Pharma Urged to Employ Wikipedia Editors: Ain't Goin' to Happen

Pharma Urged to Employ Wikipedia Editors: Ain't Goin' to Happen

My friend, Dr. Bertalan Meskó (@Berci) writes (here):

Dear Pharma Companies,

The place of Wikipedia in the dissemination of medical information online is indisputable now. If you want your customers to access information about your products from the quality perspective and in the simplest way, you have to deal with using Wikipedia.

Based on the pretty negative past encounters between pharma employees and Wikipedia editors (pharma employees trying to edit entries about their own products in a quite non-neutral way), we advise you to employ a Wikipedia editor if you want to make sure only evidence-based information is included in entries about your own products. Appointing someone from within your company as a “spokesperson” in Wikipedia who would perform all edits on behalf of the company is an excellent way to update those entries.

For more details, please see our open access social media guide [see my review here].

But basically, we, Wikipedians, are more than open to starting a discussion about this with you.

I’m looking forward to working together.

Dr. Bertalan Mesko
Webicina.com

I respect Berci and agree that pharmaceutical companies should employ full-time resources to monitor social media sites like Wikipedia and submit what they consider "corrective" information about products. But, IMHO, it ain't goin' to happen!

Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) responded to Berci via Twitter: "We look for patient safety issues & react. Its important to stick to Wikipedia policies too, so all transparent." But when asked by Berci if BI had posted anything online about this, BI responded "No at this point in time we have not....yet," seemingly leaving the door open.

But I am sure that no pharma company will ever -- in this economy -- hire someone just to monitor Wikipedia and write Wikipedia entries.

But why stop at Wikipedia? There's are other social media platforms that also need dedicated resources -- such as Twitter, Facebook, numerous patient discussion boards, and now Pinterest.

Many brand managers have probably hired outside agencies to monitor what people are saying about brands on social media sites, but the goal is not to issue "corrective information." It's more a matter of market research and measuring share of voice, that sort of thing (maybe also actively monitoring for safety issues as BI mentioned). These agents are temporary help and the companies will never hire anyone to do this full-time in-house. In fact, many social media pioneers within pharma companies have "moved on" (ie, lost their jobs); see, for example, "Is There an Upward Career Path Within Pharma for Social Media Pioneers?"

Big Pharma Dumb ALECs: J&J, Pfizer, GSK, Bayer, Novartis, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Sanofi-Aventis, PhRMA

Big Pharma Dumb ALECs: J&J, Pfizer, GSK, Bayer, Novartis, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Sanofi-Aventis, PhRMA

On June 6, ColorOfChange -- the nation’s "largest Black online civil rights organization" whose stated goal is to "strengthen Black America's political voice" -- launched a radio campaign that drew the "connection" between pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), "the shadowy policy group that has worked to suppress the Black vote and push so-called 'stand your ground' laws nationwide" (see press release here).

Shortly afterward, JNJ pulled out of ALEC, saying it does not "condone legislative proposals that could serve, even inadvertently, to limit the rights or impact the safety of any individual" (see Star-Ledger editorial: "Johnson & Johnson right to pull out of ALEC"). The Star-Ledger pointed out that JNJ "has also had some ethical cleanup to do, and not just for being part of these ALEC initiatives."

The Star-Ledger describes these initiatives:

"The group [ALEC], which crafts model legislation to advance the interests of its corporate members, has promoted a flurry of bills that erode basic rights. Such as its measures to toughen voter identification requirements around the country, which disenfranchised the poor and the elderly without any real evidence that voter fraud is even a problem. And its dangerous "Stand Your Ground" laws, which basically allow anybody to use deadly force in purported self-defense, sometimes without even having to stand trial -- like the Florida law that initially prevented any prosecution in the Trayvon Martin case."

Don Bohn, Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs at JNJ, is still listed (as of 14 June 2012) as a member of ALEC's "Private Enterprise Board" (see here). I realize it takes some time to update a Web page, but deleting one name on a static Web page list is a no-brainer. Therefore, I hope JNJ truly distances itself from ALEC and cleanses its name from the list TODAY!

"Johnson & Johnson is the first business in New Jersey to wise up about ALEC, and it shouldn't be the last," said the Star-Ledger. Other ALEC big pharma members cited by the Star-Ledger include: Novartis, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi-Aventis (see a complete list here and here).

I was able to find some details about a few of ALEC's remaining Private Enterprise Board members:

Robert Jones
Director Government Relations & Public Affairs for Pfizer
LinkedIn page

John Del Giorno
VP Gov Relations at GSK
LinkedIn page
SourceWatch

Sandy Oliver
VP Public Policy & Government Affairs at Bayer HealthCare
LinkedIn page

Jeffrey Bond
Senior Vice President of State Government Affairs, PhRMA
PhRMA was a 2011 recipient of ALEC's Private Sector Member of the Year Award and a "Chairman" level sponsor of 2011 ALEC Annual Conference, which equated to $50,000 in 2010 (see here).

I wasn't able to find any of these executives on Twitter, but I have asked a few of them to connect with me via LinkedIn. I found out that Pfizer's Robert Jones has been a registered lobbyist in Texas since 1995. Here's a glimpse of his profile (found here) showing how he spent his money "lobbying" Texas lawmakers:

This is just a small peek into the life of pharma lobbyists. Obviously, they spend a lot of time wining and dining, which was something pharma sales reps used to do, but can't do any more!

