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

21–30 of 173 posts

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#21

Post by durnygbur »

> How Big Pharma Finds Sick Users on Facebook

Living in a country where advertisements of pharmaceuticals are allowed, it's unbearable. Basically Facebook in real life - in TV, on billboards, in newspappers, YouTube ads, omnipresent leaflets. All flavours of dietary suplements, Rutin and Ibuprofen products, cures for fungal and intimate infections, wonder cures for liver and joints, "digestion catalysers". They're throwing the most awkward and malignant stuff at everyone. Pharma industry is malicious scum and has to be kept on short tight leash.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#23

Post by isaacremuant »

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.

Ireland is extremely for profit in everything they do and very poor compared to many places in Europe in terms of response and quality.

People just assume a lot about the world.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#24

Post by cornel_io »

Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #16

"How Big Auto finds users with car troubles on Facebook" "How Big Lighting finds users with blown bulbs on Facebook" "How Big Chocolate finds users with cravings on Facebook"

How anyone finds users that will buy their products on Facebook: serve ads, report revenue, and let FB figure out how the fuck to optimize it without you doing a goddamn thing.

Frankly that's all that digital marketing should be (a button PMs press, not a division at every company), I'd rather one or two highly regulated and excruciatingly scrutinized companies manage all the details than millions of small shitty ones that nobody pays attention to. I fully agree with everyone including Kara Swisher that FB is not as regulated as it should be, but that model does seem ideal to me if we can figure out the regulation.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#25

Post by Bancakes »

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?

No, I don't pay the doctor, the healthcare pool does. And then, the doctor is incentivised to cure me, not keep me in a perpetual drug-purchasing lifestyle as big pharma would.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#26

Post by varispeed »

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…

The patient can say to the doctor "I feel that X drug may be better for me than Y". Sure, ultimately it's the doctor decision, but if patient puts enough pressure and the doctor thinks that there is no material difference between X and Y except e.g. price, they may side with the patient for the sake of their peace of mind. You know the placebo factor etc.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#27

Post by refurb »

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…

Let's go ahead and see what the FDA found out about direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of drugs as they've conducted numerous surveys[1].

Not all bad it seems!

- Most physicians agreed that because their patient saw a DTC ad, he or she asked thoughtful questions during the visit.

- Many physicians thought that DTC ads made their patients more involved in their health care.

- Physicians thought the ads did not convey information about risks and benefits equally well.

- Eight percent of physicians said they felt very pressured to prescribe the specific brand-name drug when asked.

- The study demonstrated that when a patient asked about a specific drug, 88 percent of the time they had the condition that the drug treated.

- Doctors believe that patients understand that they need to consult a health care professional about appropriate treatment.

[1]https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-consumers-and-patients...

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#28

Post by refurb »

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.

A financial incentive to treat? No, that's pretty common across healthcare systems. It's being worked on as system move away from fee-for-service, but generally, the more a physician does, the more they make.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#29

Post by varispeed »

Bancakes wrote: post #25
jaspax wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

No, I don't pay the doctor, the healthcare pool does. And then, the doctor is incentivised to cure me, not keep me in a perpetual drug-purchasing lifestyle as big pharma would.

Doctors get cash and hospitality benefits from big pharma though based on how they prescribe. If there is drug X from company Y and drug A from company B and then there is no difference in therapeutic benefits between two drugs, but company B gives doctor cash and has access to regional sales data where the doctor operates, they can modify the benefit based on sales. Then the doctor is incentivised to prescibe the A. This may be harmless, but if the doctor gets into a financial trouble or simply get overwhelmed by greed, this can quickly turn into something that harm patients. In my country doctors don't have to disclose those relationships and they don't even have to declare this as income.

Re: How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook

#30

Post by varispeed »

mrweasel wrote: post #20
throwaway3699 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 conten…

The doctor can also put a generic name of the drug on the prescription and patient can tell the pharmacy to sell them a particular brand instead of a generic. So there is space where such direct advertising could work.
Post reply on HN