1. PHARMA & SOCIAL
MEDIA
CONNECTIVITY
G HARISH
PGDM

2. INTRODUCTION
• The pharmaceutical industry deals in development, production, and
marketing of drugs which are licensed for use as medications.
• Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic brand medications
and medical devices.
• They are subjected to many government laws and regulations regarding
the patenting, testing and ensuring safety and efficacy and marketing of
drugs.

3. • The Indian pharma market was estimated at USD21.7 billion during
2011.
• It is forecasted to double in five years reaching USD36.7 billion by
2015.
Source:IBEF

4. social media
• The term “social media” is used broadly to describe the various
platforms that facilitate social connections among different user
gener-ated content.
• Types of popular social media include:
Blogs and micro-blogs (e.g., Word Press, Twitter)
Social networks (e.g., LinkedIn, Face book)
Wikis (e.g., Wikipedia)
Social bookmarks (e.g., Delicious, Stumble Upon)
Social news (e.g., Digg, Reddit)
Photo sharing (e.g., Flickr)
Video sharing (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo)

5. Pharmacy and social media connectivity
• It‟s a system where patients, in addition to relying on doctors and
other health care pro-viders, also connect with others who suffer from
the same con-dition anywhere in the world. They post and share their
health data for others, and seek information posted and shared by
other patients.
• The three main social platforms for sharing health related information
are
You tube
Face book
Twitter

6. PROBLEM STATEMENT
• The primary statement of this survey is to know
“Do people connected to internet use
internet as their first source for finding out health
related information and weather entering social
media platform is viable for pharmacy companies
or not if yes up to what extent.”

7. BACKGROUND
• Each and every industry has embraced the new communication
channel but pharmacy manufacturing companies have remained
cautious about their engagement in social media.
• The industry„s limited involvement can be attributed to the following
two factors:
Established government guidelines, regulations and
standards for pharmaceutical marketing fail to address the realities,
both in terms of opportunity and risk.
Improper enforcement of existing rules in the online
environment has left many pharmaceutical manufacturers hesitant to
fully engage in these important spaces.

8. Merits when a pharmacy companies goes to
social stage
• Community members can connect with company, and learn about
corporate initiatives and programs on health and wellness, philanthropy,
and sustainability and all the activities the company is involved in which
could promote brand.
• Connect community members with other social media properties, history,
corporate blog, health channel on You Tube. And know what the users
are talking about, know about their requirements.
• Social media is a platform for Social responsibility. The company can
directly post all the activities it is doing related to social development and
to the society.
• Apart from facebook, youtube and twitter some health care websites are
also launched by well known pharmacy companies.

9. • Apart from facebook, youtube and twitter some health care websites are
also launched by well known pharmacy companies.
• The popular once includes –
Children with diabetes by J & J(http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/).
CML earth by Novartis(http://www.cmlearth.com/index.jsp).
• Apart from these different websites are-
tudiabetes.com
dailystrength.org
realmentalhealth.co
organizedwisdom.com
patientslikeme.com

10. • Children with diabetes is an online community for parents, children,
adults, and families living with type 1 diabetes. The site offers advice
from health professional , gives updates on research progress and
provide care suggestions.

11. CML Earth is a global interactive social media network used to connect the
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia community, including patients, patient groups,
and healthcare professionals from around the world.
This helps patients find and connect with other patients of same or similar
interest, share inspirational stories and receive support from the broader
public.
It also offers patients a valuable resource by connecting them to patient
groups for further support.‟

12. Research Objectives
• The objectives covered the fact that-
Did the information respondent found online lead to ask a
doctor new questions, or to get a second opinion from another
doctor?
Has the respondent shared photos, videos or audio files
online about health or medical issues?
Websites where respondent would like to get the health
related information from.
The scope which people are willing to spend time online
for finding out health related information.

13. Sampling Design
• The study was done through questioner by taking answers from a set
of 159 people.
• Various age groups ranging below 15 years to 35 years and above
covering both genders of different incomes levels.
• Convenient sampling was used to study the pattern.

14. Research Design
• User preference about time spend online was found out through filling
up of questionnaire.
• The questioner was developed in such a way that it could be easy for
the people to fill with out any difficulties and confusion in a simple and
understandable way .
• It was tested with 159 people before coming to the solution .
• Most of the respondents were between the age of 16-25 years.

15. Data Collection
• The research was done using by using primary data and primary
tools.
• The questioner was send to various people to their email ids ,directly
taken and filled by the respondents ,it contained multiple choice, grids
.
• The data received was interpreted using pie charts, bar graphs and
other primary tools.

16. Limitations
• The survey was conducted for a small sample of 159 people thus it is
difficult to generalize the findings.
• The difference between males and females was high (more than
double).
• The research was specified only to certain demographic area.
• Most of the responses were given by respondents of age between
16-25 years.
• It is not sure that accurate answers were given by the respondents.

17. Conclusion
• The research showed respondents do like to share health related
information on social media n through other forms with their friends.
• Respondents are greatly influenced by the information they found
online and this influences them to ask new questions or to get a
second opinion from an other doctor.
• Health information the respondent found in the last time online have a
major impact on his/her own health care or the way they care for
someone else, a minor impact, or no impact at all * Has the
respondent ever looked for information related to own health or
someone else's health on the internet.

18. Recommendations
• From the data analysis. It can be said that people are interested in
seeking health related information from internet.
• People seek out for a dedicated web site for all health related
information more than a dedicated facebook page.
• 62% of the respondents had stated that there was as minor impact on
them the company could leverage this and develop a web site which
could cater all the health related information and satisfy peoples need
which could make a major impact on them.
• 79% of the respondents have shared or sent health or medical
related information it means people are willing to share health related
information .