The Health Products Industry And The Internet

The "Great Snowstorm" which caused the media launch of the first product approved to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer's Rilutek (riluzole) in the USA (Marketletter January 15) to be switched, in less than 24 hours, to a global teleconference and the first-ever Internet launch to all target audiences, created the perfect situation to determine the launch's real value, according to Gilles Brisson, senior vice president at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer in France.

1,400 people listened to the teleconference, 14,000 "hits" were made during the teleconference on R-PR's Internet home page, and a total of 29,000 "hits" were made in the first two days, Mr Brisson told this month's IMS International Symposium in Brussels (Marketletter November 11 and this issue page 13).

The Internet launch included: - Rilutek as the first product on America's Housecall, an Internet provider linked with Microsoft and NBC; - live presentations of speakers on the Internet via scrolling; - handling over 50 questions and answers during the conference; and - making press kit materials available on-line.