Health and science were in the news a lot in the past few weeks. And it wasn't because of a new breakthrough treatment or a new research approach that could save the lives of millions. Those things happened, but they had a hard time cutting through the noise while several political stories emerged around topics involving women's health that generated swift, intense debate and outrage through social media channels and highlighted the shortcomings of many to properly handle debates in the digital space.

The inexorable visual trend on the Internet

Anti-depression prescription advertising has become a major DTC category with brands such as Cymbalta, Abilify, Pristiq and Seroquel numbering among the top 15 mega-budget brands in 2011. While these are clearly major national brands, our mission is to explore whether there are regional differences that might present the marketer with opportunities to optimize ad spend beyond the national blanket campaign. It stands to reason that this might be true. Not only are there differences in states’ insurance formularies that control drug reimbursement, but the actual incidence of the illnesses and treatments varies by geography. Our first step in looking into …

Everyone knows about the Butterfly Effect, which shows how small actions can make a big difference. But what about the Boot Effect?

We are all familiar with the old saying, "the best offense is a good defense." When it comes to highly regulated industries such as pharma getting involved with social media, having a well-prepared defensive plan in place at the outset is critical to risk management. With the recent publishing of the FDA draft guidelines addressing unsolicited requests for off-label information about prescription drugs and medical devices, pharmaceutical companies are in an excellent position to expand their social media programs into engagement. Still, with the draft nature of the guidelines, risk management is critical.

In December, the FDA released the first of its long-awaited social media guidances. The collective response from industry was a shoulder shrug. So, where do we go from here?

How to build trust and become a resource on healthcare via social.

The web provides the ability to target niche groups with unique content that is relevant to a specific group. And yet ...

Writing in the "New York Times" at the end of 2011, entrepreneur and former director of the M.I.T. Media Lab Frank Moss laid out a vision of what he called consumer health. It's a vision to link together a slew of technologies that are already developed and maturing.

As a healthcare marketing professional, you must understand how medications are used to treat patients in order to develop innovative and effective communication strategies. But how much do you know about how these products are brought to market? No doubt you've heard of clinical trials, but our guess is, like most, your knowledge beyond that is limited. Understanding the clinical development process will give you a deeper understanding of the products and services you are promoting, which, in turn, will make you a more successful marketer.