Author: Matt Arnold, Principal Analyst
- Microsoft is looking to link up cloud computing and AI through an initiative called Healthcare NExT, which “will deeply integrate greenfield research and health technology product development, as well as establish a new model at Microsoft for strategic health industry partnerships.” Initial partners include University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, for a project focusing on clinician empowerment and productivity through “reducing the burden of electronic paperwork,” a collaboration with HealthVault on an adherence initiative, and a partnership th MDLive to use Microsoft’s chatbot tech “to help patients self-triage injuries before they interact with a doctor via health video” (more on that effort, and Microsoft’s checkered history in health tech, here).
- Pfizer continues to tend its suite of apps, and is preparing to launch a chronic pain tracker dubbed BeLive, which the WSJ calls “one in a series of mobile and wearable technologies aimed at consumers instead of Pfizer’s usual customer base of doctors and health-care providers.”
- Two huge developments in CRISPR:
- Harvard/MIT’s Broad Institute prevailed in a patent dispute over CRISPR technology, prevailing over the University of California;
- The National Academies of Science issued a paper endorsing the use of gene editing in living cells, but only to cure babies of genetic diseases.
- The market for remote monitoring grew 44% worldwide in 2016, with 7.1 million patients enrolled, according to data from Swedish firm Berg Insight, which is projecting that number to rise to 50 million by 2021. Nearly half of that, they say, will be “Bring Your Own Device.”
- An Accenture study found that 1 in 5 consumers had used telehealth services – a big leap from the 9% that had used them in a previous Accenture study 18 months ago -- but that 78% of U.S. consumers are interested in using them. Providers who don’t meet that demand may see patients migrate to ones who will. Klick has a good summary of key findings.
- HIV infections fell 18% in the U.S. in 6 years, from 2008 to 2014. Truvada, indicated for pre-exposure prophylaxis, only launched in 2012, so much of that improvement presumably reflects better diagnosis and treatment.
- Novartis is doubling down on its virtual conference offering, Vivinda TV, which CEO Joe Jiminez says “can exponentially increase the number of physicians that we can bring this medical information to at a fraction of the cost.” Their Gilenya team has also launched an innovative online MS dictionary dubbed “MS: No Filter.”
- Gilead is promoting Truvada for HIV prevention (pre-exposure prophylaxis) through dating sites, Tumblr and Snapchat, targeting cities including New Orleans, Baltimore and Washington, DC, where awareness of the drug for PrEP is low among populations at high risk.
- Bayer has a fascinating campaign for Bayer Aspirin’s heart health benefits which features people named Smith in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Video vignettes in the digital-centric HeroSmiths campaign spotlight eight Smiths, and a microsite offers heart attack info and invites viewers to sign a pledge to carry aspirin.
- Merck is shelling out big on DTC TV for its Opdivo rival Keytruda in what looks to be the start of a DTC TV arms race in the increasingly crowded immuno-oncology space.
- Propeller Health netted another smart inhaler partner in Novartis, for Breezhaler in Europe. They have existing deals with BI and GSK.
- Allergan launched a preventable blindness awareness campaign leveraging social influencers and free eye exams in a number of cities through a partnership with nonprofit Prevent Blindness.
- Fitbit laid off 6% of its workforce following poor holiday sales but announced plans to expand into the smartwatch space with “devices that combine the right general-purpose functionality with a focus on health and fitness.”
- Facebook announced a change to its algorithm that will weight completion of long-form videos more heavily in news feeds. What this portends for pharma brands is a topic of some debate but it’s clear that Facebook sees video as the future of social media. However, a study by Twitter and Omnicom found that the most memorable videos were short (>15 seconds), in-feed and played well in silent mode.
- A pair of digital drug cost transparency startups, GoodRx and Iodine, have merged. Assuming that a GOP-Trumpian vision for consumer-driven healthcare moves forward, tools like theirs will be very much in demand.
- Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price narrowly won Senate confirmation last week. Price, long a fierce Obamacare foe, could blow up the Affordable Care Act in a number of ways without Congressional action if he wanted to.
- Trump still hasn’t named an FDA chief, but the industry is murmuring concerns over his plans for a radical overhaul of the agency (which many of his FDA candidates would love to implement).
- Marathon Pharma is the latest price-hiking pharma on the political hot seat. They might get booted out of PhRMA for reviving an old drug to treat a form of muscular dystrophy and pricing it at an eye-popping $89K/year. Lawmakers are grumbling about revisiting the Orphan Drug Act, which Marathon is seen as having abused.
- NPs and PAs are winning the turf war over scope of practice, and with that comes greater scrutiny – a pair of Senators wants to shed some sunlight on them by including their contacts with pharmas in Open Payments reporting requirements.
- WebMD is weighing a sale, citing softer than expected sales of ad inventory to pharmas, “possibly due to pricing pressure, continued issues around managed care and product launch challenges.”
- And BMS is said to be a takeover target.
- A Pew study dug into how people find news online, and found that 40% of the time, consumers got health news when seeking it out.
- Here’s a great roundup of healthcare company Instagram campaigns, including Duchesnay USA’s follow-up campaign for Diclegis – this time, sans Kardashian and with safety info. The company says they learned from earlier experience.
- Rich Meyer writes that DTC investment continues to rise, but “the biggest head scratcher is pharma’s reluctance to really invest in digital.” Preach!
- Ever wonder how drug names are born? Stat’s got you covered with an explainer.
