WHAT’S NEW NEW HEALTHCARERELATED PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND COMPANIES
Noonan Russo Communications has agreed to merge its operations with the public relations division of Euro RSCG Healthview, establishing a new company — Noonan Russo Presence Euro RSCG. The new entity, a differentiated communications agency, is delivering a comprehensive range of pub licrelations services to biotech,pharmaceutical,and healthcare organizations. The new company offers indepth experience in corporate,media, and investor relations, and market ing communications services, and can leverage the global capabilities of Euro RSCG Healthcare,of which Euro RSCG Healthview is a member. Euro RSCG Health care, the world’s thirdlargest healthcare network, has 44 agencies serving healthcare clients in 17 countries. Euro RSCG Healthcare provides advertising, consulting, mar keting services, medical education, public relations, and interactive solutions to the world’s leading health care companies. The formation of the new company provides a substantial U.S. base for Euro RSCG Healthcare’s global network. “Noonan Russo is an ideal strategic partner for us,” says Nancy Rueth, exec utive VP of Noonan Russo Presence, who will drive the agency’s marketing and publicaffairs businesses. “Noonan Russo Presence has a combined expertise in healthcare categories and communications compe tencies that forms a formidable knowledge resource for the healthcare industry.” Noonan Russo Presence Euro RSCG will have 120 employees in its four offices located in NewYork,San Francisco, San Diego, and London. Separately, LM&P Group Euro RSCG,a unit of Euro RSCG Healthview, has acquired Hemisphere Group Inc., an Exton, Pa.based healthcare advertising agen cy. LM&P Biostar, as Hemisphere Group is now known, focuses on serving clients in biopharmaceu ticals and those in emerging healthcare specialty and highscience markets. Allen Stegall,executive VP and managingdirector of San Diegobased LM&P Westar, heads the new agency from the West Coast. “LM&P Biostar comple ments LM&P Westar and offers us East Coast cover age in these emerging opportunities,”he says. Cliff Wyatt, formerly Hemisphere’s director of client services,serves as director of client services and operations for Biostar and is the primary liaison with the San Diego office. The launch of LM&P Biostar significantly strength ens LM&P Group’s offering to the biotechnology industry. Healthcare veterans launch LIFESCIENCES MANAGEMENT CONSULTING GROUP Two healthcare veterans have joined forces to create a lifesciences management consulting group that seeks to offer insider knowledge and comprehensive strategy and business development services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. Dr. Robert Keefer and Leisa Dennehy, the principals of BioPharma Consultants, bring extensive global industry experience managing all aspects of a product or service’s life cycle, including technology and commercial assessment, development planning, pre and post launch brand or market planning, life cycle/generic defense planning, and business and cor porate development. “We’ve been on our clients’ side of the desk and we know how critical it is to have con sulting resources who actually know our needs, understand the industry and can deliver results,” says Ms. Dennehy, a 14year veteran of the commercial side of multinational organi zations such as Procter & Gamble and Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline). Dr. Keefer melds business/financial/marketing acumen with a science/technology back ground. He has founded a number of successful companies and held executive positions at pharmaceutical companies such as SmithKline Beecham. “Our mission is to use our experience to catapult pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to new points of insight and action that drive competitiveness and sustainable business success,” he says. BioPharma Consultants seeks to serve as an extension of its clients’ internal teams, help ing companies translate technical features into commercial benefits or brand positioning to provide a competitive edge. Clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Oxford Glycosciences Ltd., BioSignia Inc., Nanogen,Apothogen Inc., and the American Chemistry Council. “BioPharma Consultants offers benefits that [companies] just don’t get with a traditional consulting firm,”says Rob Nauman,director of global ebusiness marketing,GlaxoSmithKline. “Typically, it can take six months just to get a consultant up to speed.But BioPharma Consul tants was able to immediately grasp what we needed, develop very sophisticated recom mendations, and get to work executing the strategies and tactics.” Most recently,the firm won a contract from BioSignia Inc.to help launch its newly formed Pharmaceutical Technology Group, a business unit created earlier this year to develop phar maceutical and biotech industry applications of its patented synthesis analysis technology. “Leisa Dennehy and Bob Keefer, through their extraordinary industry insight and experi ence,are able to help us articulate our technology in language that’s meaningful to the right people in pharma,” says Joe Chimera, Ph.D., VP for corporate development and head of the Pharmaceutical Technology Group of BioSignia. Euro RSCG Healthview units BROADEN SERVICESTO HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY through mergers and acquisitions NoonanRussoCommunications and Hemisphere Group Inc. join the family of companies operating under the LM&P Group Euro RSCG umbrella Allen Stegall heads the new agency Nancy Rueth will drive the marketing and public affairs business Dr. Robert Keefer and Leisa Dennehy, both managing directors of BioPharma Consultants, bring a long track record of scientific, technolo gy, business, financial, and marketing experience from throughout the industry. WHAT’S new 97 PharmaVOICE M a y / J u n e 2 0 02 Publicis EXPANDSGLOBAL offerings In a deal aimed at meeting the needs of advertisers for a global,mul ticultural offering,Publicis Groupe SA has entered into an agreement to acquire Bcom3 Group Inc. for $3 billion in stock and securities to create the