Centocor: First Pharma Company to Profile Employees on a Blog

Any one who knows me, knows that I have been championing the notion of pharmaceutical company employee blogging for a long time (see, for example, "A Primer on Pharma Employee Blogging") and more recently I have challenged Centocor to give employees a voice on their CNTO411 Blog (see "Centocor: Let Thy Employees Speak!").

Lo and Behold! Today marks the first employee profile on a drug company's public blog that I know of. See "A Conversation with Greg Keenan, M.D., Worldwide Medical Affairs Immunology Research."

Now that’s what I’m talking about! More profiles like this are bound to give us a better image of Centocor’s core values, which ultimately are based upon the views and values of its employees.

NEXT STEP: Try a more catchy title like "Centocor's Greg Keenan Cares About Patients and Also Likes Chinese Food and Wild Turkey." Uh, the bird, not the bourbon!

Podcast Special Guest: Centocor's Michael Parks

Michael Parks, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Centocor, Inc. and the brains behind CNTO411 (see "CNTO411: A New Pharmaceutical Company Blog") plans to be a guest on today's Pharma Marketing Talk podcast about Centocor's new blog.

After Jack Friday threw down the gauntlet by launching his counter-blog CentocorGossip (see "CentocorGossip: An 'Unofficial' Centocor Blog!") Michael just could not miss the excitement.

Hope you join us for this LIVE podcast and online CHAT session today a 2 PM Eastern.


I will be interviewing Melissa Katz and Michael Parks in a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 2 PM. To learn more about this and get instructions for listening in and participating in this podcast, please click here.

CentocorGossip: An "Unofficial" Centocor Blog!

Just when Centocor thought it successfully maneuvered into the Pharma Blogosphere^TM by launching the CNTO411 blog (see "CNTO411: Centocor's Groundbreaking Blog"), we learn that PharmaGossip's Insider has set up a shadowy blog on the Blogger server called "CentocorGossip (ie, cnto411.blogspot.com)."

[Whoops! Looks like Centocor forgot to register "cnto411.blogspot.com". I also cannot find a trademark registration for CNTO411. I guess the lesson is: when you launch a Web site with a unique name, you also need to register as the owner of the blogspot name to prevent critics from potentially hijacking traffic or using the same name to launch a counter-offensive blog!]

The first -- and maybe the last -- posting to CentocorGossip is titled "Helping Centocor with its blogging" and states:

How, you ask?

By letting readers find all of PharmaGossip's posts about Centocor in one easy to find place.

The rest is an old post from PharmaGossip about off-label marketing of Remicade, Centocor's potent treatment for rheumatoid arthritis plus a link that searches all of PharmaGossip for posts about Centocor.

To paraphrase Thomas Paine: "Those who expect to reap the blessings of Web 2.0 must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

In its opening post to CNTO411 Melissa Katz, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Centocor, stated her blog's mission:

"Many pharma companies have been reluctant to jump into the blogging space because of potential or perceived risks. We have started this blog because there are so many interesting things happening at our company, in our industry, and especially around immunology – the area in which we play. Although you can read about these things in the news or on other healthcare blogs, we want to join that conversation, because we have much to say."

Centocor must now undergo the fatigue of supporting the blogging tradition and its own blogging mission by engaging in a conversation started by PharmaGossip. Hopefully, Melissa et al have anticipated this in their contingency plans and will be able to respond in kind. I will definitely ask her about this in my upcoming podcast conversation with her:

I will be interviewing Melissa in a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 2 PM. To learn more about this and get instructions for listening in and participating in this podcast, please click here.

P.S. We can all watch how the pioneers at Centocor handle this, but what other pharma companies can learn from it and apply to their own case depends upon their own unique corporate culture, regulatory risk-taking attitude and knowledge of the Web 2.0 world. To find out more about your readiness to engage in social media, you may want to use the "Rate Your Social Media Marketing Readiness Survey/Tool" developed by Pharma Marketing News.

P.P.S. Thank you Insider for alerting me to your new blog!

CNTO411: A New Pharmaceutical Company Blog

Centocor -- a J&J company that was the first to produce a feature length disease awareness documentary ("Innerstate") -- has just launched a new corporate blog that may break new ground in pharmaceutical company blogging. It's called "CNTO411".

The brains and bloggers behind CNTO411 are Melissa Katz, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Centocor and her boss, Michael Parks, Vice President of Corporate Communications.

Here's an excerpt from the Inaugural Blog Posting:

“Why Centocor?” and “Why now?” Many of you may read John Mack’s blog, Pharma Marketing Blog. Almost a year ago, he blogged about the first of its kind patient education documentary film we made called Innerstate ( “No Oscar for Centocor PR Effort” [Feb. 26] and “The Innerstate DVD. Is TV Next?” [May 21]). Michael Parks, our VP of Communications who also produced the film, broke the traditional news comment mold and used the blog forum to respond to the comment and correct some inaccuracies by putting forth Centocor’s perspective and facts. In addition, he treated this blogger as we did every other journalist and let him screen the film. These small acts may appear to the casual observer to be incidental transactions, but for us, it was a big deal. Why? Because by engaging in a dialogue with John Mack in real time, he was able to immediately correct mis-information, provide the facts, and thus, give John a reason to restate his perspective.

