Oncology Performance Edge, Health Strategies Group’s recently launched strategic research service, helps marketing and sales executives in the oncology field improve brand performance by understanding how best to invest their resources. “The oncology market is significantly different from others, with unique challenges," observes Denise Woltemath, senior consultant for specialty/bio at Health Strategies. “It faces a rapidly changing selling environment, a professional audience with disparate needs, and distinct obstacles to measuring the value and effectiveness of sales representatives and support services." Oncology Performance Edge includes these three offerings: • Total Office Call, which provides a guide to understanding the most effective methods and messages for communicating with all audiences who influence oncology brand performance, including nurses, reimbursement coordinators, and office administrators. • Oncology Sales Opportunity Assessment, which evaluates four key factors (behaviors, knowledge, support, and promotional resources) that increase a sales rep’s value to oncologists and provides disease-specific insights that reflect the perspectives of specialists in five key areas: breast, hematologic, gastrointestinal/colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers. • Current and Future Selling Environment, which analyzes key trends and dynamics affecting the selling landscape for oncology products and helps direct sales strategies and resource allocation. The goal of Oncology Performance Edge is to help companies successfully stay ahead of emerging trends and make optimal use of their resources, both now and in the future, says Denise Woltemath. S&R Communications Group has re-engineered into two specialized companies, S+R Medical Communications (SRMC) and Friday Morning. Dave Recht, CEO of North State Resources, the holding company for SRMC and Friday Morning, observes that with the pharmaceutical industry at a crossroads, there has never been a more critical time for clear, concise medical communications. “In the quest to extract the maximum profit from the life-saving therapies this industry was once honored for creating, the confidence of a key stakeholder and our most important customer — the physician — has been lost," Mr. Recht says. SRMC provides the communications vehicles that pharmaceutical brands need to rebuild trust and help physicians and patients make better, more informed choices in healthcare. It provides educational programming that is needs-based, transparent, engaging, and disseminated through multiple channels, from traditional to digital media. Friday Morning offers brand promotional solutions on a project basis, through a powerful combination of deep industry experience and unique insights into what physicians will and will not respond to as promotion. With a philosophy and process that fosters fundamental reexamination of its customers’ external and internal communication practices, Friday Morning is dedicated to the idea that patient outcomes, physician confidence, and client success are inextricably interconnected. “New media channels and thinking are needed to increase the understanding of what a product’s benefits are and to ensure that people know how to appropriately use them, apply them, and put their trust in them," Mr. Recht notes. SRMC and Friday Morning were created to reinvent the way we portray the innovation and commitment to positive patient outcomes that constitute the pharmaceutical industry’s most noble ideal, says Dave Recht. GxP Consulting has enhanced its biopharmaceutical process support services in response to increased demand for expertise across the entire development cycle of biopharmaceutical products and in a number of emerging areas, including stem cell and gene therapy research and the essential vector agents. GxP Consulting’s biopharmaceutical process team can assist companies looking to make further advancements in these new areas of research by offering a full range of experience-based support at each stage of the process, from early development and regulatory application to analytical method development, scale-up, facility design, technology transfer, marketing authorization, and full-scale commercial manufacture. The GxP Consulting biopharma team is led by Steve Collins, Ph.D., and supported by principal consultant Keith Williams. Dr. Collins has more than 30 years of experience. “As advances are made, businesses seek the necessary expertise to ensure that projects run efficiently and reliably at every stage of the process," says Mark Stevens, managing director at GxP Consulting. “The GxP Consulting biopharmaceutical process team can offer the most appropriate advice to ensure each project is a success and that companies have available all the help and experience they need for their current and future development plans." In response to the global economic downturn, GxP Consulting also has introduced a range of smart services targeted at providing maximum value to existing and new customers. The company is now offering a suite of value-added options to help its clients fulfill their regulatory compliance responsibilities: complimentary initial consulting sessions, prepayment incentive schemes, and training packages that include consulting sessions at no extra cost. It is a very exciting time in the biopharmaceutical industry with new streams of research and clinical studies that