Pharma firms offered internet chat tracking

A service which tracks consumer chat about medicines on the internet is being offered to pharmaceutical companies and drug regulators to help them spot side effects earlier and gauge negative or positive responses to products.

The iReputation service, which claims one pharma company customer so far, has been devised by computer consultancy Netrank. The company says that iReputation uses a proven, proprietary search technology to trawl forums, message boards, chatrooms, Usenet and other grassroots sources using specific contextual search criteria.

As an illustration, Netrank gives a search keyword such as Zyban (the nicotine addiction treatment drug, bupropion) run in conjunction with up to five operator words which provide additional context for the search; for example headache, nausea, depression, euphoria and light-headedness.

The words are entered into the iReputation user interface. The software then scans all relevant pharmaceutical user sites across the internet and Usenet, returning results as often as required.

Netrank’s marketing information says: “iReputation is the only search technology sophisticated enough to access log-in user forums and then examine every conversation thread and posting.

“A near real-time trend report is accessible online at all times, with access to all of the messages as long as they remain on the forum servers. A human-moderator also analyses iReputation reports to assess the relevance of spikes of noise about the brand before alerting the client.”

Netrank client services director, Colette Taylor, said it would be possible to identify individuals making comments, depending on how the project was set up, however this was not the main aim.

“In general it’s about monitoring the brand’s reputation, but we can follow individuals if necessary,” she explained.

Current medicines regulation in the European Community forbids pharmaceutical companies from advertising directly to the consumer. Contacting patients posting messages to internet groups may seen as a breach of this regulation.

Netrank is keen to emphasise that the service aims to benefit the patient by helping companies to react more quickly to concerns.