Pfizer Shuns “Next Shiny Thing” When Developing Mobile Health Apps
NYC-based pharma company Pfizer currently has 15 apps in the US iOS app store, ranging from a chapstick companion app to an app for people with kidney cancer. At the HIMSS Connected Health Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, Pfizer executives talked about two of the company's apps and their broader strategy for developing mobile health interventions.
"We recognize that the data shows patients expect meaningful digital solutions from us, and it is our obligation to deliver that," Judy Sewards, vice president of data and digital innovations, said. "When we think about it at Pfizer, we’re not thinking about what's the next shiny thing, or what's the next widget or what everyone else is doing, but looking through the lens of our patients as people."
For instance, Pfizer's app for smoking cessation, called Quitter's Circle, was developed in partnership with the American Lung Association. Dennis Hancock, Pfizer VP of global commercial solutions, said all the features of that app were driven by insights into the quitting process.
"It would be really easy to talk about buzzwords -- telemedicine, crowdfunding," he said. "While they’re important features to the app, they had to be driven by insights into what the smoker would find useful. I don’t think chasing features is a really good idea in the mHealth space. Let’s start with insights to know what people want and overcome those barriers using the best tools available."
Further Reading:
- “Pfizer Joins the #Pharma Digital Accelerator Club: Offers $250,000 in Prize Funding for Metastatic Breast Cancer “Disruptive” Technology!”; http://sco.lt/6PtsTR
- “Pfizer and IBM Join the Parkinson's Disease ‘Internet Of Things’ Club”; http://sco.lt/7xdDP7
