message boards to connect with other carers. The app supports the Caregiver Initiative J&J launched in 2006.
Abbott iPhone apps
Diabetes Mapp: German diabetic services search app from Abbott Diabetes Care that locates the user’s nearest diabetologist, podiatrist, psychotherapist, support group and so on.
Lilly iPhone apps
The second of the top ten pharma companies not to have an iPhone app, or not one I could find.
Bayer iPhone apps
Kid K: Haemophilia disease awareness app that was included in Bayer’s World Haemophilia Day efforts this year. Based on the football move the Kid K Keepy Uppies game aims to highlight everything haemophilia sufferers can do, rather than dwell on the things they can’t. The app costs 59p, and – in a nice touch – all proceeds are donated to The Haemophilia Society.
Factor Track: US app for patients to record their haemophilia A Factor VIII infusions, whether on a prophylaxis or on-demand basis. Part of Bayer’s Living Fit programme, the app allows users to receive infusion reminders, track their infusions and doses, add notes related to the location of their bleeds or changes in dose and email this information to themselves, to record elsewhere, or to their healthcare team.
My Beta App: US app for patients with multiple sclerosis that works as a reminder and tracker for Betaseron (interferon beta-1b) injections. It includes an ‘at a glance’ day plan, customisable rotational schedule for injections, injection history and the ability for patients to email the information recorded to themselves or their healthcare team.
• That’s the list done. Part one included iPhone apps from Pfizer, Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis, and can be viewed here.
Part three of Big Pharma’s iPhone Apps will be published on Wednesday, when I’ll pick out my two favourite pharma apps that didn’t appear.
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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