How could he do that? Is that allowed? Should we be doing that? And what will the backlash be? Nobody knew. But that’s what pioneers do: they forge a path through the wilderness and hope they aren’t going to fall over a cliff.

I am flattered to be mentioned in this first post to CNTO411 and to be an inspiration for its launch. You can read more about my relationship to Michael, Melissa, and Innerstate on Pharma Marketing Blog (see "CNTO411: Centocor's Groundbreaking Blog").

I will be interviewing Melissa in a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 2 PM. To learn more about this and get instructions for listening in and participating in this podcast, please click here.

Of course, Melissa and Michael owe a lot to Marc Monseau who started up the J&J corporate blog, JNJ BTW, in June 2007 (see "'Round the Sphere: Pharmaco Blogs and Carlat's Crusade").

Michael and Melissa promise to comment on Centocor product-specific news or issues on CNTO411, which would make it the first pharmaceutical blog to do so for prescription drugs, which are heavily regulated. How they plan to do this without "falling over a cliff" remains to be seen (REMICADE is mentioned in the inaugural posting). I hope Melissa will share some insights on that in my upcoming podcast interview.

'Round the Sphere: Moore (sic) Movies, Avandia Avalanche

Several new Moore SiCKO sightings, news, and video clips have been posted by bloggers in the Pharma Blogosphere^TM.

PharmaGossip posted several links to reviews in the press as well as a video clip (trailer) from the movie (see "SiCKO - what the papers say").

Most reviews are pretty positive. I haven't seen one inch devoted to what the movie says about the pharmaceutical industry. Moore seems mostly concerned with hospitals and insurance companies as the bad guys.

I am still trying to get a screening for us pharma bloggers (see "Mr. Moore Don't Ignore: Please Invite Me to a Screening of Your Movie") and have made some progress on that front that I will be able to talk about later.

Drug Wonks, those "Tricky Wonkers" who attempted a "Wonky PR Trick" pre-debut, has been quiet apres le debut -- I guess all the positive media reviews (even from conservative FOX!) is too much for these PR wonks to spin in the opposite direction!

For a treasure trove of SiCKO blog links (mostly outside our sphere of influence), take a look at this Google Blog Search page.

INNERSTATE: Is it DTC Advertising?
SiCKO wasn't the only movie on pharma bloggers's minds this week. Centocor's 58-minute disease awareness documentary INNERSTATE was also a hot topic in the Sphere.

After finally seeing the movie, Pharm Aid was enthusiastic about it:

"Johnson & Johnson has a long history these kind of broader issues-based campaigns. Since the J&J product, Remicade, is never mentioned in the film and no treatment option is pushed (contrary to Avorn’s comments that this is a “commercial”), it’s not clear if J&J is thinking of InnerState as an issues campaign or if this is more traditional product push."

Unfortunately, as I pointed out on Pharma Marketing Blog and as Ed Silverman pointed out on Pharmalot, INNERSTATE may actually be a commercial. True, the movie itself never mentions Remicade (Centocor's product), but, according to evidence submitted to me by SEIU Local 32BJ, Remicade product information -- a medication guide -- was distributed at a showing of the movie in the King of Prussia Mall in PA in April. I also received the INNERSTATE DVD in the mail containing this product information along with the movie. IMHO, this makes the entire campaign a DTC promotion rather than an unbranded disease awareness campaign, which is how it has been generally described in the press and on other blogs.

Of course, SEIU Local 32BJ has a bone to pick with J&J and has sent letters to FDA and PhRMA claiming that Centocor is in violation of FDA regulations and PhRMA DTC guidelines. However, as I explained to the union's representative, I do not believe Centocor is in violation because it included all the necessary fair balance information.

Anyway, you can find all sides of the story here, including a lengthy statement from Michael Parks, Centocor's Director of Public Relations, and Executive Producer of INNERSTATE. This level of engagement with bloggers is unprecedented and earns Centocor kudos from me.

Avandia Avalanche
As expected, many pharma bloggers have precipitated an avalanche of posts about Avandia, which is being characterized in the press and on blogs as the Vioxx II.

While I love to see a big pharmaceutical company squirm -- especially a British pharma company -- as much as the next American guy, I offered GSK some advice on how to handle the situation. See "Advice to GSK on Handling the Avandia Avalanche: Don't Do What Merck Did".

Steve Woodruff from Impactiviti Blog added his own piece of advice in a comment to my post:

Make a Public Pledge

Something along these lines: "According to the information we have right now, we are convinced that Avandia is a safe and effective treatment. However if, in collaboration with the FDA and clinical researchers, we come to the conclusion in the future that this (or any) drug that we offer has risks that outweigh its benefits, we will immediately withdraw it from the market."

- Take a strong stand based on current information
- Show openness to the implications of new (well-founded) information
- Follow through on the pledge no matter what the cost

This kind of no-nonsense stance, joined to responsible disclosure and clear communication to the marketplace, will go a long way toward countering the negative view of "Big Pharma" - particularly when there are Vioxx-type side effect problems...

Be sure to visit Impactiviti Blog for more insights on GSK.

Meanwhile, Drug Wonks has an interesting perspective on why the Avandia story is breaking now. See "Sneak Attack on PDUFA," which should be stored under "it ain't over until the fat (diabetic) lady sings."