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Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

I came to win, battle me that’s a sin

I won’t ever slack up, punk you better back up

(with thanks to ‘The House of Pain’)…….

Yes folks, I am back, invading your timeline and I’m here to say that this is the BEST pre-pitch song I have yet come across, especially motivational when sung in the seats of an SUV driving up to Waltham Mass’ – yes, you know who you are, and I still love you all!!!!!

So, my dear Medical Communications and Advertising chums… what the heck is this short missive going on about ????

Pitching…it’s an art and a science… but it’s ALSO an attitude, a direction and a TEAM.

Give me a shout… on +44 (0) 7534 123 297

‘The pitch doctor is on call’

How effective are you?

Now there’s a thought, its slightly uncomfortable for those who have a good dose of self-awareness. That question should make you a bit concerned.

Seriously though, how effective are YOU?

If you don’t know, then you haven’t defined what effective looks like.

You have no benchmark.

Your benchmark shouldn’t be a big list of KPIs or team objectives, it should be something more emotional, visceral, a need in yourself that motivates and spurs you forward. It should be a simple, overarching goal. Something that steers your focus.

I would suggest you might share mine: “Helping patients to get better”.

How do I do this in my work I hear you ask, you’re not a nurse or physician?

Well, if you’re in Pharmaceuticals or Biotechnology then you know that what you do and how you do it will help someone get medicines they need and deserve; How do I try to achieve this?

Its quite straightforward in my world:

Develop the best communications strategies, the best messaging, a true in-depth understanding of a disease and its effects on patients, and employ your evidence with great care and real diligence. Be highly competent, reliable, sincere and true to yourself and others, and finally actually care about what you do & your people.

Enjoy your day!

ASCO asco19 is over. Phew, the big kahuna has finished for another year. Teams all over the world can relax.

Flights arrived and stands were built. Bravo!

But, as you know in oncology it’s all about evidence and endpoints. To me (and some oncologists I have spoken with) the news was mixed (some great news, some bad news & some mixed). Here’s some views I gleaned:

1. MONALEESA-7 Phase III for ribociclib – in premenopausal patients with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with endocrine therapy ± ribociclib (Kisquali): Wow! – Overall Survival (OS) improvement was highly significant for the combination in a very difficult to treat cancer – really great news for patients & for Novartis

2. ANNOUNCE Phase III for olaratumab in STS: Sadly the promise of OS improvements in sarcoma (seen in earlier phases) were dashed – A sad day for STS patients & difficult for the Eli Lilly team as well.

3. POLO Phase III for olaparib in BRCA metastatic pancreatic cancer: The data (at first view) is exciting, plus, this is a new targeted therapy for a fairly rare tumour. But, to some, the group of patients chosen and the trial design (placebo as maintenance vs olaparib as maintenance) has left some observers concerned regards the real benefit.

Let me ask a somewhat controversial question:

If a drug in cancer is shown to have delayed the progression of a tumour, but has NOT shown an improvement is QoL or symptoms and has not improved how long a patient survives (versus current standards of care) should that drug be prescribed?

I cannot answer that, but be sure, payers and prescribers will answer it.

So, more studies on QoL in cancer would be great. More focus on patient centricity in the interpretation of data would be fabulous… don’t you think?

Here’s to next year!

Let’s be challenging, because Today I’m in that ‘devil may care’ space.

There’s no-one in the Pharmaceutical Industry now who isn’t claiming to be ‘patient centric’. It’s all about the patient. Brilliant, it should have always been that way (in many places it was).

I’ll be controversial, that doesn’t really cover us with glory, because patient centricity should have always been our mantra. To be fair, patient engagement has always been difficult here in Europe, due to regulations.

But is ‘being difficult’ a good enough excuse?

In the USA, things are different. But, I for one am glad that (in the UK at least) I don’t eat my Corn Flakes in front of TV adverts for advanced metastatic colorectal cancer therapy.

But is patient centricity really just about above-the-line, in your face messaging or psychologically ‘proven’ mumbo-jumbo about how to educate folks? Come on guys, really? Illness does not affect lives in ways that clinical trials, and so-called Real World Evidence elucidate.

Someone who’s ill, couldn’t give ‘two hoots’ about QUALYs or SF36. At Excipient, we take a very fresh angle.

Give us a shout. The truth is out there. More on this soon!

[email protected]

Generic.

Is that what we are? Is that how we communicate? There’s nothing wrong with generic drugs, they bring medicines to more patients, but ‘being generic’ is never a term of praise for a brand.

This is especially true if you want your brand to stand-out from the crowd. Differentiate, and be noticed. Who in marketing doesn’t want that?

So dear reader, why is Pharmaceutical Advertising so generic? It’s probably that we ‘give ’em what they want’.

From pitches, through to final signed-off creative, agencies know what sells, clients know what doctors like, and doctors only ever see what they’re familiar with.

Excipient is trying to address this cycle. For 2020 – let’s stand up, be challenging and differentiate brands using creative to achieve those page-stopping, emotionally engaging and stand-out works that great brands are built on

Call us on +44 (0) 7534 123 297

Or email [email protected]

Running in the corridor?

Talking in class? Making a nuisance of yourself in the gym hall? It’s DISRUPTION, and it’s ANNOYING ME!

Gosh, did I write that…. what a heathen. Let’s face it disruptive technology has been around since the ARK (which was one of the first examples apart from fire, and the wheel I guess).

Noah embraced it. Good job! So as marketing and medical professionals lets not get all dewy eyed or romantic about this disruption malarkey.

It isn’t new. Digital, multi-, Omni- channel Alexa enabled smart phone wearing widgets….are tools of our trade. But just that.

Truly creative and smart Pharmaceutical marketers embrace these channels and incorporate them within their brand plans, and work with their medical and regulatory colleagues to ensure compliance.

These technologies require great creative, engaging content, and consistent messaging. They move fast and need refreshing and updating regularly. Great marketing teams know and embrace that challenge: Lots of great content and great internal processes.

Drop us a line if you want a discussion on how we help this happen

[email protected]