Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

themarkup.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 173 posts

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#11

Post by rozab »

dools wrote: post #2

The article seems to suggest this is a bad thing, but my first reaction is "fantastic". Pharmaceutical companies create life saving medicines and then use advanced social media targeting to locate the people that need them. The only bad thing about it is if those people targeted can't afford the medication, which is why healthcare needs to be a universal right. People love to bitch about Big Pharma but I have a magic…

Why on earth should the patient choose whichever drug put money into advertising, rather than the one their doctor deems the most suitable? How could that possibly be beneficial?

edit: reading further down the article, there is an advert for an antipsychotic medication which offers a $15 discount on your copay. This particular medication has serious discontinuation effects, it's not something you can just stop taking and it's not something that is prescribed lightly in the first place. Offering a discount for the first few doses is plainly exploitative.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#12

Post by s5300 »

dools wrote: post #2

The article seems to suggest this is a bad thing, but my first reaction is "fantastic". Pharmaceutical companies create life saving medicines and then use advanced social media targeting to locate the people that need them. The only bad thing about it is if those people targeted can't afford the medication, which is why healthcare needs to be a universal right. People love to bitch about Big Pharma but I have a magic…

If the blue tool you're talking about is an inhaler, I'm happy for yours being $6, as was mine I believe, but some still aren't so fortunate. They still go for $300-$500 for some people, in the U.S.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/millions-skip-medication...

"Died because couldn't afford inhaler" will bring up some fairly good hits.

Things have been fairly good, and are always mostly getting better - but damned if we couldn't be so, so much better than we are given the other things our country fronts billions upon billions of dollars for is the idea always lingering in my and others minds.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#13

Post by GuB-42 »

Is there some proof that big pharma really targets sick people? The article mentions targeting for things like "cancer awareness" as a proxy for cancer patients.

But why target patients? Patients usually don't decide on the drugs they take, doctors do, they should be the target, not patients.

So maybe we can take things at face value, big pharma is not targeting cancer patients, instead they are targeting those who are the most likely to have an interest in cancer besides patients: health professionals.

Note: I don't live in the US, and generally, only doctors get ads about prescription drugs, I heard the situation is different in the US for some reason.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#14

Post by wiz21c »

jaspax wrote: post #5
thomasedwards wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, I go to a doctor, who is a medically trained professional, and they prescribe a medicine to me based on their experience and training, without any incentive for financial reward?

Do you think that doctors don't have financial incentives to treat patients?

My doctor is certainly not backed by investors who are putting her under pressure if she doesn't make 10% ROI.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#15

Post by Closi »

GuB-42 wrote: post #13

Is there some proof that big pharma really targets sick people? The article mentions targeting for things like "cancer awareness" as a proxy for cancer patients. But why target patients? Patients usually don't decide on the drugs they take, doctors do, they should be the target, not patients. So maybe we can take things at face value, big pharma is not targeting cancer patients, instead they are targeting those who a…

Is there a practical difference between intentionally targeting cancer patients and intentionally targeting proxy signals for cancer patients?

This is the whole part of internet marketing targeting right? You don't know for certain if someone is a cancer patient without their medical records, so you record a load of signals and infer that someone is likely to require cancer medication in the absence of absolute information.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#17

Post by smcl »

moksly wrote: post #7

“If you’re a drug manufacturer looking for patients”. Maybe I’m just too Scandinavian to understand, but wouldn’t it be the other way around? Now I also wonder if I should see a doctor. I’ve been getting a lot of “is your will in order” commercials from law firms on Facebook recently. I sure hope big tech advertising doesn’t know something I don’t.

Did you fill your date of birth on any age-protected content (websites for distilleries or breweries, for example) as 1st January 1940 or something? They could just mistakenly believe you're 81 based on that :)

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#18

Post by dave84 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #13

Is there some proof that big pharma really targets sick people? The article mentions targeting for things like "cancer awareness" as a proxy for cancer patients. But why target patients? Patients usually don't decide on the drugs they take, doctors do, they should be the target, not patients. So maybe we can take things at face value, big pharma is not targeting cancer patients, instead they are targeting those who a…

When I visited the US a few years ago it seems like every TV ad break there was a "Feeling X, ask your doctor about Y". Where X was some generic condition like bloating or feeling old, and X was a brand name prescription drug.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#20

Post by mrweasel »

throwaway3699 wrote: post #8
jaspax wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think that doctors don't have financial incentives to treat patients?

Not where I live. This is a uniquely US problem among first-world countries.

Technically I don't think it's unique to the US. In Denmark doctors get a fee per consultation. It's pay with tax money, but still the doctor is financially motivated to see patients. It might only apply to general practitioner though, I think hospital doctors are on a fixed salary.

One issue, that could excuse medical companies going directly to the patients would be a lack of knowledge among doctors. Doctors contently write prescriptions for medication that's no longer available and is often not as updated as a pharmacy on new medication. This means that at least some doctors aren't suggesting the best treatment, simply because they aren't aware of it.

Post reply on HN