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Articles by Anna Stashower
PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE
October is always a special time at PM360, when we take a moment to recognize the remarkable people and accomplishments shaping our industry. We’re still riding the excitement of our Trailblazer Awards Gala on September 29, where we had the pleasure to recognize this year’s outstanding honorees and celebrate their innovation, leadership, and dedication to healthcare. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this memorable evening and helped make it such a success! Check out pgs.
PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE - The Trailblazer Awards
Our industry’s leading professionals continue to push the world forward—helping patients have longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. After 17 years of hosting one of the most notable and prestigious events in healthcare marketing, our commitment to celebrating that impact has only grown stronger. Healthcare professionals and executives rarely get the spotlight they deserve, and even more rarely do they get a night to unwind, laugh, dance, and enjoy a well-earned cocktail.
IN MEMORIAM Rob Likoff
It is with immense sadness that I write this. A one of a kind, loyal, and generous friend and mentor. I will miss his humor, unrivaled intelligence, guidance, wisdom—and I can’t leave out his fashion sense, especially those killer shoes. Rest in peace my very dear friend.
PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE: The Golden Age of Innovation
There is no doubt about it, AI has arrived! We’re featuring AI in this month’s issue as the topic can’t be ignored—generative AI is creating huge waves in the Pharma industry and it’s all we’re talking about. Yet, the word AI can bring up mixed emotions. While AI is doing astonishing things at breakneck speed, we are also unsettled as to what AI is ultimately capable of—and how it might replace what humans have been doing for decades.
It’s Time to Spark More Innovation in 2024
The best industries, companies, and people are driven by innovation. While the old phrase “innovate or die” may be cliché at this point, it remains true. History is filled with companies once at the top of their respective industries only to fall by the wayside due to their inability to change. Just think about Blockbuster, Yahoo, Myspace, or BlackBerry. Sure, some of those companies are still around, but they were once pioneers and now they are afterthoughts.
Pharma Needs to Better Understand Patients’ Needs
Patients want a better experience from pharma, and pharma wants patients to have those better experiences, so this should be pretty simple, right? Yet, the industry’s approach to patient centricity and delivering the types of experiences patients want has a fundamental flaw.
Time to Think Differently About Adherence
A 2019 study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth found 704 apps related to medication adherence available from Apple (443) and Android (261). And that was four years ago! I imagine anyone willing to count the apps available today would find even more. And yet, the issue of medication nonadherence persists to this day—but it is clearly not for a lack of trying. So, it at least begs the question: Are we as an industry approaching this wrong?
Shining a Spotlight on Rare Diseases
Don’t let the rare in rare disease fool you. While the definition of a rare disease may be a condition that impacts fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S., the fact is about 30 million people in the U.S. have a rare disease—and 300 million worldwide. That is 300 million people who had to spend an average of five years just to arrive at a diagnosis. That is 300 million people who had to visit doctor after doctor after doctor while they suffered with little relief and probably dwindling hope.
Trust Your Gut—Come Meet Our ELITE 100 | PM360
Our guts are also known as our second brains. That is not just because people tell us to “trust our guts,” but because our brain and guts are actually connected through the enteric nervous system—two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining your gastrointestinal tract. It’s one of the reasons you get a sinking feeling in your stomach when you are stressed or feel butterflies when you are excited, because the brain and gut are more than just metaphorically connected.
What’s in Store for 2023?
The end of any year and the beginning of the next always elicits a natural sense of fear, anticipation, excitement, and evaluation. What’s next for us in our careers? Where is the industry headed? How can we be better—both as an industry and as an individual? These are not always easy questions to answer, but as we at PM360 are apt to do, we are going to try our best to help you answer them.
Point of Care’s Fascinating Evolution
Amid all of the changes, disruption, and technological upheaval that we have witnessed in the point-of-care (POC) space over the past few years it appears marketers are more interested in this ever-expanding channel then ever before. In “State of the Point of Care Marketing Industry 2022,” a joint study by the Point of Care Marketing Association and ZS Associates, 80% of the 100 media planners and buyers surveyed considered POC to be a “critical” part of the overall advertising campaign.
