A recent study from Manhattan Research demonstrates the impact of condition education TV advertisements on online health information-seeking behavior. In some cases up to 1/3 of consumers researching a specific condition online were influenced to do so by a TV ad that they viewed.

The study identifies the top conditions researched online because of TV Ads as follows:

1-Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
2-Smoking/Trying to Quit Smoking
3-Erectile Dysfunction
4-Acne
5-Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

ePharma Consumer(R) v6.0, Manhattan Research, LLC

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This free report assesses the importance and impact of five major technology trends on the future of pharma marketing via a panel of industry experts. Topics include where the industry is going with Web 2.0, email marketing, customer service, product sites, and search.

Download Report from Manhattan Research

Online physician social network Sermo.com, now with 10,000 members, is becoming an increasingly important venue for many doctors, enabling them to connect to colleagues across the country at a moment's notice, share insights and experiences, and generate debate. Sermo colleagues are allowed to rank the relevance of each observation as a way to quickly surface key trends and insights.

Recent postings regarding pharma products include:

- Do you agree with Novartis discontinuing Zelnorm?
- Is Cymbalta good for Fibromyalgia?
- FDA sleeping pill warnings -- Have they gone too far?

Full Article from GovTech.net

Google VP Adam Bosworth, speaking at the Health Information Technology Summit in Washington DC, reinforced the company's dedication to helping patients find the most relevant and reliable information on the web.

"A large percentage of all Google queries are searches on health issues," says Bosworth. The queries fall into four categories:

- Searches on symptoms
- Searches on a particular illness and treatments available
- Searches for experts in treating a particular illness
- Searches on how to live with an illness or disease

Last year Google launched a project to find the most reliable, expert information on healthcare with its Co-op Health listings. Next, the company is considering some sort of "personal coaching" on searches, though this is still in the idea phase.

Full Article from Healthcare IT News

eMarketer estimates that overall online ad spending by the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry will rise 19% this year. An additional study from MBC/CBI Resarch indicates that pharma marketers are planning to devote the greatest increase in online marketing dollars to their websites, followed by efforts to beef up their search presence.

Full Article from eMarketer

Nearly 60 percent of physicians in the United States use a PDA for professional purposes. Marketing opportunities for pharma include sponsoring third-party accredited mobile CME courses, offering mobile alerts, and offering personalized messaging based on known prescribing behavior.

Full Article from DMNews.com