But our group has been created for the sole purpose of connecting likeminded industry professionals. What happens when our industry looks to social media to communicate with its patients? It’s a scary prospect but one that absolutely can’t be ignored, especially when, as highlighted by a recent blog by my colleague Patricia van Arnum, only 11% of consumers admit to going to a pharmaceutical company’s website when seeking health-related advice or guidance on medication. Sure, regulators are fully aware of this trend and seeking ways to improve patient access to the right kind of information but can regulations really make a difference? Jennifer Colapietro of Pricewaterhouse Coopers thinks not. In a recent episode of Pharma Faceoff — a video series by my colleagues at Pharmaceutical Executive) — she explained that regulations can’t control individual interpretations.

Direct communication between pharma company and patient in an easily accessible forum would undoubtedly provide the patient with access to accurate information but it will also provide the pharma company with invaluable patient feedback and intelligence. I know that many pharma companies are looking to social media as a way of communicating with their patients, but there is a problem with lack of patient knowledge. How can patients be made aware that these accurate information sources are available? Equally, how can patients be educated on how to separate the accurate information providers from the inaccurate information providers? It’s not going to be an easy task but I think it is one that can be tackled if all bodies — healthcare regulators, industry, patient groups, governments — joined forces and set about defining a harmonised approach.

On question remains: is a harmonised approach to social media realistic? This debate, I predict, will rage on for years to come.

Admittedly, the fact that the event coincided with Paris Fashion Week and the Paris Motor Show, made public transport a bit of a challenge but, on the up side, it meant that we got to spot some famous faces and, much to the delight of my male colleagues, the occasional female model gliding about town.

There seemed to be a real buzz around the show, more so than last year I felt. In fact, the meeting organizers announced a 24% growth in number of exhibitors over 2009, making the event the largest it has ever been in its 10-year history.

The noises that we were hearing were very promising; companies are talking of pipeline innovations, new investments and some, believe it or not, expansion! If I were forced to come up with a list of buzz words that could define the new strategies for companies operating in the ingredients and contract services sectors, based on this week’s exhibition, I would include:

• service offering expansion
• rebranding and reinvention
• supply chain integrity
• emerging markets
• generics
• biologicals
• high potency APIs
• oral dosage innovations
• drug delivery
• lifecycle management

I guess most would not be surprised by my choice of words, and whilst we all acknowledge that companies have been forced to alter their business strategies in order to grow or even survive, it was nice to hear that those companies are going against the stereotypical behavior that has defined the pharma/biopharma industries for so many years — conservative, traditional. They are adapting… fast. Sure, it is probably more out of necessity than choice, but the optimism for change seemed genuine.

I would like to thank all of those people that took the time to speak with my colleagues and I at the event; it was a real pleasure. I look forward to working with you and to continue reporting on the trends in your market that will define the future of this complex and exciting industry.

Dedicated solely to innovations in the pharmaceutical drug delivery and packaging industry, Pharmapack 2010, with its 224 exhibitors and 2550 visitors, was a breath of fresh air. Every exhibitor, from the small consultancy firms through to the multinational powerhouses, were housed in similarly sized booths within the bright and airy venue of the Paris Grande Halle de la Villette, and I think this made for a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Exhibitors were naturally restricted by the small exhibition space offered to them; they were less able to show off their latest technologies. But I do believe this made for a more relaxed atmosphere, primarily because voices were not drowned out by the whirring and pumping of machinery, but also because the smaller firms were able to stand as equals alongside their multi million- and billion-dollar revenue-generating counterparts. It is always great to see the fruits of our industry’s labor in action, but this meeting made for a refreshing change. 

So apart from enjoying the friendly atmosphere (and the fact that my feet did not feel as though they had been pierced by needles by the end of the day), I was wowed by some of the latest and greatest developments in the packaging and drug delivery industries. The packaging, labeling and security buzzwords that were flying around the event included: child-resistant, patient compliance, intelligent, sustainable, laser and diffractive coding, electronic monitoring, RFID, 3D product inspection, and more. Meanwhile, sustainable, disposable and environmentally-friendly solutions were the keywords used to highlight the areas where many of the drug delivery companies are currently concentrating their development efforts.

Rest assured that we will be reporting on some of the most exciting developments from the event over the coming months. One thing I can assure you is that our industry continues to innovate and the packaging and drug delivery solutions of tomorrow look fantastic!