A New Kind of Patient
Most of the time when the industry talks about today’s patient, the focus is on how they are better informed and more empowered to make their own healthcare decisions. While that remains true, the pandemic helped create a new subset of patients, one that is in urgent need of the industry’s attention: the people who deprioritized their health checkups, screenings, medication pickups, surgeries, and more due to COVID—and have yet to address what they put off.
Adjusting to a World Without Blockbusters
The era of the global pharmaceutical blockbuster is coming to an end. According to ZS research, the top pharma companies have more than $230 billion in worldwide revenues at risk from 2022 to 2030 with an estimated 69 blockbusters expected to lose patents during this time. That is why the industry must move into a new era of global marketing. One in which the heights of blockbuster success may not be possible, but companies can still thrive with more targeted launches around the world.
Plan to Overcome Any Challenge
Jigoro Kano, who developed judo in the late 1800s, taught his students to “consider fully, act decisively.” That principle is one reason why Kano’s teachings have since been applied to today’s business and marketing strategies. But the main reason is that judo teaches one how to be flexible and agile in order to use the strength of your opponents against them.
Are Big Changes on the Way in Market Access?
While the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act continues to be debated and revised on Capitol Hill in the hopes of finding a version that will pass, one component that is expected to remain is drug pricing reform. Now, government officials are always talking about wanting to lower drug prices, so will this be the time that they actually deliver on that goal? And if so, what will this mean for our industry?
An ELITE Level of Elation
Hope. Happiness. Elation. Those were the emotions coursing through me as I arrived to get my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. And once that first shot was actually administered, it was like the world was suddenly bright again. Like I could actually breathe easier again. After over a year of feeling constantly constrained, I finally felt free. I know millions of people around the world felt something similar when they got their shot.
2020 Pharma Choice Consumer Website Gold Winner MRM and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
MRM and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals FARXIGA.com Consumer Website Transformation With FARXIGA.com, we put patients first—allowing users to choose their own personalized journey, right from the start. Our goal was to encourage and empower patients with a site that felt less pharma and more educational. User-testing helped inform our clean, modern design and copy-light, scannable content. From left to right: Carl Ceo, Julie Hebe, Josh Warner, Pamela L.
2020 Pharma Choice App Gold Winner Snow Companies, Agate, Artcraft, and Pharming
Snow Companies, Agate, Artcraft, and Pharming Ruconest Patient App Pharming’s goal with the Ruconest (C1 Esterase Inhibitor [Recombinant]) Patient App is to deliver a tool that’s useful for all members of the HAE community, whether they are treated with Ruconest or other products. The app tracks HAE swells, allows sharing reports with healthcare teams, secure storage of medical documents, refill reminders, inspirational quotes, and information on upcoming HAE events.
My Other Life with Brian Peters
PM360 recently spoke to Brian Peters, VP, Sales & Marketing at Medexus Pharma, about what the process is like for making your own wine. Brian Peters in a vineyard. PM360: How did you get into winemaking? Brian Peters: I was on a flight to San Francisco in 2007 when I read an article about a new custom winemaking facility in SF that would help you make wine from start to finish. I had a few hours before my meeting, so I went from the airport to the facility to learn more about it.
Relax in a Winter Wonderland This Year
We are all looking for different scenery and a safe escape from second lockdown news. We may not be able to travel to a beach destination this year, but you may find serenity in a winter wonderland. Skip the slopes and find a much-needed getaway in these beautiful U.S. snow towns. Windham, New York Surprisingly, New York has the most ski resorts of any state (50) and has dedicated beginners’ ski areas in the Catskill Mountains.
PM360 2020 Innovative Division Science Foundry of The Bloc
Science Foundry The Bloc Ane Jones, Managing Director ajones@thebloc.com Launched in September of this year by health creative agency The Bloc, the Science Foundry is a new medical communications practice area that merges deep scientific expertise with applied behavioral psychology research. The division was created, in part, to help clients generate content that will stand out among the deluge of information about medical breakthroughs and advances.
