Mobile technology: why pharma mustn’t ignore it

Are pharma firms investing enough in their own websites? Will failure to offer mobile useability soon present major hurdles?

For many healthcare professionals, mobile devices (particularly smartphones) have become an integral means of accessing digital health information. An analysis of 169 healthcare product websites for healthcare professionals from more than 50 pharma firms found that just 33% were mobile optimised, whether through responsive design or standalone mobile websites.

In America, more than four in five doctors are reported to use smartphones or tablets for work and research, including formulation studies, resources and clinical information, and Europe is following the trend.

The analysis has featured recently in a report titled Pharma Mobile Apps and Websites for Physicians: Benchmarking Current Efforts and a Framework for Optimizing Mobile Strategy. Manhattan Research analysed the aforementioned 169 product websites, as well as nine service portals and 98 apps from pharmaceutical companies. The report provides an overview of the current progress, but also includes a framework for decision-making on mobile strategy.

Interestingly, firms offering treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple-sclerosis, breast cancer, lung cancer and type 1 diabetes had the best results for mobile optimised websites.

The leading firms for mobile-optimisation were Novo Nordisk, for whom all websites studied were mobile optimised, and Genentech, for which nine of 11 websites studied were mobile optimised.

Manhattan Research Digital Analyst Mehek Punatar said: “Mobile is a critical channel for reaching physicians and other healthcare professionals with digital information. Pharma marketers face numerous barriers to mobile-optimizing their digital properties, from cost to legal and regulatory concerns, but given the way professionals are using smartphones, it's really a must-have.”

“Investment in apps for professionals is really concentrated within a couple pharmas, and most of the apps out there serve very basic clinical needs, so there may be openings for marketers to deploy apps with innovative features.”