The society was referring specifically to a report issued earlier this year by EMEA, which highlighted some of the failings of the agency and other regulatory authorities to provide clear information on the risks and benefits of medications in a language that is clear and understandable to patients. The report was based on the results of a survey of regulators, healthcare providers, patients and consumers across Europe.

EURORDIS has shown a particular interest in this survey because of the increasing involvement of patients and consumers in treatment decision-making. According to the society, this is especially true for rare disease patients who are often very involved in the management of their disease.

In its report, EMEA highlighted the importance of simplified information provision on the benefits and risks of medicines. According to the EURORDIS release, this “is particularly critical to orphan drugs which are often developed under exceptional circumstances and for which there is less long-term information about safety than for regular drugs.”

As the number of patients going it alone and seeking information on their disease and treatment options continues to escalate, the importance of reliable and good quality information becomes even more critical. The fact that the public has free access to an inordinate amount of information, which is largely unregulated, via the Internet, is naturally a concern to regulators, healthcare professionals and drug manufacturers so the EMEA’s efforts to address this problem are indeed commendable.

According to the agency’s report, regulators need to take more responsibility for the dissemination of reliable information on medicines to healthcare professionals and patients. This information should clearly present the benefits and risks of a therapeutic in lay language, and should identify patient subgroups for whom risks or benefits may differ. It is recommended that warnings and clinical trial information should also be presented in understandable terms.

EMEA, along with its patient, consumer, and healthcare professional working groups, have now outlined an action plan, which aims primarily to optimize the provision of regulatory information that fulfils patients’ and healthcare professionals’ expectations in a number of ways and through different tools and channels. While this is indeed an admirable undertaking, one might ask how feasible it will be to create, in essence, a one-stop information shop for patients and healthcare professionals that is not only comprehensive, but is also sufficiently publicized so that the public are aware of its existence and opt to visit this trusted information source over and above any other.

Naturally, it will be mission impossible to prevent patients from basing decisions on potentially inaccurate and/or unregulated information, but the idea of a harmonized public access information source, issued by regulators, is very exciting. According to the report, ideally “a central web portal provided by EMEA and national competent authorities” could be used to disseminate trusted information on medicinal products.

Suggestions relating to the expansion of the existing Eudrapharm database of information on all medicinal products authorized in the EU were made within the report. Although the idea of this database, which is available in most European languages, is an interesting one, the information that it currently stores on approved medications is severely limited and is of no real use to patients as it stands. As such, if it were to be considered a valuable resource for healthcare professionals and patients, it will require a significant investment of time and money.

According to Francois Houyez, Health Policy Officer at EURORDIS and patient representative at the Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party (PCWP) of the EMEA in this week’s EURORDIS release, “This is the first time that patients, doctors and regulators are thinking together to define the benefit-risk ratio of drugs and how best to communicate it. Patients who take orphan drugs have been asking for more balanced information, not only information about the risks they are exposed to, but equally important the benefit they can expect.” He concluded, “This project and the recommendations coming out of it are a real step forward in this direction.”

I couldn’t agree more!

Resistance to the social networking revolution has been particularly high amongst pharmaceutical industry professionals, though now it seems that more and more are coming round to the idea. Interestingly, it’s not only the pharma elite that are jumping on the bandwagon; so too are government agencies and, most notably, the FDA.

The networking tool currently at the height of this phenomenon is Twitter. A December 2008 report by HubSpot estimated 5000 to 10000 new Twitter accounts were registered each day, whilst the latest report claims that the rate has accelerated so dramatically that “it has reached a point where it is futile to attempt to generate a flat growth rate number.”

The figures speak for themselves and, what started out as another social networking channel, is seemingly becoming a necessary tool for social and professional communication.

Unsurprisingly, pharma professionals have approached social networking tools with caution, particularly because of the highly regulated nature of the pharmaceutical industry. “Companies did not want to fall foul of the regulations by using tools, such as Twitter, to disseminate information about their activities, just in case they say something that they shouldn’t, by which time it is too late to control its spread amongst the public,” Faiz Kermani, Pharmaceutical Technology Europe (PTE) Editorial Advisory Board member, told PTE. “It’s an odd mindset really because the people being cautious with social media tools in their days jobs are the very same people who love them in their home lives,” he added.

A quick browse through Twitter, however, shows that the tide is changing; not only are the pharma heavyweights testing the water; even the FDA is getting involved. The agency is using Twitter to send out important announcements, such as product recalls, and it is also tentatively experimenting with another type of social media in the form of its ‘FDA Transparency Blog’.  

