Prescription drug marketing in India

The guidelines for pharmaceutical marketing are typically debated all over the world, more so in India. Many issues are not clear and the drug industry interprets the rules the best it can . Cases of unethical promotion of drugs to the health care industry come up with regularity in the western world. Fortunately, no major case has been reported in the Indian media at present. But thats because many such unethical promotional activities havent come to light. There is an urgent need to inform all the concerned parties of the regulatory Dos and Donts of pharmaceutical marketing in India.

Promotion of drugs in India is governed by three major documents. THE DRUGS AND COSMETICS ACT, 1940 is defined as An Act to regulate the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs and cosmetics in India. It has last been amended in 1995 and new amendments are overdue. The Rules 96 and 97 of THE DRUGS AND COSMETICS RULES, 1945 describe the essential information to be provided regarding labeling of drugs. The product monograph should comprise the full prescribing information necessary to enable a physician to use the drug properly. It should include description, actions, indications, dosage precaution, drug interactions, warnings and adverse reactions.

The OPPI code of conduct ( effective since 1st January 2007) sets out the guidelines to be followed for promotion of prescription drugs to the health care industry. It is based on the IFPMA code and incorporates local region ( India) specific guidelines. it sets out certain principles basic to the ethical promotion of pharmaceuticals in the country. Though it is widely followed, it is not legally binding and the final responsibility for implementation lies with the pharmaceutical marketing organizations themselves.

Below is a short presentation document outlining the Major points in marketing pharmacutical products to the health care industry.

Open publication – Free publishing – More communication

–http://bit.ly/nHqwE–

Open publication – Free publishing – More pharmaceutical

Interactive Informative and Fun- Indian OTC Pharma market

Easy Widgets from your Blogs

I Love playing with Web2.0 functions and today let me show you a simple way to publish your blog as a Blidget ( Widget ) Online. There are a number of free services, but i like the smooth features and polished look by WidgetBox.com.

First Log on to widgetbox.com and complete Free registration.

Then simply provide the URL of your blog. In this case i typed in meducationtechnology.blogspot.com.

After submitting the blog address, you will be taken to this  window.

This window will let you choose the colour, style, background of your Blidget. If you Upgrade to a paid version, you could also add more tabs to

show many more blogs, tweets and video channels. all on one widget.

Dont forget to ” Save for Later” after you finish editing.

Click on your widget in ” My widget box” , and you will come to the final window which lets you publish your Blidget directly as well as via HTML coding and also Java scripts.You could also directly send email links to your widget from here, or Publish on a number of social networks directly, No need to copy + paste HTML code.

Get the Technology in Medical Education widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!

This is a very simple and easy way to spread your blog content using free web based applications.

Try it. You will enjoy it.

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My first Glog experiment as Digital Media tool.

Glogs that i have seen in other blogs and websites have usually been very untidy and cluttered. I have been attracted by their potential but never really found the time to try my hand at it. Below is a screen shot of my first attempt. You can see the real blog post containing the interactive glog HERE. I am not very satisfied with this attempt but i had to start SOMEWHERE!!

My first Glog

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The History of Medical Communication.

Medical Communication broadly includes how medical knowledge is shared and circulated among different societal segments (eg., the public, media, policy makers, and the medical community) on a variety of levels (personal/micro, community/meso, social/macro, and international). Medical Communication is a specialized area in medicine within science communication, which is currently enjoying national and international attention. BUT, Medical Communication is not a new science. It has been used since medieval times ( at least ) to share medical knowledge and influence public health behaviour.

Hieronymus Fracastorius (Girolamo Fracastoro), born in 1478 near Venice was a contemporary and friend of Copernicus. As a doctor, he’s considered one of the founding fathers of the modern medicine: He hypothesized that infections are caused by tiny particles (spores), with the ability to multiply inside the organism and to infect through the breath and different other forms of transmission.

