Social media can also, to some degree, explain events and not just record them, since patient posts are much more nuanced than purchase data, often sharing the why and not just the what.

Using older methods, it can take years to understand the result and impact of a new drug launch. Today social media can provide early vital signals in real time.

To illustrate this, let’s look at Tecfidera (formerly called BG-12 during clinical trials), a new multiple sclerosis drug that Biogen launched on April 13.

As a quick reminder: Treato distills the patient voice from billions of patient-written social media posts on over 2,000 health blogs and forums. We filter out the patient experiences from the spam and other noise and analyze them using proprietary Natural Language Processing algorithms in our Big Data processing servers. The result is unique insights into drugs, conditions, and all that’s in between.

Interestingly, since the launch of Tecfidera in mid-April, the most talked about MS drug in social media has been Tecfidera, bypassing all other MS medications and growing on a daily basis. We also see significant differences between Tecfidera discussions and that of other MS medications in that 36% of the Tecfidera discussions are on Facebook while for other MS medications only 28% of the discussions are taking place on Facebook (our analysis does not include Twitter).

Tecfidera is the most discussed MS drug online since its April 2013 launch.

Since its launch, there have been over 600 patient posts about Tecfidera, approximately 30% of which indicated that the patient writing the post had been prescribed or started to use Tecfidera. If we compare this to commercially available prescription data, this number represents over 5% of all Tecfidera prescriptions during that time period. This impressive sample size in such a short time provides strong indication for the scalability and cost effectiveness of social media as a research platform.

Switching is a major topic of patient online discussion. Within the posts about Tecfidera, we found the following indications of interest in switching to the new drug from their current medication:

MS Patients Considering Switching to Tecfidera

When dealing with health social media and big data analytics one needs to be very careful about drawing conclusions, so before we make any initial predictions based on this information, a few words of caution:

• It is very early in the launch cycle, almost too early. It’s like trying to making a call on presidential elections 12 months before Election Day. So many things can happen to change the playing field.
• Patients sharing their thoughts and wishes online are early adopters, and they may not represent the entire patient base. At the same time, they are shaping public opinion very early through their candid involvement. One post actually summarized the huge importance of social media: “I want to know everything I can, before I start!”

Our early prediction is that – assuming no significant side effects during the launch cycle – Tecfidera will gain significant market share, primarily taking it away from Tysabri, Copaxone, and Aubagio.

The growing price sensitivity among patients will be an important factor, and the current price may not be optimal (14% of the posts talk about price / insurance).

For the past four years, I have personally read thousands of posts, and this experience tells me that the information available today in the Tecfidera posts is simply vital to all stakeholders.

The data transparency inherent in social media means that all the stakeholders in the launch have equal access and can learn from it: patients, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, even the financial community.

I am extremely proud that Treato is the first Internet heath IT vendor that provides this information to both patients and professionals, as social media now plays a growing and critical role in such events as they develop.

This is only the beginning for Tecfidera, as few have started using it, but we expect the next six months to be critical for this new drug. We will be following Tecfidera in social media closely and will expand the next review to include patients’ reviews on effectiveness and side effects.

The post Predicting Success for Tecfidera through Social Media Analysis appeared first on Treato Blog.

1)      Why take this drug?

Maybe you’ve just been prescribed a new drug, or a member of your family has. Wikipedia is a great place to start learning about the basics of the drug, such as what conditions it is typically taken for; for this reason, every Treato drug page includes a snippet from and link to Wikipedia.  However, if you want to hear about actual patient experiences with the drug, health care forums and blog will provide a broader picture, so scroll down the Treato drug page for links to these types of posts. I took a quick look at Gas-X on Treato Pharma – the solution for professionals — and learned that besides taking this OTC med for typical bloating and gas, many people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome frequently take it.

2)      What issues should I be concerned about?

