CBI's Forum on Disease Awareness and Patient Education for the Pharmaceutical Industry (September 22-23, 2005 in Philadelphia) offered a wealth of information to the attendees. CBI conferences, in general, focus on producing high-level programs for executive decision-makers who face strategic issues in domestic and international markets. This particular conference offered executives in pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical devices and managed care the information and guidance needed to better understand the importance of continued disease awareness and patient education. The various speakers throughout the 2-day conference focused on how healthcare professionals (pharmaceuticals companies, managed care companies as well as physicians) must partake in helping to reshape our healthcare system.

Pharmaceutical companies must adhere to specific guidelines set by the FDA while creating and sending messages to the public; healthcare providers and patients intend to steer physicians to educate patients more efficiently. This will hopefully, in turn, result in lower healthcare costs and better patient understanding of their particular illnesses. Patients need to take a more active role in controlling their healthcare by gaining more knowledge of their conditions and be proactive in seeking treatment. As DTC marketing incorporates more educational messages for consumers and consumers engage in better dialogue with their physicians, we will become better more educated and better informed as a society.

The number of people suffering from chronic conditions in our country is drastically increasing. People with chronic illness make up 83% of healthcare spending, as discussed by Kim Slocum (AstraZeneca). Chronic illness amongst Americans is the main driver of healthcare spending. However, the percentage of spending is not dependant on specific payers; all payors contribute. The amount of money paid is able to determine the percentage/dollars of disease awareness control. When disease awareness control is better implemented, instilling the treatment goals will be simpler. Third party payers finance the majority of industry sales. Patients need to be diagnosed and treated to therapeutic endpoints; in order to make this approach feasible, pharmaceutical companies need to implement better disease management programs. Once incentives increase, there should be a better transformation of healthcare as payers will be aligning with interests to achieve success. Kim offered a quote by Kahlil Gibran that sums up this process. "Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be".

There are many rules and regulations that guide disease awareness programs. Kristin Davis, regulatory counsel for FDA, discussed disease awareness communications for pharmaceutical companies regarding these regulation policies and procedures. Ensuring that unbranded messages and branded messages be communicated properly (within FDA guidelines) is extremely important for pharmaceutical companies and other advertisers to incorporate into their marketing plans. Making sure that ads are perceptually distinct is the key to a successful communication process. The FDA can regulate disease awareness communication as advertising or labeling when a specific product or suggestion/representation of a product is mentioned, however, perception through the communication process may lead to a violation of regulations; risk disclosure is a must. Overstating the effectiveness of a drug while omitting important information about a drug's safety and effectiveness can be volatile. "Help Seeking" ads play a huge role in the effectiveness of disease awareness and patient education going forward within our country. Manufacturers need to be concerned about combined "help seeking" ads with "perceptually similar" reminder ads. Kristin offered excellent insight in these guidelines and what they should mean to those advertisers. Maybe add an anecdote here about the guidelines or insights.

Adding human dimension to a brand, through cause branding, was presented by Alison DaSilva of Cone, Inc. Aligning cause branding with corporate goals can be a beneficial tool for pharmaceutical companies and the like. Once a company commits to a cause, they should then choose their partners. The proceeds of such a campaign must be defined by dollars or percentages and must be proactive in determining proceeds overall.

William Flaiz of Avenue A Razorfish offered insight into offering a mix of educational information and entertainment-oriented content in order to engage, educate and inspire the consumer and physicians resulting in the most successful marketing plans. The online media has the highest strategic importance of any part of the marketing mix and is expected to encompass a greater percentage of the overall marketing expenditures over the next few years. Smart brands have online presences that are focused. William explained, through examples, how building online programs with the best possible content offerings motivates consumer and physicians. Mixing educational content with entertainment-oriented content seem to be the most successful marketing plans.

Joan Sinopoli of PMG discussed increasing brand impact with unbranded messaging. She also touched on linking advocacy and branding within the healthcare arena. More pharmaceutical companies are seeing the benefit from linking branded messages to corporate sites.

Steven Smith, of MedSite, spoke about crafting online messages to meet consumer behaviors while integrating patient and physician marketing. It is important that branded messages prepare consumers to have ample information before speaking with their physicians; therefore, messages should parallel information channels implemented. If integration of both channels is not met, continuing misconceptions about drug interactions, healthcare benefits and risks associated with drugs will be a constant barrier for physicians to try to overcome.

Regina of Sanofi-Aventis and Ingrid Shanklin of BMS co-presented a Plavix case study. They discussed how they implemented the quote, "well informed and well educated patients actively involved in their own disease management can lead to more successful outcomes" as they prepared the Plavix marketing message to consumers.

Mike Pucci, Vice-President of GSK, spoke about medical advocacy programs and the value of medicine and education within our society. The pharmaceutical industry must maintain a positive perception in order to restore the reputation of the industry. In doing so, pharmaceutical companies need to communicate the value of their products and services and research for the future. Incorporating a national campaign involving GSK's sales force as well as medical and executive speakers is part of GSK's strategy for this process. Those conveying the messages must be well trained and well informed in order to achieve the desired results.

Rita Tateel, President of The Celebrity Source, offered strategies for using celebrity spokespersons for disease awareness campaigns. Many pharmaceutical companies opt to include celebrity figures in their marketing campaigns. It is important to be cognizant of the impact a particular "star" will make in this approach. Choosing the right celebrity requires the understanding of the relevance, capability and motivation/interest of all parties involved in the selection process. Relevance pertains to the credibility the celebrity has with the topic and audience. It is also important to recognize that the most popular celebrity may not be compatible with the goal the company wishes to achieve and so they must be very selective and choose the "right' star. Dovetailing on Kristin Davis' presentation on FDA regulatory, pharmaceutical companies must make sure that the message their chosen celebrity is conveying is within guidelines set forth by the FDA.

RJ Lewis, CEO of e-Healthcare Solutions, (www.e-healthcaresolutions.com) and Rich Razgaitis, formerly President of Blaine Pharmaceuticals, co-presented disease management and the integration of such communication through the Internet. Every product can benefit from a disease management website, however, the approach must vary by disease. Website information should be a resource for patients to then communicate the knowledge they receive with their physician. DTC campaigns are beneficial but should not be shared with the public until healthcare providers are properly educated on the products to be advertised. Included in DTC campaigns, should be the availability of other options (where appropriate), risk factors for specific health conditions and the respect for the seriousness of the health condition being advertised.

Pharmaceuticals companies have suffered an image problem since the launch of DTC campaigns. Building a disease management website may help lessen the perception of pharmaceuticals as being "bad". Disease management focuses on the disease while DTC focuses on the brand. Taking the step to better development of disease management and patient education websites is an important step for the pharmaceutical industry. Disease management is "trust marketing"-patients go onto websites for immediate information about their conditions and want to learn how to manage them as they are taking more control over their illnesses.

As healthcare costs continue to escalate, the importance of enforcing disease management and patient awareness/education becomes more prevalent. Pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies and the like must take an active role in making sure that the messages conveyed through DTC marketing, Internet websites and patient educational materials found in physician's offices motivates consumers to take a more active role in their healthcare needs. Hopefully, with the help of all involved, healthcare spending will start to decline.

There we several senior marketing executives expressing the same insights with regard to branding and unbranding messaging as well as specific online messaging and how consumers have an ongoing thirst for knowledge.

###