Drugmakers may be squeamish about social media and their web sites may not be choice destinations for most consumers (see this), but the pharmaceutical industry is not shying away from using the Internet to promote meds to docs. A new analysis shows more than 150 drugs were marketed for the first time using online details and events during the first nine months of 2010, which marks a new record.

Leading the pack was Merck’s Singulair asthma med, with more than 110,400 different so-called e-promotional activities that cost more than $15.5 million to generate, a 2.9 percent increase. The runner-up was Pfizer’s Pristiq, which is sold to treat depression - e-promotions rose nearly 74 percent to more than 103,700 activities that cost $13.6 million, an 86 percent rise. (In case you weren’t sure, e-promotions only includes so-called virtual detailing online, video detailing and online events).

Among new drugs, Amgen’s Prolia, which is approved to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis, was the busiest online, with more than 7,600 details or events, according to SDI, a market research firm that compiled the data. Merck’s Dulera and Vimovo, which was jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Pozen, were second and third with about 6,100 and 4,100 activities, respectively.

On an industrywide basis, however, the overall activity was more or less the same. During the first nine months of the year, there were more than 3.4 million e-promotional activities and $396 million was spent doing so. During the same period last year, there were 3.3 million e-promotional activities and 387.8 was spent; in both cases, the comparisons yielded increases of 2.2 percent. By contrast, spending from 2005 to 2009 rose 86 percent.