Every drug or condition brings along with it some baggage of concerns or related issues. Each body has different tendencies to react and it can be reassuring to see others experiencing feelings that are similar to yours. If you look at patient posts about Yasmin, a birth control pill, for example, you can immediately see that one of the main concerns is weight gain (lots are also concerned about weight loss). Other key concerns included mood swings/ depression/ anxiety, loss of libido and others. Other issues related to the use of a particular drug could include cost/insurance, what other drugs can be taken together with it, and so forth. Drilling into specific posts about these issues can reveal crucial insights.

3)      What other drugs treat the same conditions?

This may seem like a no-brainer – let’s say you’ve been prescribed Eltroxin and want to know what other alternatives there are, so you just type into Google “Eltroxin alternatives,” right? You might be disappointed in what you find in a regular search engine, but the answers are out there in social media, and Treato has done the hard work of matching up treatments to conditions and grouping together similar treatments. So if we go back to our Eltroxin example, Treato automatically identifies Synthroid, Levothyroxine, Cytomel, Levoxyl and Armour Thyroid (a natural preparation) among many others.

4)      How happy are patients with this drug? Are they happier with this drug or its competitors?

Treato not only gathers the information about which are the competing or alternative drugs, but ranks them according to patients’ reported experiences with them. If we look at Xanax, for example, we can see that patients on the whole are happier with Xanax than with Valium, but they’re actually similarly satisfied with Klonopin as they are with Xanax. Of course, it’s not enough to know that more people report positive experiences, it’s important to break it down into the key concerns, so, for example, while Klonopin and Xanax are ranked similarly overall, on the issue of weight gain, Klonopin is ranked slightly more positively. If you are interested in drilling down into the actual patient posts from which the ranking is derived (recommended, and it’s interesting, so why not), there are links for that from Treato as well.

There are many more questions that can be answered about drugs from social media – got some ideas? Feel free to write them in the comments.

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Image source: http://twosidesserenity.blogspot.co.il/

The post Four Questions You can Answer about a Drug by Looking at Social Media appeared first on Treato Blog.

Back to Treato. I was searching a lot of “non-health” words on the site to see how many posts Treato has indexed about them. Crossfit had over a million and I just had to take a look at what they say. I was very pleased with what I saw, however not at all surprised. These posts had a strong educational tone to them. The CrossFit veterans help the newcomers get informed about the ins and outs of their new family. This family (like any other) is a complicated one with its own rules, habits, and preferences.  Most of the posts weren’t about the workouts themselves or even the results, they were about nutrition. Almost all of them, in fact.

Many of those who join CrossFit consider themselves to be overweight, others may not be happy with their body fat percentage. Since this sport is know to cut fat like nobody’s business, a lot of attention needs to be turned to nutrition to maximize the effect. People on these forums (and outside of them) don’t treat weight as a personal thing, but a scientific one. If you tell a CrossFitter that you weight 350 lbs, they’ll tell you “OK, that means you need to eat this many grams of protein.” There is not judgment, just a helpful nature so it’s very easy to talk about such an otherwise “touchy” subject. Another thing this showed me was how powerful Treato is. Yes, we focus on medicine, but the amount of data we have about everything is incredible. And as powerful as Big Data is, I still like seeing the magic in the small data.

If you think you might be interested in trying CrossFit out, there is probably a gym (we call it a box) close to you. Have a look.

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image source: http://burnsidewriters.com/2012/12/13/crossfit-and-the-spiritual-discipline-of-being-bad-at-stuff/

The post CrossFit on Treato appeared first on Treato Blog.

A few days ago we announced the completion of our second round of financing at the amount of $14.5 million from healthcare funds OrbiMed Israel and New Leaf Venture, and current investors Reed Elsevier Ventures, Dr. Shmuel Cabilly and Western Technology Investments. The two former funds have first met with the company a few months ago and gave us the opportunity to present our vision, assets and plans.

Why did we get such a significant investment from these respected funds?

