http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7504/1347-a?ehom

BMJ 2005;330:1347 (11 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7504.1347-a

News

Drug companies monitor web chat for adverse reaction reports

Michael Cross, London

Drug companies are harvesting comments posted on the internet
about drug side effects using new computer technology. NetRank, a
UK based internet consultancy, said this week that at least one
"well known drug company" is using a product called i-reputation,
which monitors the internet for postings about specific products.

Critics of the pharmaceutical industry expressed concern about the
way the information might be used. The technology is based on a
computer program developed for the mobile phone maker Motorola to
track comments about its products in internet chat rooms and other
online forums. The system deploys autonomous software "robots"
that roam the internet looking for a key word, such as the name of
a drug together with up to five "operator words," such as
headache, nausea, depression, euphoria and lightheadedness. Pieces
of text containing these terms are then copied back to a central
computer for analysis.

Among internet enthusiasts, such programs are widely known as
"spyware." John Straw, NetRank's chief executive, said that the
system posed no threat to privacy, however. The internet has
become a "grandstand for concerns about medicines," with such
comments already in the public domain, he said. The law would not
allow companies to contact patients posting remarks.

Mr Straw said that companies could use the software to detect
patterns among reports posted in "free text" that might otherwise
be dismissed as anecdote.

"Potentially we can identify issues six to nine months earlier
than through conventional reporting channels." He would not say
which companies are using the service. The Financial Times
reported last week that NetRank has been "discussing" the service
with Glaxo SmithKline, Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson. None of
the companies would comment.

Campaigners on pharmaceutical industry issues said that the
industry would be likely to use data gathered through the system
to arm themselves against potential claims rather than to
strengthen the mechanism of patient reporting. "The potential to
put this data to good use is there," said Charles Medawar of
Social Audit. "However, I have seen no evidence that this
potential is being recognised." Mr Medawar said that drug
companies already regularly monitor a website that he runs on the
effects of antidepressants.

Andrew Bryce of the Lariam Action support network said that the
industry would be "far better served applying `spyware' to its own
documentation on adverse effects. Frequently warnings in product
safety literature that appear in one country do not get published
on a worldwide basis for years, if at all."

Mr Bryce and Mr Medawar agreed that if the development meant that
pharmaceutical companies were taking patients' reports more
seriously, that would be a good thing, however.  
--
Jim Chinnis   Warrenton, Virginia, USA