What’s new New healthcare-related products, services, and companies Ventiv Health expands Services Ventiv Health has launched Ventiv Recruitment Services as a stand-alone option to provide clients with targeted, highly effective sales professionals across many therapeutic areas. “Specialty pharmaceutical and biotech companies often require unique candidates to match the requirements of their unique products but have limited recruiting resources to identify these individuals,” says Terry Herring, president of sales and marketing. “Ventiv Recruitment Service allows clients to access a much larger pool of high-quality candidates more quickly and at competitive prices.” In other company news, Ventiv has positioned its Professional Development Group (PDG) as an independent service in response to the increasing need for specific skill sets complementary to the outsourced sales and marketing areas. Services provided include: • Advanced sales skills training: an intense curriculum in specialized pharma/medical sales techniques specific to a client’s objectives, leading professional sales reps to new levels of performance. • Leadership development workshops: in-depth training programs covering a spectrum of leadership-enhancing skills providing managers with a better understanding of how to effectively lead their teams. • DiSC behavior style workshops: proprietary and career-building workshops designed to enhance communications at all levels within an organization by empowering employees to understand their own behavior style and how that style affects others. Gerbig, Snell/Weisheimer Rebrands as GSW Worldwide New brand reflects the agency’s global focus. Gerbig, Snell/Weisheimer has rebranded as GSW Worldwide. The Columbus, Ohio-based agency, which was founded as Gerbig, Snell/Weisheimer & Associates Inc. in 1977, has grown to become one of the 10 largest advertising agencies in the healthcare industry. In 2003, the agency expanded its resources significantly by opening an office in New York and solidifying its alliances with partner agencies in 13 markets across the globe. Today, GSW Worldwide has more than 350 employees around the world and capitalized billings of more than $420 million. “GSW has a rich history of independent thinking and delivering liberating ideas that drive clients’ brands forward, and that hasn’t changed,” says Phil Deschamps, president of GSW Worldwide. “What has changed is the breadth of our reach. Today, with offices in Columbus, New York, and London and partnerships with agencies throughout the world, we are developing and implementing truly global marketing solutions. As our offering has evolved, we felt it was important to update our brand to reflect who we have become. “While the name GSW Worldwide recognizes our recent geographic expansion and new capabilities, we haven’t lost sight of our past,” he continues. “The unique culture and entrepreneurial spirit that Bob Gerbig, Chris Snell, and Rick Weisheimer built the agency upon 27 years ago will continue to serve as the foundation of our company as we go forward.” The GSW Worldwide brand is being visually represented through a new logo and corporate colors. “The ‘W’ exponent in the new logo represents GSW to the power of the world,” says Bruce Rooke, chief creative officer. “It also symbolizes our liberating nature with the look of a bird in flight. The tagline reflects our mission – to deliver liberating ideas to clients worldwide. The green color palette suggests traits that are associated with the brand – vitality and harmonic balance.” In addition, a new print advertising campaign that communicates the agency’s innovative methods of working globally will be rolled out in healthcare trade publications beginning this month. Bruce Rooke, chief creative officer, and Phil Deschamps, president, GSW Worldwide, say the agency is developing and implementing truly global marketing solutions. ACNielsen HCI Launches Promotional Planning Model ACNielsen HCI is offering a new service that enables accurate campaign promotional planning and development by evaluating competitive spending, response model norms, and zero-based budgeting. The Promotional Planning Model is a foundation of ACNielsen HCI’s campaign assessment process: HCI MAPS (Marketing Analysis for Promotion Success), which provides an objective framework from which to derive a promotional budget. The model offers a systematic way of analyzing a market and developing a realistic and effective budget based on reaching the prescriber as often as needed to make an impact throughout a promotional campaign. “The Promotional Planning Model is a crucial aid in the creation of a cost-effective and successful marketing campaign,” says C. Marshall Paul, president of ACNielsen HCI. “This aspect of our HCI MAPS process allows marketing teams to build a promotional budget that will provide sufficient financial support to launch an effective and profitable campaign by studying a competitor’s trends and capabilities as well as their own.” This model takes a zero-based budget approach to building a budget, modifying it based on what has worked (response model norms) in the past and what competitors have previously spent in a therapeutic class. Creation of a zero-based budget uses the frequency of physician-prescribing opportunities as the foundation for exposure goal setting. In addition, ACNielsen HCI monitors the success of promotional strategies over time. The company leverages tracking research, which examines subtle changes and shifts in a specific population’s attitudes, as well as knowledge and opinions of a product, service or company, or therapy area. MediCall Announces New Communications Center MediCall has begun offering a wide range of telephone and Web-based services provided through a world-class communications center staffed with healthcare professionals. MediCall’s communications center is designed to meet the unique needs of the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries and offers programs for clinical