Multiplying the Power of Pharma Research

There’s been an interesting new development in the space where pharmaceutical research and technology intersect. It’s called Sage, and it’s designed to “revolutionize how researchers approach the complexity of human biological information and the treatment of disease” by giving them access to a rich research database and the high-tech tools to collaborate on “evolving, integrated networks of biological data.”

John Wilbanks, a founding director of Sage, writes in his Common Knowledge blog that Merck, the global research-driven pharmaceutical company, has pledge to donate a vast amount of data about the biology of disease to the nonprofit.

Wilbanks writes, “Sage means that we are now on the path to a world in which scientists working on HIV in Brazilian non-profit research institutes (like my mother-in-law) will be able to use the same powerful computational disease biology tools as those inside Merck. I'm very much looking forward to living in that world,” he adds.

So am I. While it will take an estimated three to five years to see the first fruits of this project, it’s exciting to think of the intellectual power that will unleashed by using technology to tap the great global brain.

Drug Companies Agree to New Rules on DTC Advertising

Pharma marketing consultants and health PR firms should be aware of a recently announced moratorium on new drug ads.

According to Ed Silverman, author of the Pharmalot blog, a number of leading drug manufacturers — including Merck, Schering-Plough, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer — have agreed to a six-month moratorium on advertising new drugs.

The pharma companies said that the six-month moratorium formalized industry practice, which is to educate doctors before moving to consumer communications. The change came in response to a request from Michigan Democrats Bart Stupak and John Dingell, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who had originally requested a two-year voluntary waiting period on DTC.

The pharmaceutical leaders will also begin adhering to American Medical Association guidelines about using actors to portray physicians. At least one marketer, J&J, says it won’t use doctors in ads to discuss the benefits of a drug.