Physicians and Patients Really Want the Same Thing….
October 16, 2007 | Written by Yan Shikhvarger
There seems to be an underlying connection between two completely unrelated articles. The first was published in Medical Marketing & Media and reported on a survey that found a majority of doctors (64%) favored "some sort of moratorium on DTC advertising."
A month later, The Economist Technology Quarterly reported on the rise of "user-generated healthcare, or Health 2.0" which satisfies an unmet need for consumers. Patients or caregivers are turning to their peers because they are not getting the information they want from their physicians and potentially from established healthcare portals or brochure-ware websites.
Both of these articles are really saying the same thing from the perspective of two very different key audiences. There is still not enough credible disease education being done and both of these groups seem to be demanding it. Physicians want consumers to be better educated before making a prescription request and consumers want credible content to be able to make decisions.
With approximately $5B being spent annually on DTC advertising annually, there could be more of a shift to address these needs. Pharmaceutical companies have access to both of these key stakeholder groups and could develop online communities with participation of both groups to create truly credible and useful resources.
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