Drugs function and health apps

Drugs are used to restore or modify physiological functions of individuals, I think we can agree on this very synthetic description. However, it can also be indicated as what is produced in order to carry out an editing function of physiological conditions of safety and efficacy. This element is guaranteed by internal and external controls of pharmaceutical companies, as only these ones have internal auditing models, certified by state institutes for drugs control.

So, an app for smartphones — proposed by a pharmaceutical company to doctors and patients — which helps to manage diabetes reducing its damages can be considered a drug? Yes, it’s a medical device, as you can read in: Mobile medical apps: the FDA regulates an Entire new industry

The American government agency FDA is moving along these lines since it considers health apps as a medical device and so subject to safety regulations, with inspections and supervision. If you want to find out more about this process you should look at: Mobile Medical Applications. Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff.

It comes to a real revolution that is forging ahead with quick steps. Therefore, some of these health apps could or should not be freely downloaded but only available on prescription or under medical supervision.

Health apps and pharmaceutical industry

Health apps allow to control some of our biological or physiological functions so it will be necessary to ensure their effectiveness. Today this issue is not obvious at all and it’s already the subject of an online inquiry. With regards to this you may be interested in reading: Can we trust the “Doctor-tablet” that controls our health?

Shortly doctors will “prescribe” apps to improve patients health, supervise clinical or physiologic conditions, manage watch-dog systems and much more; pharmaceutical companies will need to ask themselves some questions such as: do we leave this space to others? Do we produce? Do we sponsor?

Check your health is really the next “game” to download, as claimed by Nancy Shute in When Doctors Play This Game, You Get Better Medical Care?

Let’s imagine, and we do not go too far, an app to manage diabetes or better for diabetic patients. Suppose this app helps patients to plan and follow a healthy diet and lifestyle to improve and stabilize diabetes disease. In this case, the pharmacological treatment may have to change and doctors would be in condition to revise therapies. What kind of attitude pharmaceutical industry and medical scientific information are going to assume?

Pharma rep will visit doctor with animated visuals explaining, trough clinical studies, all features and functionalities of the application. Reps will also help doctors to install it or get it installed for free. Therefore, company will focus their revenues on drugs sales, but support to physicians and patients will represent an inevitable service to offer.

However, pharmaceutical industry won’t become a software house or a service company, but will “furnish” its products with services which will constitute an added value for patients’ health.

With every day that passes we move in a direction in which other fields and areas are already gone:: the direct relationship with patients. This requires new challenges.

Is pharmaceutical marketing ready?