trials, direct-to-consumer and direct-to-professional marketing, compliance, retention, and product recalls. Using an IT infrastructure and technology located in the United States that meets HIPAA requirements, MediCall draws on a pool of highly skilled, well-educated, English-speaking healthcare professionals available in the Philippines. “Traditional call centers support a wide variety of disparate industries, ranging from banking and insurance to computer hardware and software companies,” says John Chess, CEO of MediCall. “In contrast, MediCall specializes in the medical/pharmaceutical arena and staffs its center with healthcare professionals who are trained to meet the needs of specific clients.” In addition to traditional inbound and outbound telephone services, MediCall offers Web chat, Web callback, e-mail, and fax-back services. GE Healthcare Formed Through Merger of Amersham and GE Medical Systems General Electric Company (GE) has completed its acquisition of Amersham Plc., a world leader in diagnostic imaging agents and the life-sciences industry. Together with GE Medical Systems – a global leader in medical imaging, healthcare services, and information technology – the combined $14 billion business, now known as GE Healthcare, is expected to generate $16 billion in revenue in 2005. The combined business also is expected to provide better information about how diagnostic pharmaceuticals fit with imaging technologies. The merger positions GE for a new chapter in medicine by creating a healthcare company with broad expertise in imaging, diagnostic pharmaceuticals, and drug discovery. “This is the first time in the history of diagnostics that biochemistry and biopharmaceuticals are being brought together with capabilities in diagnostic imaging and informatics,” says Joseph Hogan, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Technologies. “The combination of those elements creates new opportunities, particularly around detecting diseases much sooner, being able to predict disease from a personal standpoint based on DNA information and different types of biomedical information, and being able to intervene and keep the disease from progressing into an advanced state.” The group of companies created through the merger is expected to accelerate the development of molecular imaging and personalized medicine by more rapidly developing and bringing to market new targeted imaging agents and diagnostics that will allow customers to diagnose, treat, and monitor diseases at an earlier stage than ever before. In addition, the merger expands the customer base, providing significant new channels for each company’s products and services around the world. According to Dan Peters, president of medical diagnostics at GE Healthcare, the combined company has carved out its own space. “The new company has created a new market by bringing the two market leading companies together to create solutions for diagnostics and for personalized medicine,” Mr. Peters says. GE Healthcare is comprised of two businesses: GE Healthcare Technologies, which is the new name for the former GE Medical Systems, and GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences, which consists of the former Amersham operating units. With the completion of the transaction, Sir William Castell, formerly chief executive of Amersham, has assumed the role of president and CEO of GE Healthcare. Mr. Hogan continues to lead GE’s $11 billion medical imaging, services, and IT businesses, now named GE Healthcare Technologies. Peter Loescher, former chief operating officer of Amersham, has been named a GE officer and manages the $3 billion GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences business. GE Healthcare has its global headquarters in Chalfont St. Giles, United Kingdom. GE Healthcare Technologies has headquarters in Waukesha, Wisc., and GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences is located in Little Chalfont, United Kingdom. Brand Institute Expands to Europe Brand Institute has opened an office in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a credentialed, multilingual staff. For the past 11 years, Brand Institute (BI) has been a full-service brand identity company, specializing in nomenclature development, market/safety research services, and design. With more than 200 clients in 2003 alone, BI has helped develop names for some of the most well-recognized products. “Companies have been so receptive to our services in the United States, that it was natural for us to grow in this direction,” says James L. Dettore, president and CEO of Brand Institute. “We’ve got top-notch staff in our Switzerland office who can assist European companies with their branding expertises.” inChord Expands Media-Planning and Buying Capabilities inChord Communications Inc. has formed a strategic partnership with Communications Media Inc. (CMI) and Compas Inc. to enhance and expand its professional media-planning and buying capabilities. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with CMI and Compas,” says David Paragamian, chief innovation officer at inChord. “Although inChord already has a strong media capability, tapping into their services and technologies will allow us to offer our clients a broader range of advertising and media solutions.” Through CMI and Compas, inChord’s companies, which include Blue Diesel, Cadent, CHS, GSW Worldwide, Health Process Management, Palio Communications, and Y, will be able to provide new proprietary tools for analyzing the effectiveness of clients’ media efforts and target key audiences with the right mix of reach and frequency. In addition, clients can benefit from a significant savings in media-placement costs that result from buying in volume. “inChord is an impressive player in the pharmaceutical marketing industry,” says Stan Woodland, president of CMI and Compas. “We’re very excited about the opportunity to work together and are confident that our alliance will have benefits across all key strategic and tactical