are introducing innovative new products and technologies, says Mark Stevens. Catalent Pharma Solutions is now offering the DigiTrack advanced anti-counterfeiting system, a digital technology that adds a unique, covert watermark to packaging by embedding an imperceptible pattern directly into existing package graphics. When printed, the watermark and encrypted code cannot be seen by the naked eye, but can be identified digitally by a Web-enabled mobile phone, computer, hand-held reader, or other device through patented security-class software. When the code is identified as a match on the watermarked package, key unit-specific track and trace data is then transmitted to the end-user’s device for instant product identification and origin assessment to verify authenticity. “This digital watermarking technology utilizes an interconnected system of security features for the utmost in brand and product protection," says Eric Caro, manager, new product development for Catalent’s printed components business. “Because this technology is covert, the watermarks leave pirates and counterfeiters unaware, making products highly resistant to attack," Mr. Caro says. BIOMEDICAL SYSTEMS, a provider of centralized diagnostic services to the pharma and healthcare industries, has opened an office in Puducherry, India. This is Biomedical Systems’ fourth business center, joining facilities in St. Louis, Brussels, and Tsukuba, Japan. For more information, visit biomedsys.com. BIOPHARM SYSTEMS, a provider of data management services to the clinical trials industry, has opened a new regional office in Oxford, United Kingdom, to serve the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. The practice is led by Adrian Hampshire. For more information, visit biopharm.com. COMMONHEALTH, a WPP healthcare-communications network, has opened its Tokyo office, CommonHealth Kyowa. Since 1997, CommonHealth has had an informal working relationship with Kyowa Kikaku, the healthcare communications agency within Tokyo-based Asatsu-DK, a sister WPP company. For more information, visit commonhealth.com. EXCO INTOUCH, a provider of patient communication solutions, has opened a new global headquarters in historic Pishiobury House in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. For more information, visit excointouch.com. GROUND ZERO PHARMACEUTICALS (GZP) has opened an additional office in Brisbane, Australia, in response to a major increase in innovative concepts for exciting therapeutic and preventive new products in Australia. For more information, visit groundzerous.com. INVENTIV CLINICAL SOLUTIONS has formed the inVentiv Clinical Global Alliance, a network of clinical research partners throughout the world designed to complement inVentiv Clinical’s operations in India, Brazil, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States. The first member to join the alliance is ActivaCro, a regional full-service CRO based in Argentina. For more information, visit inventivclinical.com. PRA INTERNATIONAL has opened a new office in Milan with geographic responsibility for Italy and Malta, as well as the southern part of Switzerland. The CRO has been operating in Italy since 2003 through home-based staff. For more information, visit prainternational.com. As part of its strategic global expansion efforts, Japanese pharmaceutical firm TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL CO. LTD. has established four new commercial subsidiaries in Mexico and various European markets. For more information, visit takeda.com. 3M DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS has expanded its capabilities with a new laboratory site at the 3M Singapore facility in Yishun. The Singapore lab will develop products in both the inhalation and transdermal drug-delivery categories. For more information, visit 3m.com/dds. UPS has opened two new healthcare facilities in Puerto Rico and the Netherlands, expanding UPS’s healthcare logistics presence. This gives UPS a total of 25 healthcare logistics facilities globally. For more information, visit ups.com. WEST PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES, a provider of innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, has opened an injection molding factory in the Shanghai Qingpu Industrial Zone (SQIZ) in China. For more information, visit westpharma.com. around the globe New Healthcare-related Products, Services, and Companies Featured Briefs: Health Strategies Introduces Oncology Market Service S&R Communications Group Divides into Two Specialized Firms GxP Consulting Expands Biopharma Development Cycle Support Catalent Adds Service to Combat Counterfeiting Sidebar: Around the Globe Follow up CATALENT PHARMA SOLUTIONS provides packaging and printing services to the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and consumer health industries. For more information, visit catalent.com. FRIDAY MORNING offers promotional consulting services to the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit fridaymorning.com. GXP CONSULTING provides consulting and training services to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. For more information, visit gxpus.com. HEALTH STRATEGIES GROUP is a provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. For more information, visit healthstrategies.com. S+R MEDICAL COMMUNICATIONS (SRMC) is a full-service healthcare communications company. For more information, visit srmedcom.com.