“It is very interesting to see the FDA adopt Twitter. In a sense, this helps add further legitimacy to social media as having a rightful place in the field of healthcare,” said Kermani. “The FDA has its own reasons for needing to be more in touch with the public; this should, however, help it argue the case that it is becoming a more transparent agency. Companies who have not yet explored Twitter will no doubt feel more comfortable knowing the regulators are willing to give it a try,” predicted Kermani.

According to Kermani, one of the problems the pharmaceutical industry has at the moment is that it has a very poor public image in spite of the good work that it carries out. “Social media tools provide a quick route to the public ear, which can be used by industry to portray itself in a positive light without the negative media interpretation,” he explained. “This direct route can, however, also be a double-edged sword because there is a perception that it is hard to control this route of communication. The industry prefers to evaluate what it is saying before it communicates with the public. Unfortunately, in most cases, that makes it too late to be of interest to the public, particularly because it may have already been covered elsewhere by a journalist with their particular interpretation of the news.”

Although an open communication platform, such as Twitter, might struggle to bear the weight of such a heavily regulated industry and carry the responsibility that pharma has for doctors and patients, whilst still facilitating meaningful discussion, professional users are beginning to see it for what it is: an effective platform for fast communication and profile-building. A news story by BNET Pharma offered the theory that: “compliance officials and lawyers think it’s harder to get into trouble in 140 characters than it is with the endless sheet of blank web space that is a blog.”

However, many pharma companies that have taken their first steps into the social media scene are still doing so rather tentatively. “Companies should craft clear guidelines for employees on the do’s and don’ts of social media usage professionally and privately,” advised Silja Couquet, founder of Basel-based social media coach Whydot GmbH, in an article authored by Advanstar’s European Editorial Director, Peter Houston. She says the best way for pharma to find out what’s possible is to start using Twitter internally to get a feel for how it works and what it can do.

“There is no doubt that companies will adopt social media as a core part of their public dealings, but more time is needed for them to feel comfortable with it and determine how best to use it. It’s also important to have the right employees who can make the best use of these tools,” said Kermani. “Some companies have been more ambitious than others in using social media tools and it is the examples provided by these pioneers that will persuade the others to follow,” he concluded.

SOURCES

http://www.ptemag.com/pharmtecheurope/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=610202&sk=ecf9c8a7f82f9fa9b2312681c303566c

http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/sotwitter09.pdf

http://twitter.com/pfizer

http://twitter.com/AstraZenecaUS

http://twitter.com/novartis

http://twitter.com/Boehringer

http://fdatransparencyblog.fda.gov/

http://www.morethanmedicine.us.gsk.com/blog/

http://twitter.com/fdarecalls

http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10002232/why-drug-companies-prefer-twitter-over-blogs/

I really didn’t know what to expect from my first trip to this exhibition, which my colleagues promised would be like nothing I have ever seen before. They were right. I personally couldn’t offer any insight into how this year’s meeting compared with Achema 2006, but opinion amongst attendees and exhibitors indicate that the number of visitors is similar to previous years and I can confirm that that is a lot of visitors. Geographic representation does appear to have changed significantly this year however, with the US and Japan being very poorly represented partly, it seems, because of the economic situation, but also as a result of the recent swine flu outbreak, which has prevented many people from the US and Japan from traveling. Conversely, there has been a steep rise in Chinese and Korean visitors, confirming the level of interest in and investment that’s being made by the global powerhouses in these markets.

In terms of technological innovations, I have three words for you: disposables, efficiency, and quality. Whether you’re interested in packaging, analytical, processing, or labeling equipment on a small or large scale, the trend is most certainly moving toward disposable solutions that get the job done quicker, more cost effectively, and within the quality parameters defined by the regulators. We saw some fantastic technologies this week, serving various stages of the manufacturing process but, interestingly, virtually every manufacturer is investing heavily in R&D efforts to provide customers with more cost-effective, cleaner, and faster solutions. From what I’ve been hearing, although the economic downturn has affected business, investment in research and innovation continues and this optimistic approach is bound to stand the industry in good stead as the recovery process continues. It will be very interesting to see what the result of this investment will yield the next time we meet again in Frankfurt.

My advice to anybody considering attending Achema 2012: make sure you get some guided tours from the exhibitors; to read about these technologies is one thing, but to watch them in action is something else entirely. In general, I strongly recommend that you take advantage of the German’s knowledge of good beer-making with a stein of Pilsner, try the pork knuckle, maybe just once, and wear sensible shoes!