fourthlargest communications group in the world. At the same time,Publicis has formed a strategic, longterm partnership with Dentsu Inc.,allowing Dentsu’s clients to benefit from the worldwide networks of Publicis and Publicis’ clients have privileged access to Dentsu’s expe rience in Japan. Publicis’ headquarters remain in Paris and continue to be directed by a conseil de surveillance presided by Elisabeth Badinter and a direc toire presided by Maurice Levy. Mr. Levy continues as Publicis’ CEO, and Roger A. Haupt,currently chairman and CEO of Bcom3,becomes Publi cis’ president and chief operating officer. Publicis, which over the past few years has become the sixthlargest global communications company through both acquisitions and organic growth,continues to realize its strategic vision through this transaction. The merger,which is expected to close around June 30, 2002, will significantly enhance Publicis’ specialized communications capabilities, notably in such key growth disciplines as healthcare communications with Medi cus Group International,B3Com’s healthcare communications company, which complements Nelson Com munications, Publicis’ healthcare communications network, to create a worldwide leader in the sector. “This is a threeway alliance of global vision and complementary strengths that will deliver significant value to our clients,”Mr. Levy says, referring to the merger and alliance with Dentsu.“Bcom3 consists of some of the finest advertising and communications brands in the world.We are honored to welcome them to the Publicis family.” Bcom3 is the seventhlargest communications group in the world. Based in Chicago, the group does busi ness in more than 90 countries through its renowned agencies, including Medicus Group, Leo Burnett,D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Manning Selvage & Lee,Bartle Bogel Hegarty,and the Starcom MediaVest Group. Medicalliance RECEIVES ACCME ACCREDITATION Medicalliance Education Institute, the continuing medical education division of Medicalliance Inc.,has been awarded accreditation as a provider of continu ing medical education for physicians by the Accredi tation Council for Continuing Medical Education. “As a medical communications company,this is a tremendous opportunity for us,”says Donna Fucello, MEI’s director of continuing medical education. “We have a unique formula that blends highcaliber science with strategic marketing cam paigns to ensure success for our educational activities. As a provider, we have the opportunity to bring further value to the physician and pharmaceutical communi ties.” MEI offers competitive pricing and fullservice activ ity implementation, along with actionable evaluation and outcomes measure ment. Program venues may be onsite or online, local or international. ACCME accred i tat i on seeks to assure both physicians and the public that continuing medical education activities provided by MEI meet the high standards of the essential areas, elements and policies for accreditation as specified by ACCME. Roger A. Haupt says the merger and global alliance vastly enhances the agency’s ability to provide superior expertise and services through premier advertising agency brands and an extraordinary geographic base. Donna Fucello says ACCME accreditation allows the company to broaden its services to physicians and grantors. In aneffort toensure improvedpatientcompliance, Nuvisio Corp. has introduced NestEggzRx, a break throughcompliance technology and relationshipmar keting program for the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of NestEggzRx is to help patients save money on prescription drugs and provide them with education,support, and appropriate incentives to help them stay on their medication. Convenient printathome offers can beused at any pharmacy in the U.S. The application gives marketers the flexibili ty to offer either free trial samples or hasslefree elec tronic rebates. After patients opt into the program, NestEggzRx enables manufacturers to have an ongoing dialogue with its customers. Each printed offer is assigned a unique identifier code as a way to track it through the process — from the time it is printed to the moment it is fulfilled at the pharmacy. After fulfillment, pharmaceutical companies can use NestEggzRx to deliver compliance programs cus tomized for individual patients. Once they have begun therapy,patients can receive timebased refill reminder emails, additional offers, educational infor mation, and other compliancegenerating commu nications — all based on their individual fulfillment history. NestEggzRx strictly maintains patient privacy and its policies are consistent with the security and confidentiality standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). According to the Consumer Health Information Corp., 10% to 20% of initial prescriptions are never filled, and30% to 85%ofpatients don’t get their refills. “Increased patient compliance is a winwin — it’s good for patients’ health and it leads to increased sales for pharmaceutical manufacturers,” says Lori Rubinson,chief operating officer of Nuvisio. Nuvisio launches COMPLIANCE PROGRAM Curry Rockefeller Group offers ADVOCACYDRIVEN SOLUTIONS Healthcare industry veterans Michael R. Curry and Charles A. Rockefeller III have formed the The Curry Rockefeller Group LLC. The Tarrytown, N.Y., company’s focus is on developing and implement ing educational strategies and initiatives that focus on the role of the key opinion leader in determining a product’s success in the marketplace. “Thoughtleaders in a particular therapeutic area are intimately involved in their clinical environments for decades,and their relationships with pharmaceu tical products change over time,”says Mr.Curry,pres ident of the new company. “We help bridge these phases by titrating strategies to diverse specialty audiences in a highly integrated manner that helps assure their continued support and advocacy for a company and its brands.” CRG,through the established marketing experi ence of its principles and a database of key influ encers, can assist product managers to maximize and sustain the sales potential of their brands, whether they