Doctors 2.0 & You: Interview with @pharmaguy

John Mack – the guy with the colorful shirt – and Pharma Marketing News have been supporters of Doctors 2.0 & You from the beginning. John won’t be with us at the next event, but he kindly agreed to the following interview.

John Mack – the guy with the colorful shirt – and Pharma Marketing News have been supporters of Doctors 2.0 & You from the beginning. John won’t be with us at the next event, but he kindly agreed to the following interview.

Denise Silber: John, we love to keep in touch with our ambassadors for Doctors 2.0 & You. Please remind us of your main activities and what is new these days in these areas.

JM: Thanks for keeping up. I am so sorry that I won’t be able to be there in Paris this year because I will be traveling in Germany and Italy to sort of kick off my “Pharmaguy World Tour,” which is a new venture for me. It’s difficult making a living these days merely publishing a newsletter and blog, even a great blog such as Pharma Marketing Blog and a great newsletter like Pharma Marketing News. I’ve found that people want to meet Pharmaguy in person, especially people within pharma companies. And I like meeting people. So I hope I can make several trips each year to visit friends around the world, not only to give them my perspective on subjects like social media, mobile, regulations, privacy, and ethics in the health/pharma realm, but also to learn from them about their local issues.

DS: Let’s focus on your expertise regarding the FDA regulations and the Web. What do you see as the trends over the past few months in the US?

JM: LOL! You cannot mention “Web,” “FDA regulations,” and “months” in the same sentence! It takes years for the FDA to issue any changes in its views regarding regulation of pharma in the digital space. In fact, it takes DECADES — I first got involved in this area in 1996 when I attended FDA public hearings on the regulation of pharma on the Internet. That’s when I first met Denise Silber! So, there’s no such thing an Internet regulatory “trend” over the past few months — it’s just the same old, same old. For me, however, I’ve gotten much more interested in mobile because that is where the health/pharma industry needs the most guidance from pundits like me to help them understand the issues. It’s like 1996 all over again!

DS: Do you have any insights into what is coming next?

JM: As I implied above, mobile is the next big thing in terms of regulations. privacy, and ethical issues.