Most working Americans are happy with their health insurance although a majority have seen their rates increase this year in anticipation of healthcare reform. However, a lot of people are just one serious illness away from going into a healthcare insurance system that grinds people up and spits them out.

If you go onto any social media site and search for a health condition and or drug you’re liable to get back a lot of information that is, well, off the wall and a bit crazy. Last year when I was leading some research with physicians one of the issues that kept popping up was that physicians were not comfortable with patients self-diagnosing and in some cases self-treating.

The drug industry does not have a good reputation right now with either consumers or physicians when it comes to the marketing of drugs. It’s important however to understand where you are when it comes to developing new marketing programs and not overreact to the media news

While it’s true that big pharma has a trust issue with the public it’s also true that people continue to visit product.com websites as part of the process to collect and evaluate healthcare options.

The search for drug company evil continues as Glaxo’s Avandia is the latest drug in the crosshairs of regulators, the media and lawyers. This diabetes drug is highly effective at regulating blood sugar and is used by millions of type 2 diabetics.

It’s amazing that PhRMA would come up with recommended guidelines that seem to be developed over a cup of coffee rather than really think about how consumers use and need health information online. The people at PhRMA need to contact the sales people at Manhattan Research to get updated information before they pull ideas out of space. Thinking about patients first here are some things that should be standard when it comes to Internet & Social Media marketing for drug and medical device companies: 1.

J&J asked that companies not be held responsible for user comments they do not control. This is needed and should be accepted practice. There is no way that ANY drug company can control ALL user comments via any media.

“If you are a man diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure and I tell you that you need to lose weight and take medication, and I can say the benefit is five extra years of sex life, you might be more inclined to do what I tell you,” the author of a study on sex and health recently stated.

How many times have you been waiting to see your doctor and observed a sales rep come in, drop off samples and leave.

An upset patient who has decided to challenge Sanofi on their side effects. Was she informed ? On the Taxotere web page hair loss is listed as a side effect in the fair balance as; Other common side effects from Taxotere