Patint Like me
By providing an initial focus on about only ten conditions, PLM is currently following the Inside-Out strategy. Currently, they provide online questionnaires known as “instruments” to measure the outcomes.
The market size (estimated annual value of drugs used in US market) is 49.5 billion USD for the current subset of conditions on PLM. From these metrics, there is a strong potential for PLM to continue only in the chosen ten conditions and increase market share over time by attracting more members. But since the cost of attracting new members in established communities ranges from almost zero to only $ 5-20 USD for mature communities, investing in GP shows great promise for PLM.
The prevalence of the ‘sample’ of possible new PLM communities as presented in the paper stands at 99.8 million, more than three times the prevalence of current ten conditions offered on PLM. Even if PLM manages to acquire a small subset of quality online users for these sample conditions, the growth in the next 5 years can be closer to 200,000 users, an opportunity that should not be missed. Also by concentrating on “who our customers are and what to they need, so that we can give that to them by developing the necessary skills in-house” is a shift from their current strategy to an Outside-In strategy.
Since customers are expressing interest in other ailments, it is clear that customer needs are changing and will have to expand their site to encompass patients with all kinds of conditions. PLM’s competitors- such as cureTogetehr.com, other medically focused social networking sites and companies that provide medical research data (through clinical trials etc) have user communities of thousands of ailments. If these competitors start providing better forums for patients who suffer multiple conditions to connect with other members, PLM could soon start to lose the quality users. Eventhough currently, PLM’s flagship community is the largest online population of ALS patients in the world
The market size (estimated annual value of drugs used in US market) is 49.5 billion USD for the current subset of conditions on PLM. From these metrics, there is a strong potential for PLM to continue only in the chosen ten conditions and increase market share over time by attracting more members. But since the cost of attracting new members in established communities ranges from almost zero to only $ 5-20 USD for mature communities, investing in GP shows great promise for PLM.
The prevalence of the ‘sample’ of possible new PLM communities as presented in the paper stands at 99.8 million, more than three times the prevalence of current ten conditions offered on PLM. Even if PLM manages to acquire a small subset of quality online users for these sample conditions, the growth in the next 5 years can be closer to 200,000 users, an opportunity that should not be missed. Also by concentrating on “who our customers are and what to they need, so that we can give that to them by developing the necessary skills in-house” is a shift from their current strategy to an Outside-In strategy.
Since customers are expressing interest in other ailments, it is clear that customer needs are changing and will have to expand their site to encompass patients with all kinds of conditions. PLM’s competitors- such as cureTogetehr.com, other medically focused social networking sites and companies that provide medical research data (through clinical trials etc) have user communities of thousands of ailments. If these competitors start providing better forums for patients who suffer multiple conditions to connect with other members, PLM could soon start to lose the quality users. Eventhough currently, PLM’s flagship community is the largest online population of ALS patients in the world