The first well-recorded European outbreak of what is now known as syphilis occurred in 1494 when it broke out among French troops besieging Naples. In the year 1521, Fracastoro wrote a few letters to Cardinal Bembo, describing the new illness. The illness had apparently appeared in Europe after discovery of America and allegedly imported from the new world ( The Columbian Exchange theory)

In August of 1530 he published in Verona an epic poem in three volumes about it. In this poem is narrated the history of Sifilo, a young shepherd who offended Apollo, God of the sun, that punished him with a terrible illness that irremediably destroys the beauty. He also published an essay, entitled “Hieronymi Fracastorii Syphilidis sive de morbo gallico“, that results to be a scientific monograph, compiled for the Doctors; where the pathology is described in a detailed way, in its symptomatology, diagnosis and therapy. He recommended the use of mercury and guaiac wood for treating Syphilis

The above ” Medical Communication” shows the shepherd Sifilo/Syphilus and the hunter Ilceus being warned against yielding to temptation with the danger of infection with syphilis.Engraving by Jan Sadeler I after Christoph Schwartz, 1588/1595.- Image reproduced from Wellcome under Creative commons license.

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Simulation technology for medical education

Virtual world has caught on in a big way.And it can really prove a boon in Medical education, for many reasons. The first reason which comes to mind is that the training of medical and paramedical staff is much easier and without any risk to real patients. Below is a video showing use of virtual technology for training in case of cardiac emergencies. watch the video below for just one way of using this technology for medical education and training.

Demonstration of using a virtual world for emergency preparedness training. This example has citizens hurt by an explosion and paramedics having to coordinate the triage and treatment process. All the avatars are played by real people.

-Manhattan Research Survey Finds That Physicians Overwhelmingly Support Commercially-Funded CME

NEW YORK, NY – January 27, 2009 – A study by healthcare market research firm Manhattan Research found that only 9% of U.S. physicians oppose commercial support for continuing medical education (CME) funding. The results of this study are relevant to the ongoing discussion in the medical community about the role of commercial funding of CME. Healthcare market research firm Manhattan Research conducted a survey to gauge physician opinion on commercially-funded CME and the proposed ban. The online study was fielded in the third quarter of 2008 among a nationally representative sample of U.S. physicians, including primary care and specialist audiences.

In an effort to better understand the positions of those who actually use continuing medical education, Manhattan Research surveyed physicians on their opinions with regard to their use and the potential bias of industry-funded programs. The Manhattan Research study reports that only 8% of physicians who participated in CME believe that it is biased. In fact, if commercial support is halted, nearly half of the physicians surveyed would decrease their use of CME.

According to the study, almost all physicians utilize CME programs to maintain and grow their medical knowledge and to keep up-to-date on the latest advances in their specialty with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. Pharmaceutical companies are a funding source for CME programs, which has prompted some critics to question their influence over CME course content. In response, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the organization that accredits CME Providers, has augmented its standards and guidelines to ensure the independence of commercially supported CME activities. The American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) is also expected to issue a new report on commercially-supported CME later this year.

“While there’s been debate around the value of industry-supported CME, as our study reveals, it’s important to listen to the voice of the majority of physicians,” said Mark Bard, Manhattan Research President. “Rather than pulling the plug on a vital source of CME funding, the primary beneficiaries of CME – physicians and patients – would be best served by continued improvements to course availability, offerings, and content through increased collaboration among medical and academic organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, CME providers, and accreditation bodies.”

Interact Medical Animation for education

High quality CMEs will have to be commercially funded. Its up to the physicians to glean the essence and overlook the hard sell.

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Medical Communication in India

Image by drneelesh via Flickr

Since dabbling with Medical communications professionally at Mark IV Studios at Coimbatore, India, I have realized it is something i have been doing for quite some time, without knowing. Anything i share with others in the form of media, which is related to Medicine and health, would come under the heading of Medical communications. Medical communications would thus include all my work on Slideshare,  youtube,  Docstoc,  Scribd,  Authorstream etc.

One easy way to access a lot of my communications would be by clicking on the icons below!!

Contact Me:

Below i have linking an Interesting Presentation form Docstoc regarding the History of Computer Animations. And i think this is a good way to start a blog on Medical Communication.

History Of Computer Animation – Free Legal Forms

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=2185142

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