• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pharmacovigilance Analytics

Your best resource for PV analytics news, content and innovation!

  • Home
  • Pharmacovigilance Analytics
    • Sources of data
    • Methods and tools
  • Signal Detection
  • News
  • Opinion
  • About
  • Glossary
  • PV Forum

Social Media

How Organizations Use Social Media For Pharmacovigilance

March 7, 2018 by Jose Rossello 2 Comments

Pharmacovigilance and Social Media – are you there yet?

In this lecture, Alexandra Hoegberg from the Uppsala Monitoring Centre gives an interesting lecture about the role of social media in public health, particularly in pharmacovigilance. After listening to the lecture, I would have better used ‘drug safety’ instead of ‘pharmacovigilance’ in the title.

Social media channels are becoming an effective communication tool which can be used to expand reach, foster engagement, and increase access to credible, science-based health messages.

Bottom line is that it informs the public and has the potential to empower people to make safer health decisions

OK, that’s unidirectional, from institutions and official bodies to individuals / patients. But how about from individuals to institutions? In pharmacovigilance and drug safety we are interested in both sides of the equation.

The lecturer provides examples of how MHRA uses social media to reach and provide information to the population on side effects of certain drugs.

She makes good points on potential pitfalls of the use of social media from health organizations, and the possibility of having to deal with fake news that spread virally.

As an example of fake news, the lecturer mentions the case published on The Independent (7 Jan 2017):

Revealed: How Dangerous Fake Health News Conquered Facebook:

The widespread circulation of fake health news on social networks is misleading and potentially dangerous, health officials have warned.

Misinformation published by conspiracy sites about serious health conditions is often shared more widely than evidence-based reports from reputable news organisations, according to analysis by The Independent. Of the 20 most-shared articles on Facebook in 2016 with the word “cancer” in the headline, more than half report claims discredited by doctors and health authorities or – in the case of the year’s top story – directly by the source cited in the article.

Facebook has introduced measures allowing users to flag disputed news shared on the site following concerns the circulation of deliberately fictitious articles could have influenced the US election.

Public Health England and the head of the Royal College of GPs have expressed concern over the amount of made-up health news shared online, with Cancer Research UK calling for “vital” action from the social network.

Organizations must set a social media strategy and think about:

  • the purpose of their presence on social media
  • the differences among social media platforms, which ones are more used in your country, and set the tone accordingly
  • which audiences are more likely to use the platform

The lecture finalizes giving valuable tips on what organizations have to do in order to succeed in social media.

This is a good presentation on how institutions and organizations are going to use or should utilize social media. Individual companies in the pharma industry can benefit from this approach too.

Jose Rossello
Jose Rossello

Filed Under: Social Media

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe in a reader

Featured News / Posts

Analysis Of Textual Data May Complement Traditional Pharmacovigilance

According to a well-written systematic review on the application of natural … [Read More...] about Analysis Of Textual Data May Complement Traditional Pharmacovigilance

Machine Learning and Pharmacovigilance

Machine learning (ML) is becoming increasingly available to everyone, including … [Read More...] about Machine Learning and Pharmacovigilance

Post-Randomization vs On Treatment Made All the Difference

Post-Randomization vs On Treatment Made All the Difference

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently requested withdraw of Belviq® … [Read More...] about Post-Randomization vs On Treatment Made All the Difference

Pharmacovigilance Audits/Inspections and PV Analytics!

Disclaimer: This article is written by a Safety Physician to provide … [Read More...] about Pharmacovigilance Audits/Inspections and PV Analytics!

Artificial Intelligence in pharmacovigilance? What a challenge!

Abstract Pharmaceutical industry, and more particularly pharmacovigilance, … [Read More...] about Artificial Intelligence in pharmacovigilance? What a challenge!

Knowledge Graphs,  Semantic Web and Drug Safety

Knowledge Graphs, Semantic Web and Drug Safety

Second part of: Mining PubMed for Drug Induced Acute Kidney Injury When I … [Read More...] about Knowledge Graphs, Semantic Web and Drug Safety

Review of Safety in FDA Medical Reviews

Review of Safety in FDA Medical Reviews

Analysis of the latest review of safety sections for new drug applications (NDAs … [Read More...] about Review of Safety in FDA Medical Reviews

Mining PubMed for Drug Induced Acute Kidney Injury

Mining PubMed for Drug Induced Acute Kidney Injury

Enhancing signal detection capabilities beyond regular literature … [Read More...] about Mining PubMed for Drug Induced Acute Kidney Injury

Top 7 Predictive Model Applications in Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance

As drug safety and pharmacovigilance organizations develop more sophisticated … [Read More...] about Top 7 Predictive Model Applications in Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance

The Pharmacovigilance of the Future: Prospective, Proactive, and Predictive

The Pharmacovigilance of the Future: Prospective, Proactive, and Predictive

Peter J Pitts, President of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, and … [Read More...] about The Pharmacovigilance of the Future: Prospective, Proactive, and Predictive

  • Disproportional Recording vs Disproportional Reporting
  • Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence – What are the Differences?
  • How Organizations Use Social Media For Pharmacovigilance

RSS From Nature journal

  • Long-term statins administration exacerbates diabetic nephropathy via ectopic fat deposition in diabetic mice
  • Complex I inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation in advanced solid tumors and acute myeloid leukemia: phase I trials
  • Effect of date molasses on levetiracetam pharmacokinetics in healthy rats
  • Phase I study of LZM005 in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer
  • Association of suicidal ideation and depression with the use of proton pump inhibitors in adults: a cross-sectional study

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in