Health IT, Pharma

Report: 3 types of developers behind pharma apps and how they can boost downloads

65 apps. That’s how many the average big pharma company has created to support their […]

65 apps. That’s how many the average big pharma company has created to support their drug portfolios. Pharma’s beyond the pill market has spurred development of a prodigious number of apps. But as Research2markets’ report reveals, there’s a pretty wide gap in the audience these companies are seeking and what they want to achieve with these apps.

The goal may be to help users better understand their condition and track how they feel on a particular medication. On the other hand it may be geared to healthcare professionals. It may be designed to improve communication between physicians and their patients. Pharma companies are likely to be disappointed by the assessment by Research2markets in its Pharma App Benchmarking report, but it does show an industry that, counter to most assumptions, does recognize the potential benefits of mobile health to reach patients and companies continue to tweak their approach.

“…the leading Pharma companies have been able to generate 6.6 [million] downloads since 2008 and have less than 1 [million] active users. Given their position in the healthcare market, their app publishing efforts and the performance of some garage-type mHealth app publishers, this performance cannot make any Pharma company happy.”

There is a lot more diversity with pharma generated apps than the typical technology oriented apps. The end users could be physicians, consumers, caregivers. The app may focus on a rare disease or chronic condition. Another cause could be that pharma apps tend to be built around core products rather than market demand as the primary consideration. Many of these apps aren’t available globally/

The report breaks apps into three categories:

Niche players include Roche or Bristol-Myers Squibb which use apps to support core products. Many of their apps are geared to healthcare professionals compared to pharma companies that fall into the other categories. Inevitably these apps have a smaller audience than those for consumers.

First success This group includes companies that are courting the mass market and garner a higher than average number of downloads. In fact, a few generate hundreds of thousands of downloads according to the report. Merck’s apps definitely conform to the 80:20 rule. Most user downloads are from three of its apps. If it was not for these three apps, Merck’s app portfolio performance would be disappointing.

Still trying applies to the likes of Bayer Healthcare and Novartis. Although they have been very productive on the app front, their downloads remain relatively small.

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