Medical comms - Articles

As Capitol Hill readies itself for the August Recess, and as President Barack Obama demands that a bill reach his desk in the Oval Office by October, healthcare reform still finds itself in more-or-less the same quagmire as it did in 1993. We take a look at the chances of comprehensive reform this year and tackle the nitty-gritty of one of the most complex and polarising issues of Washington politics today.
Simply put, they're at it again. In 1993, Bill Clinton – then 42nd President of the United States – set about to make healthcare reform one of the foremost priorities of his administration and he appointed his wife and First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton to set about delivering this seemingly impossible objective. Known for her long-standing interest in healthcare reform and her consider…

Weekly Swine Flu Update for the Week Ending July 26.
As the world continues to come to terms with the first global flu pandemic since the Hong Kong Flu of 1968, and as the outbreak continues to gain further traction over the autumn and winter months to come, this series of weekly ‘Swine Flu Update’ articles will attempt to provide both informed editorial analysis and key national – and supranational – updates. With the Healthcare Protection Agency (HPA) estimating that there were around 110,000 new cases of Swine Flu in the UK for the week ending July 26th, the virus is doubtless continuing to gain considerable momentum. GP consultation rates continued to grow above those of a typical seasonal flu outbreak and the under 5s and 5-14 year olds continued to be age groups most predominately…

The field of Medical Communications offers a whole host of opportunities for new science graduates - both in medical publishing and pharma.
Whilst typically broken down into several relatively distinct areas – such as Scientific Publishing and Medical Writing – broadly speaking, Medical Communications is the profession of communicating often complex scientific data and reports in a clear, straightforward and accessible manner. To a pharmaceutical company, this can mean the creation and continued editing of everything from research protocols, to clinical trial reports and product-specific marketing documentation for sales representatives. In contrast, work for a communications agency is likely to be less product specific – granting you the chance to work on a wider range of projects. Thus,…

Ahead of the NHS Confederation Conference last month, David Nicholson, Chief Executive of NHS pulled no punches with his assessment of NHS finances.
Ahead of the NHS Confederation Conference last month, David Nicholson, Chief Executive of NHS pulled no punches with his assessment of NHS finances. He stated that the NHS would need to find £15-20 billion over the next three years; and that ‘all bets were off’ as to where that money might come from. Well respected NHS senior managers like Mike Farrar, Chief Executive at North West Strategic Health Authority are singing a similarly radical tune. Describing the financial crisis about to beset the whole service, Dr Farrar predicted that the NHS would need to embrace and invest in new technology much faster and think radically differently about h…

ABPI have developed an on-line exam bookings website to facilitate the process of booking the ABPI Medical Representatives Exam.
ABPI have developed an on-line exam bookings website to facilitate the process of booking the ABPI Medical Representatives Exam. The new website allows individual candidates to book exams as well as companies to make block bookings which can then be assigned to employees where they will have ultimate responsibility for their booking. The website can be accessed via the link below and also provides the following: (Registration as a User of the website is simple and free. It does not commit you to buying anything). The website is found here:- http://extranet.abpi.org.uk/web/abpi/exams.nsf/ Please note that the first thing you will need to do when accessing the site…

Generational stereotypes are never easy to swallow, but when it comes to doctors and an investment in social media, the new generations of medical professionals are increasingly going online for both professional collaboration and patient support.
Whilst many older physicians may still be somewhat fearful of such developments and confined to their office hours, increasingly, a new wave of GPs are arming themselves with PDAs, setting up profiles on Facebook and posting healthcare advice on Twitter. Mobile apps like Epocrates are ubiquitous amongst hospital doctors and mobile development platforms like Apple’s SDK for iPhone and Google’s SDK for Android are changing the face of patient care for the future. And, whilst it’s ultimately impossible to come up with a precise figure for the numbe…

