Welcome to my blog, where I hope to give you some insights into the fascinating world of healthcare PR… the challenges, the opportunities, the bizarre, the mundane and a healthy dose of reality! I have spent 20 years watching this industry grow and evolve beyond all expectations and it continues to change each and every day! But the one thing that remains constant is that it affects every single one of us in some way shape or form. So I hope that together we can to start to explore and discuss some of these changes and at the very least start a ‘Healthy Conversation’…
One of the things that fascinates and concerns me most is the reputation of ‘big pharma’. How rare is it to pick up a paper and find a prominent genuinely pro-pharma article? Even the recent news that GSK are going to remove patent protection from key drugs in the developing world was greeted with much caution and skepticism (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/13/glaxo-smith-kline-cheap-medicine) and even the prospect of pandemic flu seemed to raise more concerns about commercialism than cure!
We always have to expect difficult questions – it’s the nature of the work we do. But hasn’t the time come to stand up and champion our industry, now moreso than ever?
Big moves in the right direction are already being made… Last week the ABPI announced the launch of a nationwide ‘conversation’ between its members and up to 8,000 individual stakeholders, including patients, politicians and journalists. (See http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/902977/abpi-launches-stakeholder-comms-plan/), following on from the successful ‘Attracting Debate’ initiatve led by Pfizer in the UK last year.
As with any conversation, listening is the most important part, so I know many of us in the industry feel optimistic at the prospect of finally getting this ball rolling.
But how big is the task at hand? One only needs look at yesterday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice stating that any media article on medicine could potentially be classified as advertising: http://www.pharmatimes.com/WorldNews/article.aspx?id=15838
Can we just take a deep breath and think about this rationally? Surely common sense will win the day and the ruling will be contested. Otherwise what is next? Will journalists, already struggling to navigate today’s increasingly fragmented media landscape, lose their jobs for saying good things about beauty products, new sports cars or even spa holidays…!?
Oh how unhealthy can it really get?