BI Dumps Celebrity COPD Spokesperson and Seeks Inspired Facebook Fans Instead

BI Dumps Celebrity COPD Spokesperson and Seeks Inspired Facebook Fans Instead

Today Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) sent out this tweet: "We have just launched a new #hcsm activity within Facebook....want to find out more? Check out all the details here http://t.co/gwLgMe0D"

The link leads to "COPD Inspirations - The BIG Picture," a FaceBook page that encourages fans to submit images that reflect "the positive fight against COPD and will inspire others to take back control of their lives. So to get involved 'get creative, get emotive, get artistic!' and upload your image," says BI.

Recently, BI handed over the keys to its public health initiative, Drive4COPD, to the non-profit COPD Foundation (see here). That initiative features racecar driver/celebrity Danica Patrick who is more well-known as a swimsuit model and expletive-deleted competitor (see "Pharma Celebrity Spokespersons: Unrepentant, Secretive, and (Expletive Deleted)!").

BI's new Facebook-based COPD awareness initiative/campaign may signal a trend away from the use of paid celebrities to the exploitation of real patients, who will not receive any compensation whatsoever for the use of their images and stories. BI will, however, offer entrants a chance to win an iPad 2. (Why not a third-generation iPad? Perhaps BI has a surfeit of iPad 2's they need to get rid of.)

Here are the eligibility requirements:

1. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. 
2. Entrants cannot be employees of Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), or respective affiliate companies / be an employee of any pharmaceutical company 
3. Entrants must have a personal connection to COPD – i.e. either have the disease themselves, or be a carer / friend / family member of someone who has or has previously suffered with COPD. 

Oh, I forgot to mention one other criterium for eligibility: you must be a Fan of BI on Facebook. So BI gets new fans and free images for its COPD campaign. Sweet!

Since I was eligible -- my mother-in-law, Irene, has COPD -- I thought I'd submit an entry and see what happens. It was pretty easy. I had a photo of Irene that I think is inspirational (see below):

Along with an image, BI requires entrants to submit an "inspirational" comment, so I wrote: "COPD does not stop my Mom-in-Law, Irene, from enjoying the beautiful world around her, especially when she is with her family. Her daughter, Debbie, took this photo while they hiked in Pine Creek Gorge, commonly referred to as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania."

While I was at it, I also posted the photo to my Facebook page (BI's terms and conditions have no qualms about me using my photo elsewhere). The terms, however, do state: "Each entrant grants a worldwide licence to BI to use the images in any way the companies deem fit (e.g. to feature any or all of the submitted images on their websites and/or in any materials it develops for media, HCPs or patients, with acknowledgement of the entrant. Images will be used by BI to highlight understanding and awareness of COPD. Again, the entrant may be contacted to provide further background to the imagery and will be notified ahead of use)."

The competition opened  today and will close on the 18th July 2012. So, hurry, and enter those photos or other creative images TODAY!

Pfizer's Deceptive "Campaign Against Migraine" Tweet Deleted - Too Late!

Pfizer's Deceptive "Campaign Against Migraine" Tweet Deleted - Too Late!

Sometimes, you make a mistake and want to "take it back." I understand that. But this electronically-connected world in which we live is making it much more difficult to truly delete e-mails, text messages, and tweets from the network.

Take, for example, this tweet by @Pfizer_news:

This is how the tweet looks as posted to the News Direct from the Pharma Industry Forum of Pharma Marketing Network (here), which I own and "curate"/administer.

This is how I keep up with tweets from major pharmaceutical companies: I use my forum software to automatically scan the Twitter feeds of selected pharma companies and post tweets from these Twitter accounts to the above forum. Because I am "subscribed" to this forum, I get daily email notices whenever these posts are made. That's how I learned about this tweet from @Pfizer_news.

It seems like an innocent enough Tweet and looked interesting - I wanted to see what the "campaign for migraine relief" was all about, so I clicked on the link in the tweet: http://t.co/dhp1shpv, which is Twitter-shortened link.

I was surprised when the link above took me to http://www.relpax.com/, which is the branded website for Pfizer's Relpax migraine drug. I found nothing there about the "campaign for migraine relief" as was promised by the Tweet. That's the deceptive aspect of the Tweet.

The tweet included the hashtag #CampaignAgainstMigraine. A Google search on "CampaignAgainstMigraine" leads to a real "Campaign Against Migraine" Web site sponsored by Pfizer:

NOTE: If you search on "#CampaignAgainstMigraine" you can find reference to the same tweet. The link, however, leads to http://inagist.com/, which no longer lists the tweet.

So, what's the big deal? Obviously, it is deceptive to link to a drug.com site as part of a message that implies you will be joining a campaign against a debilitating medical condition! Hopefully, grownups at Pfizer recognized this mistake and deleted the tweet. But, as I said in the beginning, the tweet lives on -- at least on the Pharma Marketing Forum mentioned above.

Followup (8 June 2012): @Pfizer_news "retweeted" with the CORRECT link this time: "Join the campaign against migraine. bit.ly/KcaV5i #CampaignAgainstMigraine" As I suspected, the link is to the site I found via Google, not to the REPLAX branded website. Hat tip to Amber Williams (@williaqj) for alerting me.