Latest News



February 23, 2017 0

movember foundationOn February 17th, the Movember Foundation went beyond the moustache by expanding their promotional efforts through PatientPoint. With prostate cancer now the second most common form of cancer seen in men in the U.S., the two organizations teamed up to spread awareness and inspire healthy action between men and their healthcare professionals. According to Paul Villanti, the executive director of the Movember Foundation, “too many men don’t talk about their health, don’t take action, and as a result, they die too young from diseases that are often treatable”. PatientPoint programs impact half a billion patient and caregiver visits each year –this kind of reach will be huge for Movember Foundation and help them push towards their goal: to stop men dying too young.

To learn more about Movember, click here, or to read the news release, click here.

Lily Stauffer


January 14, 2017 0

Over the past 25 years, PatientPoint has established themselves as a leader of patient and physician engagement solutions at the point of care. The company closed out 2016 on a high, with the launch of a new mobile app, PatientPoint 360, as well as the acquisition of MedCenterDisplay. This week, they kept the momentum rolling with the announcement of their new collaboration with the American Heart Association. With a network of over 290,000 healthcare providers, PatientPoint will be able to share the AHA’s public service announcements and educational content on a large scale, further extending the mission to build heart-healthier lives. Senior Vice President of content and creative for PatientPoint, Katie Merz, says that “the collaboration will provide patients in our growing cardiology networkaha access to a powerful resource to help them find the tips, tools—and therapies—to better care for their heart”.

To learn more, visit www.patientpoint.com

Lily Stauffer


November 15, 2016 0

Appealing to millennials is difficult enough for most industries, however the health insurance industry specifically struggles, as millennials feel invincible, and would rather diagnose themselves through Web MD than visit the doctor. Steve McCallion, CMO and creative director at Zoom+, recognizes this, and has developed a new approach to targeting millennials. McCallion says, “millennials are a healthy group, so you have to figure out how they think of their healthcare on a deeper level…not just something they have to do, but they want to do”. The team at Zoom+ emphasizes the millennial love for wellness, by offering incentives for healthy lifestyles, such as running a marathon. They know this younger age group is much more concerned with eating healthy and staying active than seeking medical intervention. One of their first campaigns was an animation, reminiscent of Schoolhouse Rock! The idea was to take the lengthy and confusing language of the ACA, and put it into a platform that millennials can relate to and understand.

To learn more about how Zoom+ is engaging millennials from MM&A, click here.

Lily Stauffer


November 8, 2016 0

For those below the poverty line, the elderly and the disabled, often their ability to visit the doctor depends heavily on available transportation. A 2005 study revealed that an estimated 3.6 million people do not receive nonemergency care for this reason. Uber, the leading ride-sharing technology company recognized this problem, and collaborated with Circulation, a technology company to launch a pilot program aimed decreasing the frequency these demographics miss doctor’s appointments. The program will be launching at Boston Children’s Hospital, the Mercy Health System in Philadelphia, and the Nemours Children’s Health System in Delaware. When asked his thoughts on the program, Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, John Brownstein stated, “A no-show? That’s a cost to the system. There’s [also] a downstream impact on the patients”.

To read more about Uber’s pilot program from MM&M, click here.

 

Lily Stauffer


November 1, 2016 0

A few years back, Remedy Health Media launched a set of stories meant to help bring patients’ stories to life, following their “Live Bold, Live Now” platform. Today, the company pulled inspiration from the widespread popularity of “Humans of New York”, by launching two new initiatives looking to foster personal engagements with patients.

Their new goal is to reach patients who want snippets of personal stories, those that either already have a large knowledgebase of their condition, or those who are not willing to commit the time to watching long videos and blogs. Jim Curtis, president of advertising at Remedy, notes that “we’re looking at Instagram and other publishers that are really able to tell a story in a moment”.

To learn more about Remedy’s two new initiatives from MM&M, click here.

Lily Stauffer


November 1, 2016 0

Pharma marketers and advertisers are posed daily with the challenge of portraying information about conditions that people do not talk about publically. In an attempt to unveil such conditions, Takeda launched “IBD Unmasked”, a global campaign aiming to raise awareness of IBD, a condition that affects five million people globally. The company are the first in the pharmaceutical space to partner with Marvel Custom Solutions, having super heroes portray patients suffering from IBD.

