Virgo launches pharma communications blog
pharmafile | July 13, 2009 | News story | Medical Communications | Virgo, digi
Specialist healthcare PR agency Virgo Health has launched a blog with the aim of stimulating debate over the future of pharmaceutical communications.
The agency hopes to harness the power of the ‘blogosphere’ to talk about how the pharma industry might utilise the most recent ‘Web 2.0’ technologies.
“At the moment we think there is a real benefit to be had from starting a conversation about the possibilities in online pharma coms,” said Ed Purkis, editor of the agency’s Healthy Conversations blog.
His blog has so far covered issues like reputation management and commented on stories such as Roche walking out of both the ABPI and PhRMA.
“We are looking at how to move pharma into Web 2.0, at how pharma can maximise the use of platforms like Twitter and blogging,” continued Purkis.
Before 2004, corporate websites with ‘flat’ words and pictures were the limit of most pharma companies’ online ambitions.
But since then the Web 2.0 model has meant people can edit or add to content on sites such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Flickr.
“Most of the pharma companies have Twitter profiles,” Purkis acknowledged.
Initiatives such as Sanofi-Aventis’ online TV channel have also sparked interest.
And the importance of online coms to the industry will be underlined in October when the PM Society is to host its first Digital Media Awards.
Virgo’s blogging activities are aimed at “getting a consensus on what should be done to move things forward”.
It hopes to start a debate around the benefits of Web 2.0 to patients and healthcare professionals and the thorny question of how to engage audiences.
The sector is concerned about what can and cannot be done on the internet, Purkis continued.
“We encounter a considerable amount of concern from our contacts in pharma companies about the regulatory and legal barriers of communicating online,” he explained.
“Although we appreciate there are numerous issues that we have to address, we strongly believe we can make significant steps forward, however small, by discussing the challenges and encouraging a collective desire to push these boundaries.”
Virgo’s wishlist includes increasing engagement with stakeholders online. “There is a lot of inspiration out there and some good progress being made,” Purkis said,
“[The blog] is all about keeping the wheels turning by discussing the legal and regulatory challenges and sharing our aspirations to get closer to the debate and move forward together, rather than stay at a safe distance.”
Virgo is to host an evening debate later this year on healthcare coms.
The Healthy Conversations blog can be found at http://blog.virgohealth.com
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