Improve Your Sleep Hygiene
Catching up on extra sleep won’t necessarily prevent you from getting sick, but skimping on sleep does impair your immune system and brain function, leaving you more susceptible to colds, flu and, yes, even COVID. If you regularly have trouble dropping off to dreamland, or if you keep waking up and can’t get back to sleep, it’s time to do something about your quality of life.
How Pharma Marketers Need to Prepare for Wave Two
The jury is still out on the severity of the pandemic this fall, but digital marketing and telehealth tools have already proven vital in connecting patients with their physicians despite obstacles to the point of care. Pharma marketers can further connect proactive patient and professional audiences with these four tactics. 1.
Caring for Those Who Care for Others
An estimated 100 million people in the U.S. have acted as a caregiver, according to a Cambria Health survey. Anyone who has taken on this task—whether it has been for an aging parent, a sick partner or child, or even a friend or neighbor in need—knows it is not easy. A 2006 study, “Assessment of Family Caregivers: A Research Perspective,” found that 40% to 70% of family caregivers have clinically significant symptoms of depression.
Maximizing Health Technologies: It’s All About the Alliance
In healthcare, we find ourselves at a critical moment of inflection due to the pandemic. Many are heralding the dawn of a new era in healthcare as we witness the acute surge in the use of health technologies to overcome access barriers during COVID. Some argue “emerging health technologies” is a misnomer—that we are beyond the nascent label of “emerging” as health technologies have already moved from fringe to fundamental. In truth, this may be a matter of personal experience.
Celebrating Industry Trailblazers
Over the past 12 years, our industry has experienced quite a few changes. Hell, over the past nine months our world has almost completely transformed. But through it all one thing has remained unchanged—the innovation and ingenuity of our industry. I am constantly amazed by our industry’s scientific achievements in developing life-altering therapies, limitless imagination in discovering new ways to engage with customers, and persistent passion for helping patients and the world at large.
PM360 2020 Trailblazer Awards Women’s Health Brand Champion Betsey Davis
Betsey Davis, Senior Director, U.S. Marketing, Clovis Oncology Betsey Davis is more than a great marketing director. She is a natural leader who has driven innovation at Clovis Oncology. In fact, Betsey changed the way Clovis does business by building new approaches to audience outreach and communication. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Betsey’s leadership has been all the more critical in empowering the sales force to continue their outreach to customers.
PM360 2020 Trailblazer Awards App/Digital Solution or Suite Winner Galderma and Schaefer Advertising Co.
The myForte App (Galderma, Schaefer Advertising Co.) The myForte App for “Acne Adherence in Your Hands” was reinvented from an underused, existing app called “epi-tracker” that promoted adherence to general acne treatment. The new myForte App, launched in June 2019, highlights patient selfies that closely track progress, allowing HCPs and patients to measure clinical (and digital) change with a series of pictures and data collection on the app.
PM360 2020 Trailblazer Awards Ophthalmology/Optometry Brand Champion Matt Gibson
Matt Gibson, Product Director, Dry Eye, Sight Sciences Sight Sciences developed a category-changing product in TearCare, but it faced more well-funded competitors and a pandemic that would disrupt most launches. But Matt Gibson proved to be more than capable and nimble to overcome any challenge. Evaporative dry eye starts with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), which decreases the amount of oil that coats the surface of the eye and keeps tears from drying out.
Current on COVID-19: Abbott’s New Test, FDA Eager to Review a Vaccine, and Moving Remdesivir Outside the Hospital
Abbott’s COVID Test Available Now Abbott’s new 15-minute COVID-19 diagnostic test, BinaxNOW. The FDA has approved Abbott’s prescription COVID-19 diagnostic test, BinaxNOW, which will be sold for $5 and is about as big as a credit card. The company developed Navica, a free smartphone app, that will work with the rapid antigen test and store the reading so it can be used as a “temporary health pass” for those who need test results to enter establishments like hospitals and schools.
