Regular readers of Pharma Marketing Blog are familiar with Emily Jameson, aka “FDA Intern” and “PhRMA Intern.” Emily has moved on to accept a position with a leading pharma interactive media agency and is now Social Media Intern ! We’ve watched Emily’s career progress from her internship at PhRMA, which hired her fresh out college because she was related to one of PhRMA’s VPs, to her stint at FDA where she was instrumental in nudging that organization to call for a public hearing on the regulation of social media. It’s only natural, therefore, that Emily has ended up on the agency side of the business where she will be able to directly serve the interests of the pharmaceutical industry, which seems to need all the help it can get these days in terms of avoiding social media faux pas.

ePharma boosters see the latest direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising spending numbers as a positive sign that the drug industry is finally increasing its allotment to the Internet in its DTC marketing budget. Nielsen data indicate that “spending on Internet ads, which has doubled over the last five years, hit $117.4 million, up 31 percent” (see ” Drugmakers boost consumer ad spending 2 pct in ‘09 “). Total DTC spending increased 1.9% in 2009 vs.

Simultaneous posts on Pharmalot and Pharma bnet have focused on what seems to be a disgruntled patient who posted photos and comments on sanofi-aventis’s (S-A) Facebook page (see ” Bald Women Lash Out At Sanofi-Aventis & Taxotere ” and ” Sanofi’s Latest Challenge: Women Who Say Its Chemotherapy Left Them Permanently Bald “).

In comments addressed to the FDA, many drug companies and ad hoc industry groups are suggesting ways drug companies can legally “engage” with patients, physicians, and consumers in online social media discussions (see, for example, ” A Pharma ‘Social Media Working Group’ Submits Comments to FDA “). The hope is that new FDA guidelines (or regulations) will help them do that.

Wow! Pfizer’s official Twitter account, @pfizer_news (” The official site for Pfizer Inc., where we apply science and our global resources to improve health and well-being at every stage of life.”) has over 5,000 followers, making it the MOST followed pharma Twitter account! And just this last December it had less than 1,000 followers (see chart below). How did Pfizer get so many followers so quickly

Pfizer submitted comments to Docket No. FDA‐2009‐N‐0441 regarding Promotion of FDA‐Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools (find it here ). The world’s #1 pharmaceutical company stands alone in calling upon the FDA to develop new regulations for the Internet and social media rather than issuing guidance that puts an “interpretative gloss” on existing rules

Three ad agencies came up with two similarly designed ways of keeping track of online healthcare conversation, harnessing the power of social media sites like Twitter and Digg.

I worked all weekend to submit to the FDA the results of the Pharma Marketing News/Blog survey of readers about FDA’s Regulation of Drug & Device Promotion via the Internet & Social Media. As you may recall, the FDA asked for comments relating to the following 5 issues: Issue 1: Accountability Issue 2: Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements Issue 3: Posting Corrective Information Issue 4: Links Issue 5: Adverse Event Reporting Under each issue, the FDA included several specific questions for which it was seeking answers. Beginning on September 21, 2009, Pharma Marketing News/Blog hosted an online survey/ questionnaire that included all 19 of these specific questions.

Yesterday afternoon at approximately 3 PM ET, @pfizer_news posted this tweet: “Become a Fan of Pfizers official page on Facebook: http://bit.ly/aGX49f” About an hour later I was sent this DM: ‘Hi - Wanted to let you know that we just launched our official Pfizer Facebook page ( http://bit.ly/aGX49f )… hope to see you there!” I always make it my business to explore as many new pharma social media initiatives as possible

According to an Institute for Safe Medication Practices report (see here ) more than 1000 reports of patient deaths were received by FDA for rosiglitazone (AVANDIA) in the first three quarters of 2009, “more than any other drug we monitor.” In contrast, at least 34 deaths have been linked to Toyota vehicle problems going back as far as 2004, forcing Toyota to recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.