What the Heck is Social Media and Why Should I Care?
 Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire's Director of Emerging Media, hosted arecent seminar on social media for public relations people in San Diego. |
 Becky Carroll, a sought-after speaker on social media, said thatsocial media must be part of a company's overall strategy. It's notabout a media campaign, nor is it about technology, which is merely atool to participate in social media. |
Who has NOT received an email alert this month, or even this week, about some sort of conference, webinar or panel discussion about social media and how it might benefit your business?
Suddenly “experts” on social media are as prevalent as television preachers on Sunday morning, and the two are equally evangelical. One unfortunate result is that bosses everywhere, afraid of missing out on THE GREATEST business tool ever, are turning to their marketing and communications departments with an urgent demand: We’ve got to be using Twitter! Set up a Facebook page and let’s link-up with Linked In!
Unfortunately, that demand doesn’t necessarily mean the bosses know what these social media tools are or whether their features could actually be a benefit to their business or customers. Just because you can see how well you’re aging compared to your high school friends you found on Facebook, or because Lindsey Lohan can use Twitter to tell us about her recent trip to Starbucks, doesn’t mean a life science tool company should be using it to sell reagents.
“If you can see a clear goal for using social media, than it could make a lot of sense for your business,” said Becky Carroll, founder of Customers Rock!/Petra Consulting. “But it should be part of your (communications and marketing) strategy,” said the sought after expert on social media.
Why is social media so hot? Is it because everyone’s feeling the pinch of the troubled economy and social media offers relatively free marketing and communications options? Is it catching on because it offers venues to reach a highly specific target audience? Or is it becoming more popular because it creates a two-way or multi-party conversation between people with similar interests?
The answer to all of these questions, BIOCOM has learned, is yes.
In an attempt to help its members figure out whether they should be using social media, BIOCOM has attended some recent panel discussions, webinars and lunches where it sought to get some basic questions, including where do you begin?
Understand that while traditional media is about pushing out information, social media is also about pulling in feedback, comments and other interactions from other people and organizations, said Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire’s Director of Emerging Media. PR Newswire hosted a recent breakfast meeting on social media for San Diego’s public relations professionals.
A company can start to consider whether social media should be part of its strategy by determining who it’s trying to reach, and where are they? Are you trying to interact with clients? Do you want to use it for customer support? Do you just want to listen (read) what others are saying about your business? Do you want to use it for collaborations with other organizations of similar interests? If so, where would you find those people?
It’s important to understand that social media is not about the technology, like Twitter or Facebook, said Pranikoff. Technology is only the tool used for social media and what is hot today, could be gone tomorrow, he said.
It’s also not about a media campaign, said Carroll. It’s about long term strategy because if you get a following in social media – people start following your blog, or following you on Facebook – then what, she asked.
For example, said Carroll, who didn’t hear about the big media campaign conducted by Australia’s Tourist Board to enlist someone who would be paid a salary for six months, including room and board, to live on the beach in Queensland, Australia, and blog every day about how wonderful it is?
Thousands of people applied for the job and the search was covered by television, radio and online news until the day that someone was ultimately selected.
“What have you heard about Queensland since,” Carroll asked. “Has it increased tourism for the long run?”
When building a strategy, companies should also consider who is going to keep up the two way communications. And clear guidelines for those using social media should also be established, Carroll said. For instance, an easy Google search will turn up Intel’s guidelines for social media that might be helpful as a template.
Companies should not decide to skip social media because of the fear someone might say something negative. People are going to find a forum to say what they want, whether it is negative or positive, Carroll said. And the online community usually corrects and regulates itself, she said. And don’t you want to know why customers are unhappy and correct it?
For instance, someone looking for restaurant recommendations through the on-line site Yelp might find a negative review of their new neighborhood bistro. If the person writing this review was having a bad day, or had a waiter on an atypical bad night, the negative impact of the review would be tempered by all the great reviews that follow it. If the particular dish this person had was terribly executed and needs to be removed from the menu, wouldn’t it be a good way for the manger to learn about it?
Carroll tells a story of a Comcast worker who was tired of hearing about how everyone hates the cable company. He started social networking with Comcast customers all on his own. When someone wrote online that Comcast sucked, this cable guy wrote back, introduced himself and asked about the experience the person had, she said.
Then he set about to try to help solve customers’ complaints one at a time, she said.
Customer surveys have shown that people feel more connected and loyal to a brand when they feel that they can interact with someone connected to the brand and when they feel loyalty back from a person behind a brand, she said.
