PHARMA NEWS, MULTICHANNEL & CROSSCHANNEL MAKETING

According to a Merck survey of physicians, those who reported using a mobile device at work, 80 percent said they used the information found on apps and online information databases to inform their diagnosis or treatment plans for patients. Two-thirds are using mobile devices to catch up on medical news.

Merck recently re-launched app versions of its entire Merck Manuals reference guide, which is available in versions both for medical professionals and consumers.

"Physicians are becoming increasingly reliant on mobile technology to access relevant medical information when they need it most. That's why it was so important to us to launch our longstanding medical resources as free mobile apps for consumers and professionals this year," Merck Manuals Editor in Chief Dr. Robert S. Porter said in a statement. "Physicians can access thousands of medical topics, videos, images and other resources on the professional app and can direct their patients to the consumer app for trusted medical information."

As Porter indicated, mobile apps are changing the relationship between doctors and patients. While actual doctor-patient interaction time is still short, the time they do spend together is becoming more meaningful and efficient because of mobile devices. More than half of physicians surveyed said they are more likely to review medical information together, with their patients, and 29 percent of physicians said appointments are more efficient because of mobile medical information. About 60 percent of doctors are using mobile information to explain and further illustrate information to patients, and 28 percent said they send information directly to patients.

Of course, not all information is necessarily helpful: while 34 percent of physicians said patients are more informed and prepared, another third of physicians said patients arrive misinformed. This creates an opportunity for doctors and patients to have more interaction, Porter said.

"Mobile technology is not meant to replace the patient/doctor relationship," he said in a statement. "In fact, it can enhance the office visit by allowing them to review information together, as our survey found."

Pharmaguy interviews Ralf-Gordon Jahns, Managing Director, research2guidance, who talks about his company's Pharma App Benchmarking 2014 report and what changes pharmaceutical companies must make in order to deliver more useful mHealth apps for healthcare professionals and patients and thereby become successful in the mHealth market.

"CDRH [FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health] does not intend to examine low risk general wellness products to determine whether they are devices within the meaning of the FD&C Act," says a new guidance posted today on the FDA website ("General Wellness: Policy for Low Risk Devices. Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff").

Note: There is no "2." in the algorithm, but I assume it's the last paragraph. In any case, the examples cited by the FDA may better illustrate FDA's thinking. Three out of 4 of these examples involve mobile apps:

Illustrative Example 1: A mobile application plays music to “soothe and relax” an individual and to “manage stress.”

These claims relate only to relaxation or stress management, not to any disease or medical condition, and thus are general wellness claims. In addition, the technology to play music does not present inherent risks to a user’s safety. Therefore, this product meets both criteria for a low risk general wellness product. 

More examples...

More than one-third of physicians have recommended the use of mobile health apps to their patients in the past year, according to a recent Manhattan Research survey. Experts say that the bulk of these apps are related to diet and fitness, and that few physicians are “prescribing” apps with the expectation of receiving follow-up data. Nevertheless, physicians’ acceptance of mHealth apps and related tracking devices is clearly growing along with mobile’s influence on everyday life.

“The mobile revolution is everywhere around us,” notes Joseph Kvedar, MD, president of the Center for Connected Health (CCH), a unit of Partners Healthcare in Boston. “It’s all about mobile now, and physicians can’t help but notice that, and they feel they have to get involved in some way.”

Mohit Kaushal, MD, a partner in Aberdare Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, agrees. “The mobile health world has been around for a couple of years, and we’ve had a lot of experimentation and there are a lot of apps out there,” he points out. “So it’s not surprising that a subset of these apps are quite valuable and that doctors are recommending them.”

On the other hand, Manhattan Research found that only about half of the physicians who recommended apps suggested specific ones to their patients. “Some doctors are going to be more savvy about what apps are around—particularly, younger ones who are more pro-technology,” Kaushal explains. “Those doctors are more likely to prescribe and suggest a particular app.”

With more than 40,000 health-related apps available, most doctors are unsure of which ones to prescribe, notes Kvedar. “There’s a fear of liability if they don’t know what they’re talking about. So they tend to be very general and say, ‘It’s probably worth looking at this category to help you track something because you need to lose 10 pounds or you need to be more active.’”

CCH has a website called Wellocracy.com that rates several trackers and apps. IMS Health has started a much more ambitious project to curate the 16,000 apps in the Apple Store that it considers relevant. A group of experts, in a recent JAMA commentary, proposed that independent or government-commissioned bodies review and certify mHealth apps. But right now, not much is available to help doctors evaluate the effectiveness of mHealth apps before prescribing them to patients.