Dear members,

This week the lead article takes us back into the world of social media again, but this time from the perspective of the patients. Indeed, patients have been the early drivers of healthcare on the internet, using online groups to come together, share experiences and provide mutual support. In doing so, both the patients and those developing the sites have learnt a lot about how such engagement works and how it could be used to provide a more powerful voice in communicating with pharma. So as pharma starts to embrace digital communication let us know what you think it can learn from such sites and how it should be engaging with patients through them.

Recent forum posts:

The following are some of the recent active forum topics:

New government - good or bad for pharma?
http://www.pharmapho...od-or-bad-for-pharma

Is influence still such a dirty word?
http://www.pharmapho...ll-such-a-dirty-word

Reasons most commonly cited by pharma for not integrating social media into strat plans?
http://www.pharmapho...dia-into-strat-plans

If you want to know how to register and place comments then click here:

http://www.pharmapho...comments-on-the-site

Recent articles:

Published by Jeanne Barnett on Tuesday 11th May
“Learnings over the rainbow from an online patient site”
As pharma seeks to engage with providers and patients through social media, Jeanne Barnett shows there is no place like the home of e-Patients from which to learn.
http://www.pharmapho...line-patient-site-2/

Published by Mike Rea (IDEA Pharma) on Thursday 6th May
“What Are IDEAs Made Of: Audiences”
So the group of KOLs love your product and it’s set to be a huge success, right? But what if they’re not right audience, Mike Rea asks in this week’s WAIMO.
http://www.pharmapho...s-made-of-audiences/

Watch out for a piece on points of care testing later this week!

Other updates:

Some new events by ExL have been loaded onto the events directory:

6th MSL Best Practices
http://www.pharmapho..._msl_best_practices/

2nd Effective Business Development For Clinical Trial Service Providers
http://www.pharmapho...l_service_providers/

5th Trial Design Innovation
http://www.pharmapho...l_design_innovation/

And finally...Britain has a new coalition government and a new Prime Minister - the youngest one since 1812!

Have a great week,

Paul.