When the Comcast worker had a death in his family, he alerted his social media network that he would not be working on their issues on a particular day, Carroll said. When his customers found out why, they volunteered to cover for him and try to assist other customers with their issues and complaints, she said.
Many people in the life sciences industry have already caught on to social media. Maybe you’re one of them and don’t even realize that it’s social media.
Linked-in, a site where people can create their own network and share resumes, allows its users to create their own subgroups. BIOCOM is a member of Linked-in and has its own subgroup that has grown to 1,200 members in just six months. Members of this subgroup can start discussions among themselves on any topic, such as some recent research involving kinases. Another subgroup called the San Diego Biotechnology Network, or SDBN, has 1,500 members, said its founder Mary Canady, a Ph.D. scientist who has started her own social media consulting firm, Comprendia.com. ( I couldn’t find Canady’s card, but she is on my Linked-in network, which allowed me to find her telephone number)
Among SDBN members’ regular posts are job listings.
On July 30, Canady started a discussion among the SDBN group about its upcoming meeting in August and what topics members would like discussed. A few hours later, Canady had already collected information about the issues the group’s members thought should be tackled at the August meeting.
Canady thinks life sciences companies have been slow to adopt social media. Perhaps it is because the industry is highly regulated and companies are afraid of what information might be disclosed, she said. She recently wrote a blog post on SDBN.org about a nationwide poll that showed only 12 of the nation’s thousands of life science companies have blogs.
Earlier this year, the SDBN hosted an event about social media. The slides and audio from that discussion are available online at SDBN.org/sdsms
“A lot of people don’t see how Ashton Kucher’s ability to use Twitter to link to a video relates to the life sciences…until they actually start trying social media and the light bulb is lit,” Canady said.
“There are all different levels at which a company can get involved in social media, and many start with an electronic newsletter or blog,” Canady said. “Some associations see it as a great way to share conference reports or research articles. I see it is a really rich way to reach out and make relationships.”
Call for Action:
Are you using social media? Is you company on Twitter, writing a blog, or have a Linked-in Group? Let us know by contacting tsomers@biocom.org; or mwright@biocom.org.
Spotlight on Immunization
With this issue of the Biocommunique, BIOCOM is continuing to take a monthly look at drugs and devices in development from member companies. Following our 2009 "Art of Research" Calendar, each month, we'll look at a new focus and our companies’ efforts in it, with the information eventually posted to the "About Southern California" section of our Web site.
For our August spotlight, we'll take a look at companies with products in development in the field of immunization. Immunology is the study of the immune system, which protects the body from disease and infection. Immunology research focuses on strengthening patients’ immune systems by both preventing illness with vaccines and fighting diseases already in the body. Researchers are also working to improve techniques for handling autoimmune diseases, a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly destroys healthy body tissue. Over 80 autoimmune diseases exist. There are 26 BIOCOM member companies in Southern California addressing these issues.
The following companies responded to our request for summaries of their immunization efforts. Is your company not on the list? Please email Michelle Wright and we'll update you on our site.
Next month's spotlight will be on companies working to combat leukemia. Please contact Michelle Wright with any questions or to make sure your company is on the list
Southern California life science companies working in immunology include:
Aethlon Medical, Althea Technologies, Androcles Therapeutics, Ardea Bioscience, Astellas Pharma, Behavioral Pharma, Inverness/Biosite, Cytori Therapeutics, CytRx, Genentech, Gen-Probe, Ichor Medical Systems, IDM Pharma, Inovio Biomedical, Isis Pharmaceuticals, ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Lpath, Nventa Biopharmaceuticals, Palkion, Phenomix, Prometheus Laboratories, Regulus Therapeutics, SoluLink Biosciences, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Vical
Aethlon Medical: is the developer of the Hemopurifier®, a first–in–class medical device to treat infectious disease. The Hemopurifier® addresses the largest opportunity in infectious disease, the treatment of drug and vaccine resistant viruses. Pre-clinical human blood studies have documented the effectiveness of the Hemopurifier® in capturing HIV (The AIDS Virus), HCV (Hepatitis-C), and Orthopox Viruses related to human Smallpox. Aethlon has recently announced that this technology is a candidate to treat the H1N1 Swine flu virus.
