This edition covers primary and secondary research in emerging pharma markets, patient-centric tips for marketers, benefits of pharma promotional efforts, mHealth industry trends and pharma’s innovation troubles:

– Relying on secondary data may not be a viable option for emerging pharma markets. Market Research Teams Must Rely on Primary Research When Supporting Products in Emerging Markets from Herald Online explains that in emerging markets research teams must rely on primary data until secondary research suppliers become more reliable

– Companies must meet customer needs at the right touch points if they are to be competitive, this is being customer (patient) centric and it’s good marketing. Blue Latitude’s The Value of Patient-Centricity to Pharma Marketers  offers 5 “HOWS” of Patient-Centricity, tips on how Pharma can become more patient-centric

– Although consumer-directed drug promotion increases utilization and thus overall drug costs, it also helps to educate consumers, induce physician contact and promote adherence. Study Cites Benefits of Pharma’s Promotional Efforts from Coalition for Healthcare Communication shares highlights from a recent study report discussing the role of promotion to both consumers and physicians and whether such promotion is persuasive and/or informational

– The mHealth Monthly Mashup from pharmaphorum media put together Four Healthcare Industry Trends That Influence Every mHealth Decision, describing four seismic shifts in the healthcare industry and their impact on mobile health decisions for pharma and medical device companies large and small

– Forbes asks the question Does Pharma’s Innovation Difficulties Reflect Bad Leaders or Tough Circumstances? David Shaywitz furthers the dialogue around leadership in pharma, we suggest you don’t miss the comment section for additional interesting comments and discussion

That wraps this week’s review of news from and for the pharma market research community. I’ll leave you with an invitation to learn more about the benefits of real time data  and offer you a personal demo of InCrowd’s on-demand platform  providing you direct and immediate access to Crowds of screened and targeted healthcare professionals.

Have a tip, suggestion or resource you’d like to share?  Drop us a comment below and please feel free to suggest topics that you would like to see covered in future posts.