Blog footer

Digital Pharma – Byte-sized roundup

pharmafile | January 22, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications Fresenius Kabi, P&G, Prilosec OTC, Seroquel, Twitter, digital pharma 

In this week’s roundup: P&G taps social media for Prilosec OTC, UK launches new data site, analysis of pharma on Twitter, an awareness push for dysphagia and the BBC to look into AZ’s Seroquel.

Proctor & Gamble has launched a US social media website for its consumer heartburn brand Prilosec OTC.

P&G aims to build a community around its Offical Sponsor site, which is looking for “real people to sponsor in pursuit of real passions”. The site collects together Twitter chat from its community and has a Twitter account of its own.

In prescription form Prilosec is an AstraZeneca drug and in Europe it is available as the OTC brands Zanprol (GlaxoSmithKline) and Antra (Bayer).

– – – –

The UK government has launched a new data blog that aims to act as an online point of access for all government-held non-personal data.

It already includes a wealth of health information on subjects such as adult psychiatric morbidityautism spectrum disorders in adults and childhood obesity.

The site was set up by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited with founding the world wide web 20 years ago, and Professor Nigel Shadbolt from the University of Southampton. Sir Tim told The Telegraph the scale of the information available will mean social inequalities between different areas quickly become apparent.

– – – –

The number of people following pharma companies on Twitter grew rapidly last year, on average doubling over the six months to December 2009, according to the Why Dot Pharma blog.

The blog also looked at which companies lead in terms of number of followers (Pfizer, Novartis and Boehringer) and noted that large number of companies seem “handcuffed into inertia by legal constraints” when it comes to engaging with the micro-blogging platform.

– – – –

The UK arm of German infusion therapy and clinical nutrition company Fresenius Kabi plans to raise awareness of swallowing disorder dysphagia among healthcare professionals.

Its Guide To Dysphagia DVD was produced by Kent company OneOne2 Media and aims to provide practical solutions for the care and management of the little known but relatively common problem.

Presented initially in an English language format, further versions are planned in French, Spanish, German, Punjabi and Hindi.

– – – –

AstraZeneca’s anti-psychotic drug Seroquel will next week be the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme.

In the US the company is being sued by more than 15,000 people who claim the drug caused severe weight gain, diabetes and a number of other serious medical conditions.

Due to be broadcast on Tuesday 26 January, the BBC’s File on 4 programme will investigate the way the drug was marketed and ask “how much the public should be told about the drugs they take”.

– – – –

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.

Related Content

Prange Group and Adragos Pharma to acquire Fresenius Kabi’s manufacturing site

Prange Group and Adragos Pharma have announced the signing of definitive agreements with Fresenius Kabi …

real_world

Using advanced digital capabilities to unlock hard-to-see HCPs access

Pharmaceutical companies face a ‘digital imperative’ to engage with healthcare professionals through their channel preferences …

Twitter launches new initiative to direct users towards credible information on vaccines

Twitter will now present users with a pinned tweet directing them towards reliable information on …

Latest content