Redefining the Patient Experience
One phrase that has almost been inescapable as we all learn to adjust to the pandemic is “the new normal.” People are encouraged to wear masks wherever they go, wash their hands regularly and thoroughly, avoid contact with people and things, and so much more. But while some of these things may just be minor inconveniences to many of us, perhaps no one has seen their lives more upended than patients.
Alleviating Concerns from COVID
These past few months under quarantine have not been easy—for anyone. Even though some states are starting to ease restrictions, this still isn’t over by a long shot. That is especially true for our industry, which is not only responsible for developing a vaccine and treatments for COVID-19, but also for continuing to provide treatments, aid, and solutions for all patients.
Q&A with Frank Jaeger, Chief Commercial Officer, Clarus Therapeutics
In March 2019, Clarus Therapeutics got exciting news. JATENZO, the first and only oral softgel testosterone undecanoate was approved for adult males with hypogonadism. It was the first oral testosterone medicine approved by the FDA in more than 60 years. In February 2020, the product was officially on the market and the sales force was on the road. Just a month later, as COVID-19 continued its rapid spread across the U.S., Clarus—along with everyone else—pulled their sales force from the road.
Planning for the Unplannable
When COVID-19 disrupted every single thing we do, marketing plans went out the window. After all, how do you prepare for a once-in-a-hundred-year situation that we all hope to never see again? And yet, that is your job. To plot, plan, project, model, and predict every situation you possibly can to ensure your brand is a success and remains successful no matter what happens.
Small Drug Features May Have Big Value in the COVID World
When I was an access decision maker at a leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), I had a standard methodology I followed when reviewing a product. The safety was most important. A drug may be efficacious in some but not others, but safety is a universal need. Efficacy was next. Why cover a drug that doesn’t work? Cost followed, although as specialty drugs grew in scope and price, it became harder to keep cost in that third spot.
5 Ways to Immunize Your Pharma Brand Against the COVID-19 Downturn
Healthcare is an essential service, and as such has been largely inured to a fluctuating economy. Unlike luxury items or consumer packaged goods, buyers need their pharma treatments, and often literally cannot live without them. But the global pandemic of 2020 is unprecedented, impacting not only the economy but the ability of patients, caregivers, and sales reps to physically go to the point of care.
2019 PM360 Pharma Choice Award Winners
Before 2019 came to a close, PM360 asked you, our loyal readers, to make a choice—or 15 choices to be exact. In November, we posted our nearly 200 entries for our 11th Annual Pharma Choice Awards and asked you to pick your favorite in each of the 15 categories: Animal Health, App, Consumer Website, DTC/DTP, Multichannel, Multicultural, Philanthropic, Professional Campaign (Print), Professional Website, Sales Aid, Self-promotion, Social Media, Unbranded, Variety, and Video.
The 2018 PM360 ELITE 100
Every industry has an elite. And this group is not necessarily the ones who make the most money or have the most responsibilities. They do not need to be in the ruling class. They just need to flat out rule. And that may be the perfect way to describe the 2018 PM360 ELITE (Exceptional Leaders, Innovators, Transformers, and Entrepreneurs) winners. People who just flat out rule.
Pharma Responds to COVID-19
We can all see the panic and anxiety COVID-19’s rapid spread and hotspot surges from California to the New York Metropolitan area is causing as the entire global community finds itself facing a new disease for which humanity has no resistance and, currently, no treatment.
2019 Pharma Choice App Silver Winner ICON PLC and Merck & Company, Inc.
ICON PLC Merck & Company, Inc. Bridion® (sugammadex) Cost Calculator from Merck The Bridion® Cost Calculator is an interactive Veeva tool, with additional components of a user-generated email and a PDF output of results. The creative execution for the interface design enhanced the product’s branding, streamlined the user experience, and allowed the dynamic and bright aesthetic to focus on the core content.
