BSG Question Time symposium
Project name: It’s Time to Question - satellite symposium to launch Remicade’s licence in ulcerative colitis
Date: March 2006
Client Name: Schering Plough
Schering Plough set Packer Forbes the challenge of launching Remicade’s new licence in ulcerative colitis. We created an innovative forum that would attract a large number of opinion-leading gastroenterologists to attend and actively participate; a forum that would encourage genuine dialogue amongst peers and, alongside a carefully planned medical media relations programme, act as a catalyst for gastroenterologists to question their current management of UC and consider a place for Remicade in the patient pathway.
The room was staged to look like the BBC Question Time TV studio and the host was Sir Trevor MacDonald. Uniquely, no traditional slide presentations were used. Instead, the format was an interactive panel discussion based on pre-submitted questions and questions from attendees. Although this satellite was pitched against two others (and major competitors), the theatre was full with over 250 delegates. Several BSG delegates remarked that “It was the best symposium they had ever attended at the BSG.”
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BSR Mastermind symposium
Project name: PAH and Scleroderma Mastermind
Date: 2008
Client Name: Actelion UK & Ireland Ltd
PAH is associated with several diseases including scleroderma – a chronic connective tissue disease for which patients are treated and managed by Rheumatologists. PAH is the leading cause of death amongst scleroderma patients however awareness of this complication amongst rheumatology physicians remains low.
A key market issue is the under-recognition and under-diagnosis of PAH amongst the small and specialised group of physicians who work across respiratory, cardiac and rheumatology disciplines. Packer Forbes organised a symposium at the British Society for Rheumatology Annual Meeting to educate rheumatologists about PAH, the importance of regular screening, diagnosis and appropriate referral for treatment.
Mastermind was selected as the theme for the symposium and CPD accreditation was secured. John Humphrys, the BBC’s Mastermind host, took the role of celebrity chair. Three leading key opinion leaders gave presentations on their ‘specialist chosen subject’ and were then put under the spotlight to answer questions from the celebrity host based on their presentation’s content. A keypad voting system was used amongst delegates to evaluate the event.
The outcome exceeded all set targets, of particular note, 91% of attending consultants said they would screen their patients annually for PAH – a 30% increase from the start of the event. The event was described by Dr Deborah E Bax, President of the BSR as: ‘the benchmark to which all satellite symposia should aspire’.
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Dementia Academy
Project name: Dementia Academy
Date: 2009
Client Name: Eisai Ltd / Pfizer Ltd
For people devastated by Alzheimer’s, the role of the healthcare professional is paramount in providing support and intimate care. The dementia nurse that is often the linchpin for people suffering as a result of this debilitating disease, yet there are major barriers that frequently stand in the way of providing optimum dementia nurse services.
The Dementia Academy was launched to provide education and training for nurses working in dementia care and assist them in overcoming the challenges in their role. Five national annual meetings entitled ‘Coming of age: meeting the challenge of world class dementia care’ took place and after four years, these expanded to include several regional meetings.
Post-event, 60% of the delegates felt more confident in developing their dementia services and 69% felt better equipped to access appropriate treatments for their patients.
“One of the most inspiring days I’ve attended in a long time” and “An excellent day that I would recommend to my colleagues” – Dementia nurse attendees
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Epipen expiry alert campaigns
Project name: EpiPen Expiry Alert Campaigns
Dates: December 2009 & July 2010
Client Name: ALK-Abelló
Research demonstrated that 1 in 3 people who carry adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) carry an out of date device and are not renewing them frequently enough.
A public health campaign was devised to reach people who carry an AAI with the simple messaging – always “check” the device is in-date and always remember to “carry” one. A new automated reminder service had been set up by ALK-Abello, the distributors of Epipen, for patients to register and receive text or email reminders about expiry and this was one of the main calls to action for the campaign.
The “Check & Carry” campaign was implemented in partnership with The Anaphylaxis Campaign and was run to coincide with Christmas 2009, a potentially hazardous time for people with serious. Phase two of the campaign then ran in July 2010 to target holidaymakers, urging them to check their pens and be ready for a safe, trouble-free holiday.
Resulting press coverage included two prime-time slots on BBC Breakfast News, both in December and July. Over 20 radio interviews, a news story in the Daily Express and a full page on BBC’s news on-line and well as numerous regional articles and on-line coverage. ALK-Abelló saw registrations to their reminder alert services increase by over 100%, which was 60% higher than the target set.
