Welcome to the digital marketing roundup, which this week features CSL Behring's smartphone app, Vodafone's mobile PROMs tool, GE's social exercise Facebook app and an advance in online patient record access for UK patients.

There's also a link to the next in our Tip Of The Week series, which is produced in association with CDM and can be found in the Digital Handbook.

Tip of the week: Less is more

Plasma protein therapeutics company CSL Behring has launched a dosing calculator smartphone app for its bleedings product Beriplex P/N (human prothrombin complex concentrate). The free Beriplex P/N Dosing Calculator App is aimed at UK healthcare professionals and available for iPhone and Android smartphones. It can be used to calculate the correct dose and volume of Beriplex P/N to be infused once users enter the patient's weight and their initial INR prothrombin complex level test. Eddie Owens, general manager at CSL Behring UK, said: “We see that healthcare professionals are clearly using mobile technology to access health information and for us to engage with this growing target audience, we need to be present in this medium.”

Vodafone is working on a new patient reported outcomes tool for mobile phones it says will “transform patient engagement in clinical trials”. The telecoms company is partnering with Exco InTouch, which provides compliant, interactive mobile patient management services, to develop Vodafone Patient Reported Outcomes (Vodafone PRO). The firms said it will allow trial participants to report their experiences using their own mobile phone and that it will be suitable for all phases of clinical research, offer secure data transfer and make it easier to retain and track people participating in trials. After Pfizer halted the virtual trial it was running using mobile and web technology, citing poor patient recruitment rates, a crucial factor in the Vodafone PRO's success could be which patient populations it is offered to.

GE has launched a new social exercise Facebook app, HealthyShare, which allows users to share their workouts and encourage each other. The firm collaborated with top US Olympic athletes on a series of themed workouts to make an 'Olympic Games challenge' to users, who can earn points for completing different tasks. “Whether your goal is to lose weight, walk more or pursue an Olympic dream, GE believes that your friends can be good for your health. We want to give consumers a platform to get motivated around better health tapping into the Olympic spirit,” said Linda Boff, global executive director, digital, advertising and design, GE.

UK plans to give patients online access to their GP records will centre on a new website called My Health, which will link patient records to services such as appointment bookings and prescription ordering. The National Health Service's (NHS) Commissioning Board is currently recruiting for a director of customer experience, whose remit will included “the development of 'My Health' – a digital multi-channel business development”, according to a report in the Health Service Journal. The concept of My Health was briefly outlined last month in the Department of Health's The Power of Information strategy, which said a series of “simple patient and professional portals” would be created to provide access to health and care records.

This week the Digital Intelligence blog also covered the data competition Boehringer used to successfully 'gamify' clinical research, doctors and social media, eHealth in Europe and European doctors' use of iPads.

Digital inspiration for pharma on mobile, social media, strategy, best practice, regulations and more