Industry at Large Helping Kids with Asthma
Medikidz and Meda Pharmaceuticals have launched Explain Asthma, a comic book series launched in conjunction with the American College of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology (ACAAI). The series is designed to help families gain an accurate understanding of asthma, and to support communication between experts and patients/families.
Explain Asthma is a collaboration with Medikidz, a global organization that produces unique learning materials for children in a powerfully visual comic book format and initiated by Meda, a specialty pharmaceutical company, with a product portfolio including prescription drug products, OTC and branded generics.
Analysis Shows Steady Growth in Healthcare Spending
Spending on healthcare for the privately insured in the United States grew at a steady rate over the past five years, increasing 3.4% in 2014, finds a new report from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). Use of healthcare services continued to fall in 2014, while prices for all categories of services continued to rise.
Despite a nearly 16% decrease in use of brand prescriptions, spending on these prescriptions jumped by $45 per capita in 2014, an increase four times larger than in 2013. Much of this increase was due to use of high-priced hepatitis C drugs Olysio, Sovaldi, and Harvoni, which became available starting in late 2013.
Other highlights:
Prices increased for all services: The smallest average price increase was for professional services (3.1%), an increase of $3 per service. The largest average price increase was for acute inpatient admissions (4.6%), an increase of $831 per admission.
Out-of-pocket spending decreased for some services: Spending on out-of-pocket costs on acute inpatient admissions (-$1) and on brand (-$9) and generic (-$4) prescriptions decreased by $14 per capita in 2014 compared with the previous year, while spending out-of-pocket costs on outpatient ($16) and professional ($15) services increased by a total of $31 per capita in 2014.
2015 Word of the Year
As the editors of a publication, we recognize that words carry tremendous meaning, which is why we were tickled to learn that Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2015 was not a word at all, but (tears-of-joy-emoji).
Yes, for the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph: , officially called the “Face with Tears of Joy" emoji. There were other strong contenders from a range of fields, the publishers say, but the emoji was chosen as the “word that best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.
We think their choice was on fleek.
Former Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher Enters Biotech Game
Former Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher received $600 million from Gurnet Point Capital a few months ago as he agreed to become the chairman of a new company, based in Cambridge, Mass., called Boston Pharmaceuticals. Boston Pharma describes itself an “alternative model" for drug development and commercialization. The idea is to buy up drug candidates and develop them — rather than do all the expensive and time-consuming initial research itself.
Google’s Alphabet
Verily is the rebranded name for Google Life Sciences, a newly separate company under Alphabet, the holding company that now houses Google and its many expanding businesses. The initiative aims to understand health by combining technology and life sciences to better prevent, detect, and manage disease.(PV)
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Case Study
Providence Medical Technology Builds Clinical Database within a Week of Using ClinCapture
Provided by: Clinovo
eBooks
HBAdvantage: Imagine What’s Possible
Provided by: Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association
Creating Customer Engagement and Action Through Experiential Marketing
Provided by: PulseCX
OnDemand Webinar
Digital Best Practices for Accelerating Drug Development
Sponsored by: DocuSign
Podcasts
Key Lessons from Luxury Brands Show that Successful Customer Experiences Come Down to Out-Performing and Out-Behaving the Competition
Provided by: PulseCX
Insights into How Marketing and Sales Can Work Together to Deliver Great Experiences
Provided by: PulseCX
White Papers
eSource: Reducing Site Workload
Provided by: Clinical Ink
Don’t Poke the Bear: The Effect of Pharmaceutical Pricing on Perception and Future Innovation
Provided by: Promidian Consulting
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Awards…
Blue Latitude Health Wins PMEA 2015 award
Blue Latitude Health has won a PMEA 2015 award for its project on Lilly’s Medical Information Cascade. The Medical Information Cascade project combined SEO tactics, user-centered design methodologies, and the provision of capability training to deliver a first line medical information portal online.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Recognized by MMRF
Bristol-Myers Squibb received the 2015 Collaborator Award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) in recognition of its commitment to collaboration and to advancing the research and development of novel therapies for patients with multiple myeloma.
BMS and Merck Receive Prix Galien Award
Bristol-Myers Squibb received the Prix Galien USA 2015 Award for Best Biotechnology Product for Opdivo, a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. Merck’s Keytruda, an anti-PD-1 therapy for the treatment of advanced melanoma and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, has received the Prix Galien USA 2015 Award for Best Biotechnology Product. The award recognizes the pharmaceutical industry’s outstanding achievement in the development of new medicines.
Nucleus Medical Media Wins Awards for Web Content
Nucleus Medical Media received two eHealthcare Leadership Awards in the Best Rich Media category. Nucleus Medical Media’s Animation Library received Platinum in the Rich Media: Corporate Vendor/Agency Site category. AstraZeneca’s Health Journey Support website, built by Nucleus Medical Media, received Gold in the Rich Media: Consumer Disease-Focused Site category. The website features medical information for patients and their families related to chronic health problems.