A great question. In one word: patients. In two: patient’s centricity. In three: Facebook meets WebMD. In more words: a fantastic team that has created a great combination of technology and products that mitigates a genuine market gap and can actually make a difference – improve health outcomes for patients and get drug manufacturers closer to their consumers turned customers – the patients. Treato.com has gone from zero to 3 million monthlies over a little more than a year with very little marketing budget invested. Treato Pharma that was launched in October is already serving pharma companies and their agencies. The wisdom of the crowd has arrived to healthcare.

What are we planning to do?

The list is long but in a nutshell, it’s all around expediting our go-to-market with a richer offering, broader services portfolio and an even stronger team. We will be expanding our US presence, introducing new products that go beyond our current offering, expanding our customer care operations, growing our big data infrastructure, developing more technology and… we have a few surprises lined-up that will help Treato put forward a genuinely unique and valuable offering to both our users on treato.com and our business clients. Stay tuned!

What else does that mean?

Well, this is a phenomenal space to be in these days. Health IT is blazing hot. According to Mercom Capital Group’s Q1 Funding and M&A report, venture capital funding in the Healthcare IT sector continues to explode in another record quarter with almost half a billion dollars ($493 million) raised. Q1 saw 104 funding deals compared to 51 in the previous quarter. An evolving traditional healthcare industry meets advanced technology that has already changed so many industries to create an indispensable and irresistible combination that is simply right for all stakeholders.

Then, there’s how this impacts the industry. Treato is small but it represents something bigger. Harnessing the power of technology, or in our case – Big data analytics, unstructured data analysis and NLP algorithms – is another step towards understanding the “empowered patient” – well-informed, knowledgeable and confident with an in-depth understanding of his or her treatment options. Treato generates the ‘voice of the patient’. Others turn the limelight on adjacent aspects of the same evolution. Combined, we are changing healthcare as we know it. Oh, and having fun while doing it.

All of us at Treato feel fortunate to have won the confidence of the right investors that would partner with us on our mission to bring the voice of the patient front and center, making it more loud and clear for the benefit of patients, pharma and… our investors.

What a journey we are embarking on…

The post 3 Insights Into Treato’s Recent Funding Round appeared first on Treato Blog.

Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/tipstimes/

Since our Our Favorite Diabetes Communities post was such a success, I decided to follow up with a Breast Cancer post. Here’s a list of some helpful communities.

1. BreastCancer.org

My thought process: Let’s name good Breast Cancer forums. Breastcancer.org. Boom.

With or without the boom, I’m assuming this great site is everyone’s natural choice when looking online for breast cancer information. Logging on for the first time, you can’t stay entirely calm about the abundance of information you’re greeted with. It sure is a lot. Fully equipped with diagnosis material, therapies and preventative measures, you might even miss the actual community. This site’s community section doesn’t stop at a discussion board but provides everything from blogs to fundraisers. But Treato is in the forum business, so I checked out what the discussion board has to offer. You have to try pretty hard to find a sub-forum where the latest message was posted more than 24 hours ago. With an active forum like this, it’s no wonder that Treato indexed almost 2.5 million posts from breastcancer.org.

2. BreastCancerCare.org.uk

If you would have hid its name from me and asked me to describe this site in one word, it would have been “caring”.

With 648,000 from this site on Treato, it’s clearly the most active online breast cancer community in the UK. In their services section, they have a call line for people to talk to when they need support as well as guidance for women who have finished treatment and want to move on. Their forum isn’t built in the traditional format we’re used to but has a lot of great content and is incredibly active.

3. Cancer-Forums.net

Just by looking at the name, you know you’re at the right place for all cancer related discussions.

Unlike the previous two that I listed above, this forum isn’t breast cancer specific but a general knowledge point for the different cancers. Breast Cancer is the second most popular sub-forum after stomach cancers with 43469 posts.. You can tell that a lot of their users are veterans on the site by the thread titles and that it’s one large support group. If you’re looking for a community to join rather than a one time information stop, this is your destination.