Althea Technologies: As a leading provider of contract services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, Althea’s services include cGMP contract manufacturing and biologics production for projects from pre-clinical through commercial production. Althea offers master and working cell banking, recombinant protein production, DNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, process development, protein modification, and complex formulations. Additionally, Althea’s expertise in parenteral processes include vial and syringe filling under aseptic conditions, lyophilization, stability testing, and final product release testing.
Ardea Bioscience: The Company focuses on the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of HIV, gout, cancer and inflammatory diseases. RDEA806, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), is their lead product candidate for the potential treatment of HIV infection. RDEA806 may have an important competitive advantage compared to currently available NNRTIs. This includes the potential for potent antiviral activity against a wide range of HIV viral isolates, a high genetic barrier to resistance, and limited pharmacokinetic interactions with other drugs.
Astellas Pharma: In the U.S., the Company’s five-year plan calls for intense focus on five key therapeutic areas - Cardiology, Dermatology, Immunology, Infectious Disease and Urology. As a leader in the field of transplantation, Astellas aims to master the idiosyncrasies of immunology as it relates to transplant medicine. Today, Prograf® allows transplant professionals in multiple countries around the world to provide an immunosuppression regimen for liver, kidney and heart transplant patients.
Behavioral Pharma: With a global, “cutting edge,” scientific team, Behavioral Pharma delivers reliable, in vivo pre-clinical testing services dedicated to behavioral neuroscience research. Behavioral Pharma’s mission is to be the contract research firm of choice, delivering design, implementation, and interpretation of pre-clinical behavioral models with timely, cost efficient, and reliable methods.
Inverness/Biosite: By developing new capabilities in near-patient diagnosis, monitoring and health management, Inverness Medical Innovations enables individuals to take charge of improving their health and quality of life. Inverness’ global leading products and services, as well as its new product development efforts, focus on infectious disease, cardiology, oncology, drugs of abuse and women’s health. Inverness acquired Biosite in May 2007.
Cytori Therapeutics: The Company’s mission is to improve the quality and length of life by providing innovative regenerative therapies to patients. Cytori has developed technology to assist the physician in reconstructive and aesthetic surgery procedures. Their key technology is the Celution® 700 system that prepares an autologous tissue graft for delivery back to the patient in the same surgical procedure.
CytRx: is a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in developing high-value human therapeutic products based upon its small-molecule molecular “chaperone” regulation technology. The Company’s drug development pipeline also includes three clinical stage oncology drug candidates. Furthest developed is Tamibarotene, an orally available, rationally designed, synthetic retinoid compound designed to fight acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Research suggests that Tambibarotene can specifically overcome resistance to current treatment of APL.
Genentech: Considered the founder of the biotechnology industry, Genentech uses human genetic information to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Avastin® is a recombinant humanized antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It is designed to bind to and inhibit VEGF, a protein that plays a critical role in the formation of new blood vessels to the tumor. Genentech aims to develop Avastin to treat glioblastoma, types of breast cancer, and more than 30 different tumor types.
Gen-Probe: is a global leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of rapid, accurate and cost-effective nucleic acid tests (NATs) used primarily to diagnose human diseases and screen donated human blood. NATs harness the power of biotechnology to detect diseases more rapidly and/or accurately than older testing methods. Gen-Probe is developing APTIMA® HPV Assay, a NAT to detect high-risk strains of the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer. APTIMAÒ HPV Assay employs the APTIMA technology to target mRNA expression of genes that are known to contribute to cancer progression.
Ichor Medical Systems: is dedicated to the clinical application and commercialization of electroporation technology for the delivery of DNA drugs and vaccines to treat and prevent debilitating or life threatening diseases. Ichor is developing products using its TriGridÔ Delivery System (TDS). The TDS/DNA drug against anthrax has demonstrated an ability to elicit a rapid and durable immune response against anthrax bacteria. TDS/DNA drug therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed to inhibit tumor recurrence and/or metastasis by inducing patient’s immune system to attack any residual cancer cells after initial treatment.
IDM Pharma: Focuses on the development of innovative products that activate the immune system to treat cancer. IDM Pharma is currently developing products designed to either destroy cancer cells by activating innate immunity or prevent tumor growth and recurrence by triggering a specific adaptive immune response. MEPACT is a fully synthetic chemical entity, a bacterial cell wall compound designed to activate macrophages in the body and destroy cancer cells. MEPACT treats non-metastatic, respectable osteosarcoma. IDM-2101 is a mixture of synthetic peptides derived from well-characterized tumor agents for treatments of non-small cell lung cancer.
