Paging Dr. iPhone

By: Chris Didizian, CIS Senior Associate
chrisdidizian@cis-partners.com

Skimming through the Pharma news, as I tend to do early in the morning, I stumbled on an article that linked the pharma industry with the iPhone. Being somewhat of a technology geek, I read on. With Apple’s recent release of its new generation iPhone 3G(S), a powerful tool capable of managing any of roughly 35,000 applications (apps), the possibilities are endless. In fact, users will soon be able to track vital signs, blood pressure, and glucose levels through their iPhones.[1] Through presentations and marketing, Apple has made it very obvious that it will help incorporate medical information and devices with consumer electronics (the iPhone). It follows that if drugmakers were to fully utilize a popular device like the iPhone, then naturally it would extend their marketing efforts into this realm.

Currently, there exist “more than 500 medical apps, mainly used by health professionals for things such as checking normal lab values, which allow interpretation of test results… and looking up definitions of medical terms.”[2] Looking at this quotation with the “big picture viewpoint,” it would be easy to make the assumption that it’s only a matter of time before drugmakers develop an app that can suggest drugs based on specific symptoms or direct users to certain physicians within their area. If my assumption is not convincing enough, then take into consideration that one drugmaker is currently developing an app to act as a glucometer – Apple sees this example as an opportunity to further expand into the vast medical field.[3] Of course, this app is one you must pay for. How long before the iPhone can measure cholesterol, or even begin to diagnose diseases based on symptoms input by the user?

Moving forward it will be interesting to see what guidelines the FDA will publish regarding these apps, but I wouldn’t hold my breath (just last month an overdue guidance regarding risk information in promotional materials was posted). Until then, it can be expected that any instruction on the appropriate use of these apps will need to be extrapolated from untitled and warning letters.

Sources:
[1] http://www.ihe-online.com/index.php?id=2565&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=483&cHash=65536
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.