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Grazax regional media campaign
Project Name: Grazax Regional Media Campaign
Date: Spring 2008
Client Name: ALK-Abelló
Severe hay fever sufferers, whose hay fever symptoms significantly impacted their quality of life, were not presenting to their GPs and asking for effective strategies bring a halt to their misery. GPs were reluctant to take hay fever seriously enough to refer to secondary care allergy specialists. The result was, Grazax, the only grass pollen immunotherapy tablet, wasn’t being prescribed to patients who really needed it.
A highly targeted media campaign was devised to reach specific areas of the country with a key Grazax advocate willing to support the role of immunotherapy in treating severe hay fever. The creative hook was the role of climate change on the pollen season and how earlier springs were extending the pollen season, leading to longer months of misery for hay fever sufferers. The campaign was run with Professor Emberlin from the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit (NPAR) and the Met Office provided data on average temperatures and sunshine predictions for each region. Local patient case studies and clinician advocates provided the local media with local angles.
Resulting press coverage included over 80 pieces of coverage reaching almost 2 million people.
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Ionsys launch
Project name: Pain Relief at the Touch of a Button - Integrated launch of Ionsys
Date: December 2007 – January 2008
Client Name: Janssen-Cilag
The rapid and effective recovery of patients having undergone major surgery is partially dependent on adequate post-operative pain relief. Patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) pumps have some major drawbacks.
Ionsys represents a major advance in acute moderate to severe post-operative pain management. It is an innovative, credit-card sized, patient activated, needle-free system that uses a low intensity electrical impulse to actively transport measured doses of fentanyl through the skin and into the bloodstream.
A number of activities were developed and executed within a short timeframe, including: developing a ‘Save-the-date’ HTML e-mail media alert which was mailed just before the Christmas break to announce the launch in January; identifying and media training media spokespeople; creating a comprehensive media pack and 1:1 journalist briefings under embargo. In addition, a promotional Z-card was written, designed to an Ionsys, credit-card sized scale and distributed to delegates attending the Association of Anaesthetists Winter Scientific meeting via the delegate bags and on the Janssen-Cilag exhibition stand.
Within one week of launch, 16 pieces of coverage were generated including two large pieces in the nationals.
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Prolia media launch
Project name: Prolia® (denosumab) media launch
Date: May 2010
Client name: Amgen & GSK
There are estimated to be 230,000 osteoporosis-related fractures every year in the UK, of which 70,000 are hip fractures, costing the NHS an estimated £2 billion. Despite the wide availability of osteoporosis treatments in the UK, 68% of patients are no longer taking their medication after one year.
The European licence for Prolia for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at increased risk of fractures provided a much needed treatment alternative.
The challenge was to communicate, via the media, a complex mode of action story accurately whilst educating HCPs and post-menopausal women about the availability of a new and effective osteoporosis treatment option. A number of activities were carried out pre-launch including media advisory boards, development of spokespeople, liaison with patient groups and development of a range of media materials.
The detailed pre-planning delivered exceptional coverage resulted in 38 items in medical, national consumer, patient group and online outlets. Coverage reached an audience of over 100 million with 43% including at least three key messages.
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Remicade support
Project name: Remicade: a broad ranging medical education and PR support programme
Date: 2006 - 2009
Client Name: Schering Plough
Remicade® (infliximab) is a monoclonal antibody that is effective in a wide range of immune-mediated inflammatory disorders including plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Packer Forbes undertook a wide ranging UK-focused communications programme for Remicade across all its indications, encompassing a range of medical education projects and public relations activities, including the following:
- IBD Academy: skills training weekends for young consultants a non-promotional training weekend.
- A series of four innovative satellite meetings for two different Remicade target audiences: gastroenterologists and dermatologists. Several BSG delegates remarked that: “It was the best symposium they had ever attended at the BSG.”
- Maintaining and optimising Anti-TNF therapy a round table meeting to look at how the benefits of persistence on a specific biologic therapy could be improved. The output was a treatment algorithm, which was later published in Musculoskeletal Care.
- Remission Possible consensus statement a round table meeting to review compelling new data. The participants reached a consensus that called for a paradigm shift in how RA is treated and developed a publication in the world leading journal, Rheumatology.
- Peer-review journal supplements a series of five supplements were published in a range of peer-reviewed journals.
- A surround-sound press office, which included data announcements from congresses, media relations support for UK Healthcare Technology Appraisals and new licence announcements.
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Stop the Clot awareness campaign
Project name: STOP THE CLOT: Don’t be a Blood Clot Victim
Date: 2009 - 2010
Client Name: Anticoagulation Europe and sanofi-aventis
The aims of Stop the Clot were to raise awareness amongst patients and their carers of the dangers of getting a blood clot in hospital and encourage everyone to request a blood clot risk assessment in hospital, thereby reducing the unacceptable number of deaths from this silent killer.
