Boehringer Ingelheim, Abbott and AstraZeneca are among the first pharmaceutical companies to start experimenting with Vine.

Launched at the beginning of this year, Twitter's new app allows users to record six-second videos that play in a continuous loop, often creating a curiously hypnotic effect.

As with Twitter's own character limit, Vine too force users towards brevity, but its time constraint is mitigated by the ease with which shots can be cut together.

A number of mainstream brands have been using the video service, among them Next, Doritos and General Electric, and pharma too has been exploring the service.

The industry's use of Vine is still at an early experimental stage, with videos so far looking covering disease awareness, prescription medicine assistance and events.

Boehringer, whose UK and Ireland operations have also joined Vine, takes a fairly standard disease awareness route, though details of where to go for further information would be useful.

There's a pretty low-tech feel to this Vine post from AstraZeneca US, but the company certainly makes the website address for its prescription medicine assistance programme clear.

It also ties the video in to its #RxSave Twitter hashtag (which it used back in 2011 for the first pharma tweet-chat).

Finally there's a more conventional product video above from Abbott for its Kidz Zone Perfect nutrition bars.

So, what might be pharma's next steps from here? Companies could check out how consumer brands are using the technology, produce versions of their YouTube content or raise their profile by having some fun.

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