Online advertising spending by the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry will reach US$ 975 million in 2007 - a gain of 19 percent over 2006, according to eMarketer, reports Hospital Buyer.

The pharmaceutical category will account for 4.5 percent of the total US online ad spending in 2007, down from 4.9 percent in 2006, according to the forecast; but by 2011 the category is forecast to reach $2.2 billion and account for 5 percent of US online ad spending.

Pharmaceutical marketers nevertheless have a rigid view of the internet as merely an information-delivery vehicle, whereas consumers are using the internet to interact with one another and with brands, according to eMarketer's "Pharmaceutical Marketing Online: Stuck in Web 1.5" report.

(Also see "Nine in 10 Women Find Health Haven Online.")

Having restricted their brand sites to mere online information centers - often pages of text and a slow-to-load TV commercial - pharma marketers are missing big opportunities to engage consumers and boost confidence in their brands, eMarketer said.

"Messages must be interactive because consumers are looking for a dialogue, especially when their health is involved," said Lisa Phillips, senior analyst and author of the report. "Something as simple as offering mobile or internet alerts to prompt patients to take their medicine are opt-in tactics that benefit patients."