TORONTO -- 11/13/07 --
BrandIntel, a leader in online market intelligence
solutions, has launched a series of brand tracking studies in the life
sciences and managed healthcare industries. As part of the series, the
company will track and analyze online consumer discussion on, but not
limited to, diabetes, Alzheimer's, weight loss, psoriasis, wrinkles,
multiple sclerosis, asthma, arthritis and ADHD. Kicking off the research,
BrandIntel released a report around statin-based cholesterol drugs. The
report sites that Crestor has gained significant discussion share while
Lipitor's has declined.
"The Internet has become a top destination for people to research
healthcare and drug related information and more and more, they are going
to online forums dedicated to specific diseases to discuss treatments, get
advice and share experiences," said Ted Morris, SVP at BrandIntel. "These
forums serve as trusted communities for people and can provide
pharmaceutical and healthcare management companies with valuable insight
about drug/treatment effectiveness, potential side effects and more
importantly, a consumer's intent to continue with treatment. BrandIntel's
new series analyzes this rich consumer discussion to provide pharmaceutical
companies with a deeper understanding of the consumer to help drive
effective marketing and social media strategies."
The first report, Statin Treatments for Cholesterol, focuses on
statin-based drugs used to treat cholesterol. Based on analysis of
consumer-created content, the report captures data from January 1, 2007 to
November 4, 2007 and compares it with findings from 2006. Key findings from
the report include:
-- Over the course of 2007, Crestor has gained momentum relative to the
market leader, Lipitor. Discussion share for Crestor has increased by 140
percent while the Lipitor's discussion share fell by 28 percent.
-- For the statin-based drugs, discussion on side effects and continuance
(the willingness of patients to continue with medications) had the lowest
sentiment ratings of 1.5 and 1.4 respectively. 86% of individuals who
discussed continuance also mentioned negative side effects, suggesting that
these attributes are linked and that negative side effects have driven
consumers to switch to other statins or seek alternative treatments.
-- Simvastatin's low discussion share indicates that the generic
alternative drug has not established significant brand awareness among
online consumers.
For this report, BrandIntel tracked more than 125,000 raw search results on
the Internet but refined those results through technological filters and
human analysis to utilize only the highest quality data -- totaling more
than 2,000 consumer mentions on statin-related drugs. BrandIntel analyzed
the most pertinent consumer-created content on the Internet to measure for
assigned sentiment scores and share of discussion, rating the physical and
emotional value of the results (positive or negative). For Life Sciences
companies, this is especially important in minimizing false positives when
reporting adverse events.
To learn more on this issue, BrandIntel, in conjunction with Advertising
Research Foundation (ARF), will be hosting a Webcast on November 15 from
12:00 - 1:00 PM ET. To register for the Webcast, please visit
http://www.thearf.org/. To purchase a copy of the report or subscribe to
the BrandIntel Cardiovascular Landscape Reports, please contact
Mark De Paoli at 905.271.3725 x259 or mdepaoli@brandintel.com.
About BrandIntel (www.brandintel.com)
BrandIntel, a Brandimensions Inc. company, translates consumer-created
content into reliable intelligence, enabling businesses to advance the
science of decision making. The company offers an information-delivery
platform combining human intelligence with award-winning technology for the
most trusted market data in the industry. The BrandIntel data helps
businesses validate critical business decisions, uncover new opportunities
for value creation, and get closer to customers. BrandIntel works with
Fortune 1000 companies and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with
offices in the United States.
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CONTACTS:
Alicia Libucha
Lois Paul & Partners
781-782-5703
alicia_libucha@lpp.com
Maxine Friedman
BrandIntel
646-202-9387
mfriedman@brandintel.com
