Sermo, a social network for physicians, has announced a partnership with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to give its members access to “up-to-date information on Pfizer’s products.”  While the terms of the deal, namely any compensation that Sermo would get for access to their community, were not disclosed, the social network needs to be careful that their actual and perceived objectivity stays intact.

Sermo is the largest online community of physicians with more than 30 000 members. Membership growth since its founding in September 2006 has reached about 2 000 per week.  The network allows medical professionals to share and discuss their observations, treatment options and new developments.  The community has been useful in spotting outbreaks as well as treatment side effects.  Hence Sermo’s business model has been based on selling this data to investors.  This model, which unlike most social networks, is not based on advertising provided an unbiased venue for busy doctors who are constantly bombarded with marketing from multiple pharmaceutical companies.  

The introduction of Pfizer into the community puts Sermo’s autonomy at risk.  If Pfizer’s input is not fully transparent and carefully managed the community could loose trust in the system.  Providing physicians with access to pertinent medical data in an efficient way could have huge benefits in terms of detection and treatment.  However, limiting that information to only one source could have grave consequences.  Sermo’s best option is to open up their platform to managed access by every pharmaceutical company.