The post Top Breast Cancer Communities appeared first on Treato Blog.

1)      Startup funding drying up – Venture capital has almost disappeared from early stage startups. They are focusing on later clinical stages, typically waiting for phase 2. This poses a major risk for innovation in the industry; to think that there will never be another Genentech rising from within the industry. The reason for this is risk aversion. True biotech is a long process that takes a long time to deliver ROI for the LP, often an investment horizon of 10-15 years. As a result, access to VC capital in early stage is drying up and consequently, so is the innovation pipeline.

Ido Hadari, Treato President, presenting at PhRMA

2)      Budgets getting squeezed – Another major issue is the decreasing budget for R&D. The NIH budget has been and is being cut and this impacts grants and research. This is a national strategic problem impacting the US’s ability to compete globally. The industry is cautiously optimistic; to quote Winston Churchill: Americans always do the right thing after they have exhausted all the other alternatives

3)      FDA casting a shadow – Regulation is proving to be an obstacle in the eyes of many in the industry. In the attempt to balance safety and innovation, the sense among PhRMA participants is that the bar is switched to caution, leaving very little room for innovation in the way pharma develops products, tests them and takes them to market.

4)      Business models need to evolve – How pharma companies get paid is becoming a riddle. The traditional models are becoming less and less applicable. A recent Forbes estimate has calculated that the cost to get a new drug to market may be as high as $8B. On the flip side of these rising costs, gone are the days of multi-billion dollar blockbuster drugs. With recent proposed policy change banning “pay for delay” and other restrictions, the industry will need to define how pharma can justify these investments in a manner that would encourage innovation and pipeline expansion.

5)      Liability – There’s an overall sense throughout the pharmaceutical industry of exposure to legal action for “doing the right thing”, from clinical trial efforts through marketing activities. Big pharma is often a target for individuals and organizations who scrutinize every step they make. While the benefits of these watchdogs is obvious, it also lowers pharma companies’ appetite for actions that could drive innovation and patient benefits.

Interestingly enough, aside from the usual ways to address these concerns which were typically in the hands of the industry, thought leaders have started recognizing that the solution may actually lie with those who will suffer the most and have been silent listeners so far: the patients. The argument is that patients need to support not only research. They need to become a part of these discussions: Instead of being informed of new policy – participate in setting it, instead of waiting outside the budgetary discussions halls – sit through the discussions and take a proactive role in them, instead of taking a backseat on topics such as regulation, commercial models and federal budget allocation – move over to the driver’s seat alongside traditional stakeholders.The patient role here is critical. They are the only ones the can resolve some of these issues.

The post 5 Biggest Challenges for Pharma Innovation: Report from PhRMA Annual Meeting appeared first on Treato Blog.

Tweets at PhRMA San Diego

While the meeting was heavily focused on policy and reform, there was a clear understanding that the mission PhRMA holds of Research, Progress and Hope holds true but our perspectives should change.  In the opening remarks, John C. Leichter, Chairman of board of directors for PhRMA and president and CEO of Eli Lilly company, said that pharmaceutical companies follow the PhRMA mission by doing the necessary Research, Progress in bringing medications to fruition faster and providing Hope for patients in need.  However from a patients perspective, this is not the order in which they look at it. They look for Hope and rely on that hope first and foremost.  As Sanofi’s CEO, Christopher A. Viehbacher, asked “how do we bring Hope faster” to patients?

Subsequently, the “Making Science Happen” panel discussions talked  about bringing the patient perspective into clinical trials to allow for more tailored medications appropriate for different individuals.  Anne L. Peters, MD, Director of USC’s Clinical Diabetes Programs, made a point around putting patients at the center of her practice then using that data from patients to help improve outcomes.  This opens the doors with her patients that are willing to share and help improve their care and thus helping her larger patient population.