With increased investment in R&D largely failing to fill drug development pipelines, the pharma industry is looking to get more bang for its R&D buck by generating some return out of failed drug candidates and extra return out of others. Drug re-positioning has become a key strategy for pharmaceutical groups, and according to Datamonitor, this approach is set to become more frequently employed.
Normally in the business of curing what ails, the global pharmaceutical market has been battling to cure its own ills for a number of years now. The increasingly harsh global drug pricing environment coupled with rapid generic erosion in many of the largest and therefore most lucrative markets means that pharmaceutical companies are facing a double-edged sword of declining profitability and falling…

Spanning one third of the globe's circumference and home to more than half of the world's population, the Asia Pacific region is incredibly diverse. This year's World Vaccine Congress Asia highlighted the enormous variation in the vaccine landscape in the region, owing to a myriad of political, cultural, economic and geographic differences.
Spanning one third of the globe's circumference and home to more than half of the world's population, the Asia Pacific region is incredibly diverse. This year's World Vaccine Congress Asia highlighted the enormous variation in the vaccine landscape in the region, owing to a myriad of political, cultural, economic and geographic differences. The Asia Pacific vaccine landscape is characterized by vast diversity. For instance, while 15 poorer Asian countrie…

Field reporter Rhonda Siddall reports from EULAR
TWO-year data presented at EULAR show that the PEGylated new anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agent certolizumab pegol maintains efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis when used as add-on therapy to methotrexate. Certolizumab pegol showed improvements in RA symptoms as early as the first week of treatment and early inhibition of progression of structural joint damage in the RAPID 1 trial published last year. Now, results from an open-label extension study to RAPID 1 show that treatment improvements were sustained for two years in patients maintained on 400 mg certolizumab every two weeks and methotrexate. A separate analysis also presented at EULAR showed that patients receiving certolizumab whose symptoms were controlled as early as six w…

Quick Look article from Max Golby about Alternative Therapies
Wasted investment, mismanagement of resources. Unquestionably, these two issues have haunted the NHS more than anything else during the past eight years of Westminster government. And yet, for all the warnings, public funds are increasingly approved for what many still consider to be some of the most experimental of treatments. Yet, in a month that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued a landmark recommendation that alternative therapies be used for the treatment of back pain, alternative treatments may well be on the verge of something of a breakthrough in the health service. Indeed, in a considerable step away from past lines of procedure, this latest ruling by NICE strongly questions the effectiveness of conv…

Unless it paints the right picture you’re letting the side down!In a depressed job market, an employer is likely to receive 50+ CVs per job advertised from 5 or more Preferred Agencies and many more from agencies who ‘piggy back’ in. So now, more than ever, your CV needs to stand out and be tailored to the role and client and submitted by an agency with valid access.
The more senior you are, the more the “one CV fits all” becomes dangerous when the market is tight because if that CV is submitted and rejected you may be excluded from valid jobs there with other agencies for some months to come as a result.After 15 years examining what works and what doesn’t in terms of securing interviews for thousands of candidates, we know a thing or two about how to present a candidate in the best light…

Quick Look article written by Max Golby, focusing on topic of swine flu.
Over the past week, concern has gone global over swine flu, with WHO Director Margaret Chan forecasting the “…the first pandemic of the 21st Century”. Global pandemic. By definition, the emergence of a disease, ‘prevalent over a whole country or the world’ and the highest possible stage of the WHO’s influenza alert phases. In reality, whilst the move to phase 6 – or pandemic status – does signal a significant change to the global spread of the virus, the WHO’s latest declaration does not imply that there has been a notable change to the number of deaths or serious cases reported around the world. Nevertheless, on Thursday, June 11th 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) used the term pandemic to describe a flu…

Senior Department of Health executives, speaking at a recent NHS Alliance Conference, suggested that the NHS has two years left before it starts to the credit crunch’s bite – maybe less if there is an election in a years’ time. But this should not be cause complacency in the health sector. The message is, invest wisely now so that you are well prepared for the fallow times ahead.
Not a day passes when we hear more bad news about the economy. And the budget signals that if not today, then in the future all public services are going to have to draw in their horns. Senior Department of Health executives, speaking at a recent NHS Alliance Conference, suggested that the NHS has two years left before it starts to the credit crunch’s bite – maybe less if there is an election in a years’ time.…