initiatives of our common clients.” Joseph Hogan heads up GE Healthcare Technologies. Dan Peters leads the medical diagnostics area for GE Healthcare. Biolink Launches New Journals Biolink Communications Inc. has launched two new journals: Community Oncology and The Oncology Report. Community Oncology is a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on community-based original research, translational research, quality of care, and reimbursement- and practice-management issues. Circulated to more than 30,000 cancer specialists nationwide, the journal provides an editorial approach that connects research discoveries directly to healthcare delivery. The Oncology Report, coming in August, will be a comprehensive report of the latest advances in cancer management presented at major oncology meetings. The journal will be presented in user-friendly, tumor-specific sections and will have an original circulation of 12,000 oncologists, hematologists, and HEM/ONCs. Dendrite Forms Services Partnership with SAP America Dendrite International Inc. has formed a services partnership with SAP America Inc. that will provide end-to-end support services to pharmaceutical companies in the United States deploying SAP’s pharmaceuticals solution. Pharmaceutical companies that select this joint offering will be able to leverage SAP’s industry solution, matched with Dendrite’s specific pharmaceutical services, providing them with a competitive advantage. Committed to helping companies maximize their technology investments, Dendrite will add the SAP pharmaceuticals solution to its growing portfolio of supported applications. As part of the agreement, Dendrite will become a SAP services partner and provide deployment and training services, help-desk and data-center services, as well as hardware and asset-management support to companies using the SAP portfolio of industry-specific business solutions. Dendrite also has agreed to offer direct-to-physician interactive marketing services, including sample management and fulfillment services, to SAP customers. What’s New on the Shelves Clinical Trials: Ensuring Patient Safety and Data Integrity – a reference guide to help companies properly design and conduct clinical trials. Published by FDAnews, this book provides drug-development professionals with information on how to run a data-monitoring committee (DMC), protect subject safety, and when to terminate a clinical trial before sinking any more resources into it. This resource also addresses how to apply statistical principles to help minimize bias and maximize precision, formulate data safety monitoring plans for all phases of clinical trials, and manage data safety monitoring and institutional review boards for multicenter clinical trials. A section written by Janet Wittes, Ph.D., an authority on design and analysis of clinical studies, illustrates how to run a DMC, making the process easy to understand, and how it applies to clinical-trials data. For more information, visit fdanews.com/wbi/bookstore. Regulations & Guidance on Drug Marketing, Advertising & Labeling – a regulations and guidance booklet for the pharmaceutical industry and supporting organizations. For pharmaceutical advertising and marketing representatives, this book is intended as a training and reference resource on the legal aspects of pharmaceutical marketing and advertising campaigns. Pharmaceutical research and regulatory compliance staff can use the book as a cross-functional training resource, as well as a reference for the review of drug advertising, marketing, and labeling materials. The guide is published by Clinical Research Resources. For more information, visit clinicalresearchresources.com. “We believe the partnership with SAP presents a strong combination of software and services for companies seeking additional CRM alternatives,” says Paul Zaffaroni, president and chief operating officer of Dendrite. Nonprofit Company to Provide ducation about Clinical Research The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), an independent, nonprofit organization, has been established to educate and inform the public, patients, medical/research communities, the media, and policymakers about clinical-research participation. Each year, more than 3 million people take part in an estimated 80,000 industry- and government-sponsored clinical trials to assist in advancing medical science and to gain access to new medical treatments. Although 98% of the public says it is interested in learning about clinical-research activity in the community, three of four people state that they have little or no knowledge about the clinical-research enterprise and the participation process. In addition, an estimated 90% of clinical trials are delayed due, in part, to unfulfilled volunteer enrollment. “On a national level, patients and their caregivers need to be treated as informed and engaged partners in this process, as do the medical professionals guiding treatment decisions,” says Ken Getz, CISCRP chairman of the board. The organization will be implementing several national awareness initiatives, including producing public-service announcements, distributing educational brochures, sponsoring special events, and providing research grants to study various aspects of clinical-research participation. “Although a great deal of public information about study participation exists, particularly on the Web, the process of identifying and evaluating this disparate information can be difficult and time consuming, especially when patients are desperately seeking information about a life-threatening disease,” says Roni Thaler, CISCRP president and CEO. “What we see lacking is a mechanism that brings this information to the public, the media, patients, policymakers, and the medical community. CISCRP seeks to close this gap and build the connection.” “There is a huge and long-overdue need to raise national awareness of the clinical-research process and the important role that various stakeholders play in that