Inovio Biomedical: “Our vision is to address cancers and chronic infectious diseases by providing a safe and effective DNA delivery method for next-generation vaccines — DNA vaccines — for preventive and therapeutic purposes.” Invio’s developing Cancer DNA Vaccines represent a promising alternative for treating cancer as well as potentially preventing cancer. The vaccines target breast cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer. Their Infectious Disease DNA Vaccines indicate a promising alternative for preventing and treating infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C virus.
Isis Pharmaceuticals: Antisense drug discovery and development is the cornerstone of Isis. Antisense drugs are the first class of drugs targeted to control expression of genes through interactions with RNA. The goal of Antisense drugs is to intervene at the RNA level to prevent the production of proteins involved in disease. ACHN-490 is a neoglycoside, which is Achaogen’s next-generation aminoglycoside drug that Achaogen is developing for the treatment of multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacterial infections.
ISTA Pharmaceuticals: is the fastest growing U.S. branded ophthalmic pharmaceutical company, having recently become the fifth largest in the U.S. market. The Company’s products and product candidates addressing the prescription ophthalmic industry include therapies for inflammation, ocular pain, glaucoma, allergy, and dry eye.
Lpath: is the category leader in lipid-based therapeutics, an emerging field of medical science whereby bioactive signaling lipids are targeted for treating important human diseases. Lpath’s unique ability to generate monoclonal antibodies against bioactive lipids is based on its proprietary ImmuneY2Ô drug-discovery engine. ASONEPÔ is a monoclonal antibody against a validated cancer target, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P).
Nventa Biopharmaceuticals: is developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and cancers, with a focus on diseases caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV); and a Toll-like Receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist for use as a vaccine adjuvant and as an immunotherapeutic for viral infections and cancer. Nventa’s lead initiative is the development of HspE7, an investigational therapeutic vaccine, also known as an immunotherapeutic, made using recombinant DNA technology that covalently fuses a heat shock protein (Hsp) to an HPV E7 viral protein to form one CoVal™ therapeutic protein.
Phenomix: With a focus on significant therapeutic markets, Phenomix’s product candidates are designed to have improved efficacy, safety, or convenience relative to existing therapies. PHX1766 is an orally available NS3/14A protease inhibitor, which Phenomix is developing for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus infection (HVC). PHX1766 directly targets the virus since NS3/4A protease is a key mechanism implicated in HVC replication. This drug may offer improved dosing regimen over other Hepatitis C protease inhibitors currently in development.
Prometheus Laboratories: Founded as a specialty pharmaceutical company, Prometheus primarily focuses on the treatment, diagnosis, and detection of gastrointestinal, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases and disorders. By integrating therapeutics and diagnostics, Prometheus provides physicians with a comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment for acute and chronic diseases.
Regulus Therapeutics: is a biopharmaceutical company created to discover, develop and commercialize microRNA-targeted therapeutics. Regulus is working to identify microRNA-based therapeutics for immunology and inflammation. Specifically, they are developing methods to effectively deliver oligonucleotide drugs to cells of the immune system.
SoluLink Biosciences: SoluLinK is the leader in the development of conjugation reagents, complete, easy to use kits, and conjugation services for the life science research, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical communities. These proprietary products and services provide unique features and benefits when used to link proteins, oligonucleotides, peptides, and antibodies to each other or to a wide range of surfaces. SoluLinK’s proprietary ChromaLink Biotin One-Shot Antibody Labeling Kit is just one example. This is the second in a pipeline of new, easy-to-use labeling kits intended to enhance assay performance and measurement for customers in a broad range of markets.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals: This global biotechnology company commits itself to the discovery and development of breakthrough small molecule drugs for serious diseases. Vertex maintains drug development programs targeting viral diseases, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and more. Telaprevir is an investigational oral protease inhibitor for the treatment of hepatitis C. AVN-944 is an oral IMPDH inhibitor in the development for the treatment of cancer. Studies show that AVN-944 is a highly specific inhibitor, suppresses pools of GTP, and has a selective growth inhibition effect on cancer cells as compared to normal cells.
Vical: Researches and develops biopharmaceutical products based on patented DNA delivery technologies for the prevention and treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases. Allovectin-7® is an investigational product designed to train the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells, both local and distant. Vical is developing a DNA-based immunotherapeutic vaccine against CMV. The CMV vaccine is intended to induce both cellular and antibody immune responses against the target pathogen without safety concerns that live-attenuated virus vaccines pose for immunocompromised patients.