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Group therapy: from patient communities online to innovative 3D models, different patients call for different methods. Ben Comer examines the tools of the trade.

Article Excerpt
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It doesn't take several years of post-graduate studies and a degree in medicine to describe what it's like to live with a disease. From a patient's perspective, the practical wisdom available in an embarrassing anecdote, or a triumphant description of a breakthrough, can sometimes provide more value than any discussion to be had inside a doctor's office.

Additionally, direct-to-consumer advertising, for all of its patient-centered emphasis and messaging, doesn't necessarily affect the behavior of real patients, at least in terms of requesting brands from doctors. Data compiled by Verilogue, a company that records and studies physician-patient conversations, found that DTC advertising drives patients to request specific brands during in-office visits only 3% of the time (out of a study of 12,500 interactions). "Notably, physicians are more likely than patients to reference DTC ads in these conversations," says Jeff Kozloff, Verilogue's CEO.

For marketers, harnessing the value of patient-to-patient disease communications online can be a ticklish endeavor. The importance of perceived authenticity--regulatory requirements notwithstanding--can present a challenge for even the most transparent educational campaign, branded or not. However, new strategic partnerships with a loud focus on meeting patients' needs, and a quieter focus on meeting business objectives, are accomplishing both.

For other patient groups and their caregivers, point-of-care models, direct mail and email, mobile applications, video and TV continue to be invaluable channels in a successful patient marketing campaign.

Social Media & Patient Communities

To effectively engage patients, and keep them engaged, marketers need to understand what kinds of information and services are needed at the individual level. To that end, Novo Nordisk, through a partnership with the International Diabetes Federation, the International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes and experts in the field, sponsored the Diabetes Attitudes Wishes and Needs (DAWN) Youth WebTalk Survey in 2007, an extension of the DAWN initiative beginning in 2001. The findings, culled from 6,500 participants from nine countries, "indicated that the psychosocial aspects of coping with diabetes are particularly important to address for youth and young adults ... and their parents," according to Susan Rago, director, patient services and professional relations at Novo Nordisk.

When the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) approached Novo Nordisk in February 2008, the organization "had done...

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