The recent outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) infection, previously referred to as swine flu, has thrown the spotlight on governments around the world and their ability to manage a pandemic. In the UAE, customers are currently finding it difficult to source antivirals but, with Dubai seen as a hub for international travel, the government has stockpiles ready for distribution should an outbreak occur.
To date, there have been 1,124 cases of the infection in 21 countries. Unlike both SARS and bird flu, sustained human-to-human transmission of the disease has occurred. However, the strain appears to be more in line with seasonal flu, having a significantly lower mortality rate than both SARS and bird flu. Transmission of the virus between human beings occurs when an infected individual coughs and…

There has been no shortage of conversation lately about current problems facing the Pharmaceutical industry...
There has been no shortage of conversation lately about current problems facing the Pharmaceutical industry. Communication is vital to work through the current economic crisis and unite in this unreliable climate. Time management is a constant battle for executives who are now turning to online networking sites to liaise effectively and efficiently with their peers. Communities such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are a fantastic resource to all, socially - But what are the true business benefits? MeettheBoss has found the need to create a business platform purely for these executives. “Social networking sites are great to catch-up with old friends, share photographs, music and l…

As part of the UK government's drive to save over GBP2 billion in the NHS during 2010-11, GBP550m will be cut from the prices of branded drugs as a result of the revised Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. With the volume of branded drugs having remained flat over the last four years, total sales of the UK branded pharmaceutical industry are forecast to decline from 2009 onwards.
Due to the global economic downturn, branded pharmaceutical sales are suffering in countries such as the US, which lack a nationalized healthcare system. The rising number of unemployed, and therefore uninsured patients, are switching to cheaper generic alternatives, the result of which will be a knock on effect on branded prescription drug sales, which are now forecast to decline by 1-2% in 2009 (IMS Health).…

Where the pharmaceutical industry is often said to be immune to economic depression, the current economic crisis cannot be considered a direct historical equal to the recessions of the past.
Thus, where the current crisis finds its roots primarily in the banking industry, almost no-one and no industry is completely sheltered. Innovation in healthcare is therefore paying at least a small cost for what is now the most serious economic crisis since October 1929 and the depression of the 1930s that followedYet whilst some of the grandest headlines of all tell of fallen bankers and experienced professionals back in the market for new work, there is another demographic which is being increasingly affected by the uncertainty of the current climate– new graduates.For where healthcare remains a div…

Public opinion has for long been regarded as essential to the success of a thriving business. In fact, whilst the benefits of popular perception can often appear somewhat intangible on the balance sheet, what is essentially the respect of the customer is the bastion of almost every profession
Healthcare is no exception. For where it may sometimes prove challenging to pin down the precise ways in which public opinion can make a direct impact on a company’s revenues, a positive brand identity can, amongst other things, greatly assist in attracting some of the brightest new minds in the industry. Indeed, a positive image is particularly profitable when it comes to something like recruitment and the establishment of something in the way of a social contract with the general public can also enco…

Any positive effect on the pharmaceutical industry derived from the G20 summit and European Union summit will be indirect and much of the direct healthcare spending increase will cover the cost of cheaper generics accessed through publically funded programs. Furthermore, emerging markets previously targeted to drive revenue growth face potentially crippling consequences from the downturn.
Historically, pharmaceutical companies have faced a number of major challenges, both internally and externally, which have shaped the industry as it exists today. Ongoing issues include the declining efficiency of internal R&D processes, together with growing competition from both branded and generic players in increasingly crowded markets, ultimately resulting in fierce price competition. Heightened…

Medical communications provide professional, valuable marketing solutions to pharmaceutical companies, incorporating; writing, design, multimedia, conferences and events and more.
Medical communications provide professional, valuable marketing solutions to pharmaceutical companies, incorporating; writing, design, multimedia, conferences and events and more. Working with top level pharmaceutical company executives, high profile doctors and lecturers, the job of the medical communications specialist is to inform, educate and increase awareness of diseases and medicines within the healthcare community to help drive improved patient care. Adventis Health is one of a number of medical communications agencies that offers an integrated service with advertising, PR, Medical Education and digital…