A new era of communications

In advertising, we’re all aware that change is constant. We do our best to take notice and move forward. I’ve recently noticed a change in how agencies attempt to leverage their skills and even expand upon their core competencies—without legitimate leverage or the ability to expand. Agencies used to tout their expertise in specific areas like advertising, promotions, medical education and public relations. Nowadays, agencies identify themselves as being communications experts—implying that they have expertise throughout ...

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Living with the promotional guidelines—one year later

It’s been a year since the introduction of the promotional guidelines prohibiting the distribution to healthcare professionals of pens, bags, and other “service items” bearing the product’s logo. So, how has it impacted the industry, especially the traffic on the floor of the exhibit hall. Having just returned from a medical conference this past week, I decided to reflect on my experience from last year at the same congress, just before the promotional guidelines went into ...

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Is the printed page dead?

I returned to my office after an extended business trip and was prepared to greet the foot-high stack of medical journals that would occupy my attention for the next week. [...] ...

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Should Agencies Issue RFCs?

Agencies have been grumbling about the client RFP process for years. And justifiably so as current RFP practices typically create an artificial environment where the agency is tested on its stamina and hunger for the business, and [...] ...

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We need ghostwriters—but transparent ones

The recent revelation that Eli Lilly used ghostwriters to write favorable articles on the use of Zyprexa and sought out physicians to put their names on the respective papers brings up the issue of the common practice of medical writers [...] ...

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What’s next for DTC?

The FDA recently published their draft guidance for DTC advertising. The document, titled "Presenting Risk Information on Prescription Drug and Medical Device Promotion," proposes that marketers use a reasonable consumer standard, similar to the FTC standard, to determine whether [...] ...

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Speaker Training: Content vs Delivery

Speakers' training meetings are conferences organized by pharmaceutical or device manufacturers, designed to bring together and train a group of key opinion leaders on the company’s product or disease state so they can speak at various events organized by either the company of medical associations. ...

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