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Pharma still lagging behind docs and patients in digital

pharmafile | May 30, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing digital, eye for pharma, marketing, multichannel 

The pharma industry is still struggling with multichannel marketing which is putting it out of sync with patients and doctors, according to a new report.

Eyeforpharma’s new whitepaper shows that the majority of European healthcare professional (HCPs) are now using digital regularly in their jobs, well ahead of the curve compared to other industries, whilst patients are also increasingly multi-screen and are channel ‘savvy’.

Google statistics show the majority of browsing is now initiated on a smartphone (65%) as opposed to a laptop or PC (61%) – yet according to the whitepaper – 93% of pharma’s investment remains in analog channels.

One of the key stumbling blocks that appears to hinder the sector is that many executives have come through a strong face-to-face sales tradition, making them wary of digital and seeing it just in a supporting role, rather than as a ‘leading edge’ approach.

Tough regulatory compliance issues also leads the industry to be risk-adverse, instead of pushing against the boundaries to provide content that is engaging, up-to-date yet still compliant.

“It is a major issue for pharma yet one that it is inevitably going to have to be tackled if it wants to keep pace with both its key customer base and the end patient,’ states Paul Simms, chairman of eyeforpharma.

“Pharma simply cannot continue to rest on its laurels. [Currently], 98% of HPCs search for medical information online and 86% want more e-resources. Only 10% use a company website for information and just 3% rate that information as credible.”

Ben Adams 

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