Stop the Clot was a fully integrated, 12 week regional marketing campaign. Packer Forbes provided all the media support and ensured that every local stakeholder was briefed in advance of the campaign starting, were supportive of its aims and objectives and willing to get fully involved in the campaign. The objectives for the PR campaign were to achieve media coverage that resulted in hospital re-prioritization of risk assessment and an increase in the number of people requesting further information on how to prevent hospital acquired blood clots from Anti-Coagulation Europe.
During this campaign, Packer Forbes contacted over 400 journalists and made over 1,500 phone calls. We worked with 15 Trust hospitals, nine survivor case studies, 16 local MPs, ten Mayors and six local sports teams; all of whom helped us to generate coverage for Stop the Clot.
The media outputs far exceeded expectations. The coverage achieved in the pilot target areas reached a circulation of over 18 million and 100% articles carried at least one key campaign message and mentioned Stop the Clot campaign. Evaluation statistics show that there was a positive change in behaviour of doctors and nurses working in the pilot area hospitals: thirty blood clot prevention audits were conducted and eight new sets of thromboprophylaxis guidance were developed during the 12 week pilot.
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Tyverb launch
Project name: Tyverb (lapatinib) launch
Date: June 2008
Client name: GSK
Tyverb is a treatment for an aggressive form of advanced breast cancer, for women whose disease has returned despite treatment with standard chemotherapies and Herceptin® (trastuzumab). At this stage in their disease, these women have very few treatment options available to them. Breast cancer is a highly emotive topic and one that easily attracts ‘miracle cure’ media coverage. It was important that the media launch of Tyverb was not seen to create media ‘hype’ in this already very sensitive environment and that widespread, well informed and accurate coverage was generated that that did not raise unrealistic expectations and was sensitive to patients’ and other key stakeholders’ views.
A number of pre-launch activities were carried out to deliver this result
- Audit of recent media coverage: Identified opportunities, flagged potential risks and key stakeholders and commentators in the media
- One-to-one embargoed briefings with key health journalists: Five national health correspondents were given an in-depth brief on the complex Tyverb story to ensure informed and accurate launch coverage
- Broadcast media were provided with specific tools: Development of B-roll and radio audio feature
- Patient case studies illustrated unmet need: Patients who were able to fully explain the impact of living with advanced breast cancer were sourced through clinicians and offered for interview by the media
- A wide range of national and regional clinical spokespeople: Over 20 were identified and briefed ahead of the launch announcement.
- Appropriate patient group support to ensure accurate and consistent communications: key breast cancer patient groups provided informed and accurate information about Tyverb to inform their own official statements and any media interview requests
- Distribution and sell-in of press release: to national, medical, regional, consumer and private sector publications titles.
The UK media launch of Tyverb exceeded all client expectations. The launch achieved over 150 pieces of individual in-depth articles in the national and regional media. An audience of 41,797,973 was reached with this campaign: amounting to over two-thirds of the population of the UK.
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We Can Face It awareness campaign
Project Name: We Can Face It – awareness campaign
Date: November 2009 – July 2010
Client Name: Almirall Pharmaceuticals
Women with excessive, unwanted facial hair tend to deal with their condition in isolation, rarely speaking to friends, family or health professionals. This can have a detrimental impact on their lives, causing issues of low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. We Can Face It is a consumer-focused communications campaign that aims to create a supportive community that can provide courage for women to go and speak to their GP about the way in which their facial hair negatively impacts upon their lives and to discuss treatment options. The campaign summary is outlined below:
- Women’s views were gained from two qualitative focus-group meetings and a quantitative survey of 1,000 women to highlight the social and emotional impact of unwanted facial hair. The results were developed into a report entitled ‘We Can Face It: a 1,000 women survey report’
- A professional group comprising a patient group representative, GP, endochrinologist, psychologist and beauty therapist, steered the campaign
- The report and a new campaign website was launched at a celebrity-endorsed educational event open to media and women with the condition
- The medical community was kept informed through an electronic supplement sent via Healthcare Republic
- The We Can Face It website was created for women to share personal experiences and to give advice using video diaries and posts
- The launch was communicated to consumer and medical media by a multi-media news release (MNR) and awareness was further raised through a series of case-study led feature articles placed in women’s magazines
So what did the campaign achieve? There were 2,257 views of the MNR and 37 pieces of separate coverage were generated, equating to a readership of over 40 million. Key messages were reflected in over 70% of coverage. Six articles appeared in the national media, including The Times, Guardian and BBC News Online; eight appeared in Women’s magazines, including Good Housekeeping and Women’s Weekly. Medical press coverage included a discussion article in the BMJ.
Visit the We Can Face It website
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