Don’t worry be ‘App’y — how do pharma companies measure up in this digital space?

12 September 2017

14:03

Apps are ever more popular and becoming part of daily routine and lifestyle in this digital age, but how are pharma companies measuring up in this space?

Don't worry be 'App'y

Most of the time when I hear ‘apps’, what springs to mind are the social or gaming type applications, yet, many pharma companies have been knee deep in this digital minefield for a few years and health and lifestyle apps are becoming ever more popular with the masses.

Despite attempts to infiltrate this lucrative area, however, pharma companies are struggling to keep up with the competition. A recent report from Research2Guidance¹ found that even though there was an increase in the number of pharma apps available for download last year most have struggled to gain a significant number of downloads within target groups.

So, what are pharma companies doing wrong? An interesting article from Fliplet — a company focused on improving business mobility — stresses the importance for pharma companies to keep putting the effort in with app development as in their opinion these will become key tools for all industries. However, they believe that the focus of current pharma apps is perhaps to blame for the disappointing downloads — most pharma apps are ‘customer-facing’ and B2C in focus, Fliplet believes enterprise apps should be considered.²

Giving some examples, Fliplet reveals ways that an app can optimise internal operations whether through improving the sales reps’ knowledge, offering a useful resource for medical information or as a time saving tool to help train new employees. Through focusing on enterprise, pharma companies could optimise workflows and increase productivity, which is critical in this innovative sector.

The fourth example given is, however, focused on the customer — a medication tracking and analytics app — which they specify can help the patient and also give the company better insight into how a product performs. This possibility opens the door not only to products currently available to patients but also those undergoing clinical trials — an avenue that some, such as AstraZeneca, have already explored.³

Even with a decline in ‘successful’ pharma apps,¹ we have seen some recent success stories involving collaborative efforts. Roche, for example, signed an agreement to acquire all shares of mySugr — a specialist in app-based all-round care for diabetics.⁴ The mySugr platform combines apps and services to coach diabetic patients and help them manage their disease, as well as offer automated data tracking and integration with numerous medical devices to ease disease burden. For Roche, the plan is for this platform to be the focal point of its integrated diabetes management strategy and offers a patient-centric service.

Another collaborative effort in the diabetes mobile app field, from Novo Nordisk and Glooko, was announced earlier this year.⁵ These companies offer Cornerstones4Care, an app that syncs a user’s blood glucose and activity data from many currently available medical devices, tracks glucose, meals and activities, identifies trends and offers resources to diabetic patients for disease management. To do this the companies have combined their relative fields of expertise, those being Glooko’s digital platform and data analytics and Novo Nordisk’s diabetes knowledge and personalised patient support.

So, the key messages for a successful pharma app seem to be the focus — could it be beneficial to have an app focused on internal operations rather than the patient? — the benefits it will offer — can it raise brand awareness, help with data analytics or patient adherence in clinical trials? — and collaborative opportunities — would it prove advantageous to partner with a specialist in the field of mobile apps to ensure success?

Perhaps it is safe to assume there will be a reduction in the number of apps we see launched by pharma companies in the near future but hopefully, if some of the basics are carefully considered (as highlighted above), those that are released will be optimised and focused, benefitting those using them as well as the companies that developed them.

References