[Italian physician's needs for medical information. Retrospective analysis of the medical information service provided by Novartis Pharma to clinicians].

The physician's need for medical information updates has been studied extensively in recent years but the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry on this need has rarely been considered. This paper reports the results of a retrospective analysis of the medical information service provided to Italian physicians by an important pharmaceutical company, Novartis Pharma, from 2004 to 2012. The results confirm clinicians' appreciation of a service that gives them access to tailored scientific documentation and the number of requests made to the network of medical representatives has been rising steadily, peaking whenever new drugs become available to physicians. The analysis confirms what -other international studies have ascertained, that most queries are about how to use the drugs and what their properties are. The results highlight some differences between different medical specialties: for example, proportionally, neurologists seem to be the most curious. This, as well as other interesting snippets, is worth further exploration. Despite its limits in terms of representativeness, what comes out of the study is the existence of an real unmet need for information by healthcare institutions and that the support offered by the pharmaceutical industry could be invaluable; its role could go well beyond that of a mere supplier to National Healthcare Systems, to that of being recognised as an active partner the process of ensuring balanced and evidence-based information. At the same time, closer appraisal of clinicians' needs could help the pharma industries to improve their communication and educational strategies in presenting their latest clinical research and their own products.