process,” says Ken Getz, CISCRP chairman of the board. “On a national level, patients and their caregivers need to be treated as informed and engaged partners in this process, as do the medical professionals guiding treatment decisions.” PRP Introduces patient recruitment Kit Pharmaceutical Research Plus Inc. (PRP) has developed a Patient Recruitment Kit that includes everything clinical-trial study coordinators might need to recruit, educate, and retain their study candidates. “Study coordinators have a pivotal role in the success of clinical trials,” says Dr. Steven Peskin, CEO of PRP. “Because study coordinators often travel from location to location to recruit their patients, the kit is a portable, durable, modular tool that is easy to transport and easy to use.” The kit may be customized with the site’s contact and location information and includes fliers, brochures, appointment cards, instruction booklets, easel/brochure stands, as well as a CD-ROM with study creatives such as press releases, print ads, direct mail, PSAs, and doctor-to-doctor and patient-to-doctor letters. It also includes tips on how to conduct community outreach and media placements. NDA Partners Offers Services for Midstage Companies NDA Partners LLC has begun offering a comprehensive set of services for midstage companies that are moving products from discovery into clinical development. Established to address the need for experienced, high-level individuals to provide strategic counsel and guidance to venture-capital funded companies with limited internal resources, NDA Partners aims to improve the success rate and development speed of new biopharmaceutical discoveries and medical devices. Under the leadership of Dr. Carl Peck, former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the company was founded by 10 individuals with a collective 200 years of experience gained from industry, regulatory agencies, and academia. The founders, who have served as senior global clinical, drug development, and regulatory executives, offer a broad base of advisory expertise. The founding partners are augmented by a roster of senior consultants, each a nationally recognized expert in his or her field, lending expertise to project teams, advisory boards, and other committees formed to provide clinical, scientific, regulatory, and program-management support. “We enter into board-level relationships with a focus on achieving shorter development times, lower overall costs, and a greater percentage of FDA approvals,” says Earle Martin, CEO of NDA Partners. NDA Partners assists investors with due diligence, development-program assessments, and similar services. The company helps biopharmaceutical companies evaluate technology solutions and identify products in the discovery pipeline with the greatest probability for success, advises in the preparation of preclinical and clinical strategy plans, and provides guidance in product-development program design and execution. Follow up ACNielsen HCI, Princeton, N.J., is a global pharmaceutical promotion research organization and a leader in physician and consumer promotion research, measurement, and analysis. For more information, visit acnielsenhci.com. Biolink Communications Inc., Huntington, N.Y., is an oncology publishing franchise and the publisher of The Journal of Supportive Oncology, Community Oncology, and The Oncology Report. For more information, visit biolc.com. Brand Institute Inc., Miami, is a full-service brand identity company, specializing in nomenclature development, market/safety research services, and design. For more information, visit brandinstitute.com. The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), Boston, is a nonprofit group dedicated to educating and informing the public, patients, medical/ research communities, the media, and policymakers about clinical-research participation. For more information, visit ciscrp.org. Clinical Research Resources, Philadelphia, provides training courses and regulatory guidance materials. For more information, visit clinicalresearchresources.com. Dendrite International Inc., Morristown, N.J., develops and delivers solutions that increase the productivity of sales, marketing, and clinical processes. For more information, visit dendrite.com. FDAnews, Falls Church, Va., is a provider of domestic and international regulatory, legislative, and business news for executives in industries regulated by the FDA and the European Commission. For more information, visit fdanews.com. GE Healthcare, Chalfont St. Giles, United Kingdom, has expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient-monitoring systems, disease research, drug discovery, and biopharmaceuticals. For more information, visit gehealthcare.com. GSW worldwide, Columbus, Ohio, is a subsidiary of inChord Communications Inc., a global group of communications companies providing customized marketing solutions with a single point of accountability. For more information, visit gsw-w.com. inChord Communications Inc., Columbus, Ohio, is a global group of communications companies providing customized marketing solutions with a single point of accountability. For more information, visit inchord.com. MediCall, Pleasant, Calif., is a medical- services company dedicated to serving the healthcare industry by providing industry-specific programs for each stage of a drug or medical product’s life. For more information, visit medicall.us. NDA Partners LLC, Falls Church, Va., is a provider of strategic advisory services for midstage biopharmaceutical and medical-device companies undertaking initial product development programs. For more information, visit ndapartners.com. Pharmaceutical research plus inc., Severna Park, Md., is a patient- recruitment and clinical-trials support services company. For more information, visit prpi.com. Ventiv Health Inc., Somerset, N.J., is a provider of comprehensive outsourced marketing and sales solutions for the pharmaceutical and life-sciences industries. For more information, visit ventiv.com.