2019 Pharma Choice Animal Health Bronze Winner W2O and Stallergenes Greer
W2O Stallergenes Greer Augmenting Reality to Build an Engaging NAVDF Booth Experience for Vets W2O developed an AR booth experience to celebrate Stallergenes Greer’s “Supportive as a Service Dog” campaign and communicate the brand’s differentiator of personalized, above-and-beyond service. Visitors used iPads to interact with “triggers,” launching stories about four animal service organizations. Engagements also triggered a generous donation from Stallergenes Greer to the organizations.
2019 Pharma Choice Animal Health Silver Winner Excitant Healthcare Advertising and Zoetis US Diagnostics
Excitant Healthcare Advertising Zoetis US Diagnostics AlphaTRAK “Charmed Life” This integrated professional and pet owner campaign, represented by this pet owner piece, was designed to foster collaboration and reassure pet owners that with at-home glucose monitoring, diabetes in pets is a manageable condition and by working with the veterinary team, their pet can continue to lead a “charmed life.” Agency Team: Mark Perlotto, President Brian Allex, Creative Director Chris Crane, Copywriter...
2019 Pharma Choice Philanthropic Silver Winner Elevate Healthcare and Foundation Fighting Blindness
Elevate Healthcare Foundation Fighting Blindness Light in the Darkness We saw powerful connections to the mission of Foundation Fighting Blindness to be a continuous source of illumination—in this case on the etiologies and treatment of blindness. The Light in the Darkness campaign shows how seeing even glimpses of the world can be life changing for patients with inherited retinal diseases.
2019 Pharma Choice Multichannel Bronze Winner Patients & Purpose and Testicular Cancer Foundation
Patients & Purpose Testicular Cancer Foundation Get in Touch with Your Testes Launched during Testicular Cancer Awareness month, the “Get In Touch With Your Testes” campaign featured two animated testicles, Nad & Tad. In a series of online videos and cheeky social posts, Nad & Tad educated guys on the symptoms of testicular cancer, and showed them, step-by-step, how to check for it.
2019 Pharma Choice Social Media Bronze Winner BCW and Novartis Pharmaceuticals
BCW Novartis Pharmaceuticals Redefining Social Engagement in Heart Failure Understanding that more than 70% of heart failure patients and their loved ones are frequently active on Facebook, Novartis and agency BCW partnered with creative, medical, regulatory, and legal teams to create educational and inspiring content that resonated with key audiences and personified the brand’s voice online.
2019 Pharma Choice Sales Aid Silver Winner Confideo Labs and Boehringer Ingelheim
Confideo Labs Boehringer Ingelheim SPIRIVA RESPIMAT 360 VR MOA Sales Aid Boehringer Ingelheim teamed up with Confideo Labs to create a fully immersive and highly visual 360-degree VR MOA experience to bolster customer engagement. The teams combined beautifully rendered visuals with voice-over from a recognizable KOL, and deployed the multichannel initiative across {3} technology platforms to amortize the content creation and ensure optimal utilization across channels.
PM360 Adds Three New Categories for 2020 Trailblazer Awards
Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Kayla Walsh kayla.walsh@pm360online.com 646-300-8117 PM360 Adds Three New Categories for 2020 Trailblazer Awards Awards Are Now Open for Nominations to Recognize Innovation in Healthcare Marketing NEW YORK, NY, January, 22, 2020: Entries are now being accepted for the 12th annual PM360 Trailblazer Awards, which recognize excellence and innovation in healthcare marketing.
Matters of Trust
Let’s face it. The wealth of patient information available today, from biometrics, to medication adherence, refill prescriptions rates, exercise, and sensitive information such as age and demographics, is shared among a number of healthcare stakeholders from physicians and HCPs, to payers, researchers, institutions, hospitals, clinicians, and others.
Holiday Shopping Guide for Certain Types of People in Your Life
It’s that time of year when you must search for that perfect gift for all of the special people in your life. For some people that’s easy. For others it can be a challenge to get something that is just right for them. With the holiday season stressful enough without having to worry about gift shopping, this handy guide might make your life a little easier with great ideas for those certain types of people in your life with particular tastes.
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