More Good News about Treating Multiple Myeloma

More Good News about Treating Multiple Myeloma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH This spring, the FDA approved a drug called idecabtagene vicleucel ('ide-cel'), a form of CAR-T cell therapy available to treat some forms of recurrent multiple myeloma (MM). Ide-cel is used to modify a patient’s own T-cells to attack the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) present in myeloma.1 Multiple myeloma is a rare chronic cancer of the blood plasma that accounted for only 1.8% (32,000) of all new cancer cases in the United States in 2020, with approximately 12,410 deaths expected in 2021.1,2,3 To give an idea [...]

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Jun 2021By |0 Comments

What’s Pharma’s Key to Success in 2021?

What's Pharma's Key to Success in 2021? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH What commercial and clinical trends can we expect to shape pharma and biotech as the pandemic continues into 2021? What can your company do to make 2021 a better year? In August, Deloitte surveyed 60 marketing leaders of biopharma companies and published the findings. Fully 80% of respondents expected changes in “consumer attitudes, behaviors, and spending” to have the biggest impact on their company over the coming year.1,2 This supports Deloitte’s 2019 report anticipating a “consumer-centered future of health,” including the consumer’s increased willingness to [...]

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Jan 2021By |0 Comments

Does Your Marketing Campaign Go Full Circle?

Does Your Marketing Campaign Go Full Circle? By Jeff Terkowitz Imagine being able to learn about your audience, test your messages with that audience, directly reach your target audience and then evaluate the campaign - all in one place. It’s possible. But let’s back up. Advertisers already understand the value of knowing their audience and testing their messages. The power of research-backed health communications is used at the federal level too in outreach campaigns. The “Pink Book” is the primer that the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and all government agencies [...]

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Dec 2020By |0 Comments

How Do You Elevate Your Patient Insights Strategy?

How Do You Elevate Your Patient Insights Strategy? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH You know what you want to say about your product, but are you still looking for the right way to say it? Successful DTC advertising relies on finding language that resonates with target patients. A recent study demonstrated just how profoundly a choice of words affects patient treatment decisions. A survey cited in the JAMA in March showed that 400 ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) patients chose different theoretical treatments based on descriptions alone. When DCIS is presented as “abnormal cells,” 69% of the [...]

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Nov 2020By |0 Comments

Launching a New Drug During a Pandemic? Successful Launches Included a Rapid Pivot to Social Media

Launching a New Drug During a Pandemic? Successful Launches Included a Rapid Pivot to Social Media By Paul Nash How has the pandemic affected pharmaceutical product launches? Experts say that social media and research have been the key factors for this year’s successful launches. In a webcast on the PharmaVoice Webcast Network, “The State of Product Launch During and Post COVID-19,” speakers Maya Desai, Director at Guidehouse; Lead Launch COE, Eduardo Schur, Partner and life sciences global practice lead, Guidehouse; and Justin Zamirowski, Chief Commercial Officer, Better Therapeutics, described key results from their studies into recent pharmaceutical [...]

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Oct 2020By |0 Comments

Patient Support Needs Patient Input

Patient Support Needs Patient Input By Jeff Terkowitz Here’s a patient support marketing scenario: You’re in charge of creating a patient support program that reaches out past the point of prescription. The drug you’re supporting is a molecule that requires long-term adherence to be effective. You’re looking for end-to-end results. You’re undoubtedly considering a range of options from nurse follow-up calls to automated text reminders to remote patient monitoring with wearables. Perhaps you need choose between specialty pharmacies or hubs or are involved in creating a training program so specialty pharmacies can provide the best patient support [...]

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May 2020By |0 Comments

Exploring Treatment Options with Others Online: Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Exploring Treatment Options with Others Online: Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH According to the CDC, in 2015, an estimated 1.3 percent of US adults (3 million) reported being diagnosed with irritable bowel diseases (IBD): either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.1 There are 70,000 new cases diagnosed every year.2 These immune-mediated diseases can cause destructive inflammation and can permanently harm the intestines. Symptoms can include diarrhea with fever, abdominal pain and cramping and fatigue among others.3 Every patient’s symptoms vary in type, severity, and frequency, so Inspire members go online to discuss their [...]

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May 2020By |0 Comments

Involve Pharma Marketing Early in Drug Development

Involve Pharma Marketing Early in Drug Development By Richard Tsai In 2009, PricewaterhouseCooper published a paper predicting the landscape of pharma marketing in the decade to come titled “Pharma 2020: Marketing the Future - Which Path Will You Take?” What were they expecting then, and how does it compare with today’s remarkable and fluid pharma reality? One of the predictions was, “By 2020, pay-for-performance will be the norm in many countries.”1 In 2009, it was a simple matter; if the patient received a prescription, there would be payment. The authors anticipated that health outcomes would become the [...]

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Apr 2020By |0 Comments

Real World Voice Allows Patients to be Part of the Cure

Real World Voice Allows Patients to be Part of the Cure By Claire Harter “The patient wants to be a partner in cure, just as with their doctors they want to be a partner in care.” - John Linnell, COPD Patient Advocate, talking about health literacy, eyeforpharma virtual conference, 4/14/2020 Where and how can patients partner with pharma for a cure? Where can pharma go to learn from patients about the patient experience? One resource is Electronic health records (EHRs). As a resource, they provide critical information about patient diagnosis and treatment. But, EHRs reflect the [...]

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Apr 2020By |0 Comments

Searching For Colorectal Cancer Treatment Answers

Searching For Colorectal Cancer Treatment Answers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH Inspire members discuss their colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment options and choices in the Fight Colorectal Cancer Support Group on Inspire because there is a lot to discuss. While it’s the third most common cancer in the United States,1 determining a course of treatment for an individual’s CRC is a multi-step process.2 A positive test is followed by other tests: biopsies, scans, blood tests, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, or others.3 Surgery is the most common treatment; but treatments can include chemotherapy, radiation, radiofrequency ablation, and cryosurgery; some are determined [...]

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Apr 2020By |0 Comments