Following this discussions there was a demo and panel session;  Innovation & Disruption and What Can We Learn? There were several demos which followed these points and I would like to highlight specifically Gobalto and our very own Treato.

Gobalto is a company that focuses on providing efficiencies to bring clinical trials to completion faster, thus in turn helping to bring medications to patient sooner – Hope Faster. Ido Hadari, Treato’s President, focused on bringing patient intelligence and data to pharma thus giving them the pure insights into their patients experiences in the real world – Progressing Hope and improving care based on the real world big data from patients experiences (see the video of Ido Hadari’s presentation).

With new patient-centric solutions on the horizon, the American health care industry can gain the capability to bring hope to patients faster than ever before.

The post PhRMA – Bringing Hope to Patients Faster appeared first on Treato Blog.

If the generic version goes on the market, then the branded – or ethical – pharmaceutical stands to lose much of its R&D investment, since patients and insurance companies will naturally gravitate to the lower cost option. This is the quandary behind the “pay for delay,” in which branded pharma companies sometimes pay generic manufacturers to ensure that they delay releasing these less costly versions to the public until the branded drug has been on the market for several years.

With billions of dollars at stake on both sides of the issue, the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case involving the drug Androgel in the case Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis Inc. The case is being covered in much of the health press, since it is expected to impact the pharma market for years to come. Some examples of the coverage include:

• Supreme Court skeptical of both sides in pay-for-delay case – FiercePharma
• Pharma lawyers debate pay-for-delay settlements – Thomson Reuters
• Pay-to-Delay Case Heard by Supreme Court – Pharmacy Times

And the mainstream press is also weighing in on the story, such as Nina Totenberg of NPR, and even an editorial in the Boston Globe.

Patients rely on Androgel, and other drugs like it, to replace lost sources of testosterone in their bodies for a variety of reasons. The court case involves bringing a generic version of Androgel to the market in 2015, five years before the patent is set to run out in 2020.

Supporters of generic drugs claim that these generic drug versions need to be distributed to consumers more quickly so that consumers who can’t afford high-cost medications have other options. But branded pharmaceutical companies state that keeping generic versions from saturating the market too soon actually helps research and development, as the dollars spent on brand-name drugs can then be funneled back into R&D. Also, many times the pay-for-delay arrangement still enables the generic manufacturer bring their lower cost drug to market before the patent runs out, just several years later than the company had initially intended; in other words even though the generic’s market entry is delayed, it is sooner than it would have been, had they waited until the patent period had ended.

According to patient posts we’ve seen on Treato.com, patients complain about the high cost of Androgel on health blogs and forums, and are waiting for a generic alternative. Some sample posts demonstrate how patients will share their health experiences, even frustration, with other patients, in health forums and blogs:

“Right now, the cost is a much bigger factor for me than the convenience, so I’m hoping for a generic gel sooner rather than later…” (http://www.tc-cancer.com/)

“I get generic Anrodgel from Mexico…Many generic drugs that are not available in the US are available from other counties in generic form.” (http://www.afboard.com/)

“Does anyone know if there’s a generic androgel or topical testosterone gel available? But I don’t have insurance and it’s running me $200 a month.” (http://tnation.t-nation.com)

“I … am anxious for a generic version of AndroGel to become available some day. The high cost of this drug, as I’m on a high-deductible plan and have a high co-pay, is tough to swallow.” (http://www.tc-cancer.com/)

The final verdict in the pay-for-delay Androgel Supreme Court case will shape the future of the pharmaceutical industry, impacting both the healthcare industry and patients who rely on these types of medications.

The post Pay for Delay: When is the Right Time to Release Generic Drugs? appeared first on Treato Blog.

There are a wide range of reasons why patients may decide not to (or cannot) take their medication as prescribed, and often they will share these reasons with their peers on healthcare forums and blogs. We have seen patients raise issues in their posts about side effects, medication cost, or even the fear of adding a new medication to the mix of pills they already take.