are new or mature products. “ These contacts and our ability to mobilize them on behalf of a brand through accredited medical education programs, satellite symposia, enduring materials, and strategic planning and consulting … allows us to provide solutions to a defined market need,” says Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of CRG. The company also offers customized services, including recruiting and maintaining advisory boards, multi media programs, salestraining modules and manu als, faculty training, and consultants meetings. Before fouding CRG, Mr. Curry had a 14year career in marketing at Pfizer,where hewas a director, andmarketing team leader.Mr.Rockefeller served for 12 years as president of a publishing unit of Havas MediMedia. WHAT’S new 98 M a y / J u n e 2 0 0 2 PharmaVOICE Illinois to provide free childcare and business train ing to individuals interested in becoming childcare providers.The initiative, called Foundations of Family Child Care, offered sessions in both English and Spanish. In 2002, the company plans to build on the success it has had by reaching out to area business to expand the Foundation’s training. Another way Abbott reaches out to the commu nity is through the Abbott Laboratories Schoolage Child Care Development Fund,which provides grant funding to organizations that are starting, improving, or expanding a schoolage childcare program in the area. Abbott has committed $150,000 to the pro gram and awarded four grants in 2001. One grant was awarded to the local YWCA Tech GYRLS in action program, an initiative designed to increase girls’ interest in technology and technology careers. In addition to the latest award, Abbott has been recognized as one of the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”by Working Mothermagazine and has been lauded as one of the best places to work in Chicago by Chicago magazine. Last year, Abbott received the Governor’s Family Investment Award from the state of Illinois in recognition for its innova tive work/life programs and familyfriendly benefits. Abbott also has been recognized as one of the “50 Best Companies for Minorities” by Fortunemagazine for four consecutive years. ABBOTT LABORATORIES,Abbott Park, Ill., is a global, healthcare company devoted to the discovery, development,manufac ture, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, nutritionals, and medical products, includ ing devices and diagnostics.For more information,visit abbott.com. BCOM3,Chicago, is one of the world’s leading advertising and marketing com munications holding companies,with more than 18,000 people in 92 countries. For more information,visit bcom3.com. BIOPHARMA CONSULTANTS LTD., Research Triangle Park,N.C., is a manage ment consulting firm specializing in mar keting, strategy, and business development services for biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide.For more informa tion, visit biopharmaconsultants.com. THECURRY ROCKEFELLER GROUP LLC, Tarrytown,N.Y.,develops and implements educational strategies and initiatives that focus on the role of key opinion leaders in determining a product’s success in the market.For more information,visit www.curryrockefellergroup.com. DENTSU INC. is the world’s fifth largest advertising group,and the largest in Japan. For more information,visit dentsu.com. EURORSCGHEALTHVIEW,with a U.S. office in NewYork,offers synergistic solu tions to the healthcare industry through advertising, public relations, interactive communications,sales training, managed care consulting,and consumer medical education. It is a member of Euro RSCG Healthcare, the thirdlargest healthcare network in the world, itself part of Euro RSCGWorldwide.For m re information, visit eurorscg.com. MEDICALLIANCE INC., Columbia,Md., is a fullservice medical communications agency.For more information,visit medi calliance.com. NOONAN/RUSSO,with offices in New York, San Francisco, and London, is an international communications firm provid ing strategic counsel to a select group of innovative biotechnology, pharmaceutical, device,and healthcare companies.For more information,visit noonanrusso.com. NUVISIO CORP., NewYork,delivers secure eCoupon and loyalty programs for clients in the consumer packaged goods indus try, and also is leveraging its consumer marketing expertise to meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. For more information,visit nuvisio.com. PUBLICIS GROUPE SA is a global adver tising and communications organization, offering a range of services to companies in 100 countries with a particular strength in France,Germany, the U.K., Spain, Italy, and North America.For more information, visit publicis.fr. Follow up Abbott Laboratories has received the Corporate Friend of Children Award from the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) in recognition of the company’s ongoing support of children and fami lies. The award, presented at the CWLA’s national conference in Washington, D.C., Making Children a National Priority, recognizes Abbott for the compa ny’s innovative efforts to form partnerships with gov ernment and other public entities to improve the quality of childcare across the country. “The needs of children and working parents extend far beyond our company’s boundaries into the communities wherewe live and work,”says Miles D. White, Abbott’s chairman and CEO. “We are com mitted to making a difference in our communities by helping children receive quality care.” In addition to opening the largest childcare cen ter in the state of Illinois and one of the fivelargest centers in the country at its global headquarters north of Chicago in June 2001,Abbott has launched a number of programs to help working parents and children by improving the quality and availability of childcare in the community. In 2001, Abbott launched several communitybased programs, including an innovative partnership with the state of Abbott recognized for COMMITMENTTO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES with national award Abbott’s Chairman and CEO Miles White celebrates the grand opening of Abbott’s onsite childcare center in June 2001, one of the five largest centers in the country.