The CEO of a health-focused ad network shares the challenges of pharmaceutical companies and how industry changes may boost their online presence.

Researching health information online is becoming an increasingly frequent activity. The Baby Boomers, comprising the largest generation in the history of this country, are entering into their 50s and 60s, the time in people's lives when health concerns tend to accelerate. And their and others' awareness is growing that lifestyle choices have a profound impact on our health; yet rising health care costs and managed care programs make it harder to get appointments with our doctors and when we do, they tend to have less time for us.

As a result, the message consumers are receiving is clear: More than ever, we as individuals need to take responsibility for our own personal health care needs, and have to turn to such places as the internet for insight.

But is the information there where we need it?

The dilemma of pharma firms
The pharmaceutical industry is in something of a crisis mode right now on a number of fronts, not the least of which is its huge spending on Direct to Consumer (DTC) marketing efforts. Consumer groups don't like DTC because they claim the ads inflate prices. Many physicians dislike DTC advertising because they believe the ads interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. 

DTC advertising is actually a very young industry, not more than 10 years old. Relaxation of certain FDA rules in the mid-'90s allowed the pharma companies to market directly to consumers for the first time. And guess what pharma companies found? DTC ads worked. Big Pharma discovered what many other mass market industries discovered years before: For raising awareness of new products and stimulating demand, nothing beats TV advertising. Lots of TV advertising. Sprinkle in a fair amount of print advertising and you have the birth of a whole new advertising category.

Fast forward 10 years, when the internet is gobbling up more and more of consumers' media time and you will still find that the pharma companies spend the bulk of their media dollars -- about 95 percent -- in TV and Print.

But that may change and the internet is most likely to be the beneficiary of major changes in marketing spending. Why? Well the pharma companies have been accused of promoting their products in ways that mimic other mass marketers' use of the medium, be it breakfast cereals, cars or other consumer combustibles. But the pharma companies are not marketing those types of products; they are marketing drugs that can have a profound impact on people's lives and health.

The pharma industry is not stupid and sees the writing on the wall. It's self-regulate vs. more government regulations and no industry wants the latter, although it may occur anyway.

Senator Waxman (D-CA) has recently been pushing for a complete moratorium on DTC advertising for three years after a new drug is introduced to the marketplace to give physicians and the health care industry time to determine whether the drug causes any side-effects (adverse events) and whether the drugs claims stand the test of the time. If this ban had been in place, the recent OxyContin debacle might never have occurred. According to the NY Times, "OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to criminal charges that it had misled doctors and patients when it claimed the drug was less likely to be abused than traditional narcotics. The company, Purdue Pharma, agreed to pay $600 million in fines and other payments to resolve the criminal charge of 'misbranding' the product, one of the largest amounts ever paid by a drug company in such a case."

So the industry is currently taking steps to focus more on educating people about medical conditions, stressing drug risk factors and dialing down the entertainment aspects of its marketing. For instance, Pfizer is now running a 150-second TV spot reintroducing Celebrex into the marketplace after voluntarily pulling the drug off the market. The spot starts off with risk warnings about the drug rather than jamming them in at the end of the spot where they can be easily ignored.

A change is coming
If the industry is serious about education, we know that the best place to achieve this is on the internet where as much as 80 percent of the United States' adult population goes to research health issues. So this means more and deeper pharma websites and more online marketing dollars.

Alternatively, if Senator Waxman and others are successful in their efforts to curb DTC spending, most likely this rule would focus on "measured media," meaning TV and Print and thus, the internet would probably not be effected by this ruling and will actually benefit from it as a tsunami of DTC ad dollars look for a place to land.

Our population is getting older, health care costs continue to spiral out of control and the internet is penetrating into our daily lives in more and more seamless and impactful ways. So for those working in the online health sector, we are well positioned for rapid and dramatic growth.

Robert Kadar is CEO and founder of Good Health Advertising,  which represents high-quality Health, Medical and Healthy Living web content publishers. Read full bio.