PM360 TRAILBLAZER INNOVATION AWARDS

The 2009 AWARD WINNERS
Company of the Year
Top Brands
Best Initiatives
Trailblazer Innovation Awards Judges

OUR 2009 TRAILBLAZER INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS!

We are proud to present the winners of our first annual Trailblazer Innovation Awards in healthcare marketing. Along with our Company of the Year, the winners represent 13 Brands by disease category and 13 Marketing Initiative categories.

This year’s award winners were presented with a variety of marketing challenges—and they came up with a range of effective and illuminating solutions. Their goals included not only increasing sales but changing corporate identity, strengthening the doctor-patient bond, helping parents cope with their child’s diagnosis, and maintaining compliance among recovering alcoholics. Target audiences included people suffering from depression, neurosurgeons, ethnic groups, senior citizens, and others.

The arsenal of techniques employed is too long to enumerate, but includes viral marketing, interactive tools, specially devised curricula, mobile apps, podcasts, sports teams, fire trucks, live surgery videos, third-party partnerships, technology that replaced sales meetings, technology that enhanced sales meetings—and even live phone operators. Of course, powerful ads and pithy, carefully targeted messages topped the list.

We would like to thank our panel of 14 judges and more than 100 nominees. With the high caliber of entries, we often regretted there could be only one winner in each category. And we look forward to reading the 2010 Trailblazer Award nominations—and getting the inside story on what innovations are just ahead on the horizon.

COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNER
Bristol-Myers Squibb

Our criteria for the Company of the Year Award reflect two ideas: the first is that in order to succeed, a healthcare company must build trust and integrity into its relationships with the many groups that are essential to its future. The payoff for this is the creation of stable, long-term relationships needed for future growth. Four of our criteria— Civic Involvement, Patient Access, Environmental Consciousness, and Employee Development—are based on this idea.

The second idea is that to succeed at a time when the future is ever more uncertain, a company must anticipate and innovate in every aspect of its operations, including those designed to build the relationships mentioned above. Our Innovation criterion is based on this idea.

Bristol-Myers Squibb apparently shares our two ideas. The company won the award because of the range of its initiatives in these areas, and the skill and innovation of their design. An important and intriguing part of this design, in our view, is that the initiatives often complement the company’s business goals, sometimes in unexpected ways. Nevertheless, the company clearly understands what any good small-town business knows: The best way to persuade others of your honor and integrity is to actually have honor and integrity.

Beyond Drug-Based Healthcare
Among the initiatives that deserve mention, those of the company-funded Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation reveal much about the breadth of the company’s civic efforts and the way they complement its business.

Whereas the company fights disease mainly by producing drugs, the foundation fights disease by strengthening the networks of community resources that drug-based medicine requires to be fully effective. Often the key to improving health is not only medicine but nutrition, community education, delivery systems, training and coordination of healthcare providers, removing the stigma of certain diseases, and other factors. The foundation’s initiatives also serve to anchor the company in new markets, strengthen infrastructure on which the market for medicines depends, and forge networks of patients, healthcare providers, NGOs, communities, and governments. They draw on areas of strength in the company’s product line and demonstrate its seriousness about having a global future.

The largest of the foundation initiatives, Secure the Future, fights the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, having launched 240 projects over 10 years. With the “agility” the company prizes, the program has evolved with the crisis. It started as a medical research/education program and then, as the crisis assumed pandemic proportions, shifted focus to pediatric AIDS, community-based care, and civil society engagement. It has recently shifted to building infrastructure, transferring skills and experience developed earlier to local communities.

• The foundation initiatives also target three other global crises, each representing a huge unmet medical need and also a major market:
• In Asia, an astonishing 275 million people suffer from chronic hepatitis B, and one million die each year from resulting liver problems.
• In Europe, cancer is the second most common cause of death (1.7 million in 2006), but in Central and Eastern Europe, the rate is higher still. The lifetime risk of lung cancer among Hungarian men, for example, is 12%.
• In the U.S., a stunning 75% of people with serious mental health problems—like schizophrenia and major depression—receive no help at all. Yet these conditions are often crippling; persistent mental illness reduces life expectancy by 25 years.

The following are a few examples from these areas of the power and cost-effectiveness of the community-based approach: a mobile mental health van to bring mental healthcare and tele-medicine equipment to rural Alabama; culturally appropriate support for mental health needs of Native Americans; and a program that targets migrant workers in China—over 13% of whom are hepatitis carriers—and also educates factory managers who otherwise refuse to hire them.

Younger Minds and Greener Chemistry
But the work of the foundation is only part of the story. The company also excels in science education, for example leading the development of RxeSEARCH, an unusual educational curriculum on how medicines are discovered and developed. Designed as an interdisciplinary game, it requires high school students to draw on their knowledge of several disciplines as they work through each stage of drug development. A single initiative thus promotes education, educates young people on pharma career paths, and improves public understanding of pharmaceutical companies.