Some examples drawn from social media:

I was on Accutane a few years back, and I did have joint pain and also sudden nose bleeds … I would not do it again! (from healthboards.com)

 I was on Lipitor for five weeks … I had pain in my heel like a spasm and also near my Hip. Tiredness, lack of concentration, blurred vision, and a level of deafness. I stopped taking Lipitor one week ago and energy levels returned to normal already … (from medications.com)

 I’m using [an herbal remedy] temporarily until I renew my xanax prescriptions. It was really stupid to forget doing it, now I’m paying the price…(from bluelight.ru)

 I called my pharmacy to see how much it would cost to get it refilled bit since i have no insurance it was gonna cost me 250 bucks and i can’t afford that (from healthboards.com)

Harnessing this valuable information about what causes patient non-adherence can enable pharmaceutical companies to develop programs to help keep patients on track with taking their prescribed drugs. The reasons will differ from drug to drug, so careful analysis of patient-written social media content per each brand will allow pharma companies to develop relevant and engaging content for specific patient groups.

Hearing patients sharing their difficulties with medications in their own words can be a powerful experience; however it is unrealistic and impractical to consider combing through this vast sea of of social media content manually. That’s where services like Treato Pharma come in; Treato Pharma aggregates patient- and caregiver-written social media experiences, distilling relevant issues in relation to a specific drug. By using Treato Pharma, pharmaceutical companies can more easily discern the issues that patients struggle with regarding their medications.

By taking into account what “real people” say about the drugs they take and any problems they encounter, drug companies can develop the programs necessary to combat non-adherence and help patients stay healthier.

When patients take their medications as prescribed, everyone benefits.

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image: capitalbay.com

The post Improving Adherence Through Patient Intelligence appeared first on Treato Blog.

1. Wow, that’s so interesting, I want to mark it so I can come back to it later.
2. Gee, I really want to forward that to Gil/Roee/Ido/ etc.
3. Gotta respond to that
4. It would be so great if I could see other posts like this as they come up

Well I am happy to inform you that now on Treato Pharma, you do all those things, right from within the Treato Pharma interface.

Let me take a step back for a second, in case you are new to Treato Pharma. Treato Pharma is an online patient intelligence solution that aggregates and analyzes patient and caregiver experiences, designed to be used by pharmaceutical marketers and advertising agencies. It distills useful insights by adding a layer of analysis on top of all of the posts (behind the scenes it uses Big Data and Natural Language Processing technology to do its heavy lifting).

For example, Treato Pharma ranks how positively patients feel about one drug vs. its competitors. It presents perception gaps between different drugs used for the same condition. It can uncover off-label uses for various medications. It measures drug switching trends and reasons.

Throughout the online Treato Pharma service, users can drill down into the specific patient posts that form the basis for these insights, whether its 50 posts or 500 or even 50,000. But what happens when you see a post that you particularly want to save, share, or respond to? Treato Pharma now offers a suite of tools in the new “My Feeds” section, which allows you to

• Bookmark specific discussions
• Forward specific discussions to colleagues
• Append internal, date stamped notes to a particular discussion (e.g. “replied on the site”)
• Subscribe to any type of discussion and receive it in your “My Feeds” inbox

I want to delve a bit deeper into this last bullet point. Let’s say I’m reviewing Clomid, and have a particular interest in “Clomid and cramping”. While I am viewing the discussions on this topic, a “subscribe” button will appear, enabling me to personalize my feed to always show me discussions of this type.

Every time I log into Treato Pharma, I can check my subscriptions to see what new patient posts have come up across thousands of different blogs and forums.

Then, once I’m in the feeds section, I can choose to engage, forward or bookmark specific discussions. Or I can simply read them and move on. These new options will enable ongoing engagement in a way that was too cumbersome before.

The post New Way to Engage with Patients using Treato Pharma appeared first on Treato Blog.