The campaign was launched initially in July, however the first chapter of the comic book became available last week at London’s Comic Con. One of the primary characters in the book, Samarium, is a young US research scientist who suffers from ulcerative colitis, but possesses super strength, speed and agility.samarium

Head of global product and pipeline communication, Elissa Johnsen was quoted saying “At Takeda we believe that IBD Unmasked will continue to celebrate the strength that real life IBD superheroes exhibit every day and go on to spark powerful conversations, transform perceptions, and ultimately improve understanding of the impact of these diseases”.

To read more about this creative campaign from MM&M, click here.

Lily Stauffer


October 13, 2016 0

Contrary to popular belief that soaring drug prices translates to growing wealth for manufacturers, the royalties within the insulin market are going directly to the middlemen. Also known as pharmacy-benefit managers (PBMs), their purpose in the market is to negotiate rebates and fees based on list prices. In light of the recent price increase of Mylan’s EpiPen, angry consumers are voicing their opinions about the high list prices of everyday drugs.

Since 2011, there have been significant insulin price increases from big manufacturers such as Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Harvard professor Aaron Kesselheim suggests that this can in part be attributed to the growing number of patients under high-deductible plans, shifting the cost from the insurer to the consumer.

However, the revenue acquired by the drug maker after discounts has stayed the same, or in some cases even fallen. Reason being, pharmaceutical companies compete to remain on the preferred drug list by offering deeper and deeper discounts. In exchange for their spot on the list, PBMs demand higher rebates, making it difficult for companies to turn a growing profit.

Steve Miller, CMO of Express Scripts, the largest PBM in the U.S., acknowledges that “certain patients get caught in the middle of this, and we have got to figure out how to put guard rails around that,” such as setting a maximum pharmacy price”.

To read more about insulin pricing and reimbursement from the Wall Street Journal, click here.

 

Lily Stauffer


June 22, 2016 0

Following the logic of value-based purchasing, drugs with promise of extending life and treating rare diseases should have a higher purchasing value than those with unclear clinical efficacy results and economic benefits. Sounds reasonable. However, what the healthcare system is lacking is a straightforward method of assessing which drugs are both efficacious and cost-conscious.

To address this need for standardization of the clinical decision making process, The National Pharmaceutical Council is developing “Guiding Practices for Patient-Centered Value Assessment Frameworks”. Leading the pack is Steven Pearson’s Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, known as ICER.

To read more about valuing breakthrough formulas, click here.

Lily Stauffer


April 5, 2016 0

Commonly regarded as an ancient practice, drug compounding may be making a comeback as industry professionals are seeing it as an “essential antidote to spiraling drug prices”. However, high costs of compounding utilization cause a significant financial burden on commercial and government health plans. For this reason, many observers see both positives and negatives. As demand for specially tailored health and medical products continues to increase, compounding has grown to account for the need. When compounding on a large scale, however, there are serious health concerns, such as the meningitis breakout in Massachusetts in 2012.

To read more about the pros and cons of drug compounding, click here.

Lily Stauffer


March 28, 2016 0

The FDA has recently noted that there appears to be a trend of serious adverse events among those taking anticoagulants, which may be linked to faulty performance of blood clotting monitors. Senior FDA official Dr. Alberto Gutierrez recognizes this trend, but explains how it is difficult to measure how often these deaths are directly due to device malfunctions. This is because many people taking drugs such as Warfarin are prone to fatal events such as strokes and irregular bleeding. All factors considered, the FDA estimates eighteen deaths in the past two years were linked to erroneous readings. One theory, proposed by Sidney M. Wolfe, Senior Advisor to Public Citizen Health Research Group, suggests that the faulty devices can be attributed to the lack of proper FDA approval process. He continued by explaining how the FDA pushes these products through quickly because they only require that companies prove their device are substantially equivalent to one currently on the market.

Research on this topic has only scratched the surface, and industry professionals such as Wolfe believe that the FDA should continue their investigation into such devices.

To read more from WSJ, click here.

Lily Stauffer