Patient access to drugs includes assistance to uninsured patients with financial hardship, an area of especially intense public scrutiny. In 2008 the company dispensed drugs worth over $228 million to nearly a quarter million patients and was ranked fifth in the world in “equitable pricing” by Access to Medicine Index.

Environmental consciousness is an ethical norm, a source of public scrutiny and future regulations, and also an opportunity to save money. One of the company’s most successful environmental initiatives is the Green Chemistry program, which has redesigned pharmaceutical production from the ground up to minimize subsequent waste disposal problems. As a result, the company now ranks first among its peers in controlling hazardous waste generated.

Bristol-Myers Squibb cultivates employee development in several ways, including a rich assortment of virtual classroom courses that provide access to Ivy League content with Cornell faculty. The company was selected a 2009 Top 50 Company for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives and one of the Top 100 Companies for working mothers by Working Mother magazine for 12 consecutive years.

All Things Considered
The company’s most important honor was its ranking by the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association as the No. 1 company in all industries in 2009 on a combination of criteria that overlap substantially with our own. It was also selected one of the world’s 100 most respected companies in 2009 by Barron’s.

Anthony C. Hooper, the company’s president for the Americas, says, “Not only do we do incredible things as an organization to develop, discover, and deliver important medicines, but we also reach out into the communities we serve to make a difference in people’s lives by promoting the practice of good health.”

These efforts have brought Bristol-Myers Squibb the respect and recognition of a rich network of stakeholders around the world. And ours as well.
—Bruce Lacey

BRAND WINNERS
2009 TRAILBLAZER BRANDS OF THE YEAR WINNER
CRITERIA

PM360’s brand winners in major disease categories were judged by the success, challenges, originality, and strategies of their marketing efforts. We required each brand winner to show improved performance, as measured by sales, market share, or other indications. The judges also took account of how the brand or product benefited patients.

AUTOIMMUNE WINNER
ViroPharma’s Cinryze
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare but potentially deadly genetic condition that affects roughly 6,000 Americans. HAE, which presents in patients as painful and debilitating swelling of the extremities, face, genitals, abdomen, and larynx, often goes undiagnosed for years. If left untreated, the death rate can be as high as 30%.

In October 2008 the FDA approved Cinryze, the first and only C1 inhibitor therapy for routine prophylaxis against HAE. Cinryze targets the underlying cause of HAE by increasing functional C1 inhibitor in patients who are deficient in this protein. Administered prophylactically, Cinryze helps reduce the frequency, severity, and duration of HAE attacks. As part of its commitment to patients, ViroPharma implemented the Cinryze Solutions Support Program. This program helps patients investigate current benefit coverage, finds alternative coverage or financial support if necessary, and offers reimbursement support and assistance with insurance questions—which can often be complex when dealing with an orphan drug in a rare disease. Cinryze Solutions also helps patients and physicians obtain Cinryze and coordinates arrangements for its administration. Because Cinryze Solutions is committed to helping to ensure that all patients who are prescribed Cinryze gain access to the therapy, this program has been an invaluable resource for patients and physicians.

The Cinryze brand team recognizes that launching an orphan drug can be a daunting task. The success of Cinryze would not have been possible without the efforts of many others within the organization, especially the Sales, Managed Markets, and Corporate Communications teams.

Cardiology Winner
Daiichi Sankyo’s Benicar
High blood pressure, or hypertension, can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease. Moreover, only about half of the 74 million Americans afflicted succeed in lowering blood pressure to a healthy level. One problem is compliance: Not only do patients balk at lifestyle changes, they have less motivation to stick with their medication because they typically don’t feel sick. A larger problem is drug efficacy: Even when taken regularly, medications commonly fall short of providing the blood pressure reduction needed.

After reviewing study results showing Benicar to be more efficacious at starting dose than the competition, Daiichi Sankyo’s Benicar brand team designed a campaign that raised the bar on competitors, encouraging both patients and physicians to set aggressive blood pressure reduction goals. They encouraged patients and doctors to aim lower than the JNC standard (<140/90), in some cases aiming for a normal reading of 120/80. This message was captured in a single appealing and informative ad: a long line of runners in a grassy setting, passing road signs of 140/90 and 130/80, heading toward a prominent “GOAL” banner and a nearby 120/80 sign. Besides the main message, the image evokes the ideas of an attainable goal, identification with healthy runners, and solidarity with other sufferers. By encouraging patients (and doctors) to be aggressive goal setters, the campaign is expected to enhance compliance as well as to promote Benicar.

The results speak for themselves. Benicar’s market share started at No. 7 in the ARB market and today competes for No. 2.

Central Nervous System Winner
Cephalon’s Nuvigil
Cephalon’s Nuvigil (armodafinil) Tablets [C-IV], a longer-lasting form of the company’s flagship product modafinil, improves wakefulness throughout the day for those suffering from excessive sleepiness due to treated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), shift work disorder (SWD) or narcolepsy; many people at risk for SWD or OSA do not know about these prevalent but under-diagnosed conditions, or about this new treatment option to help them stay awake. The task of the Nuvigil team was to quickly educate physicians and patients about the new medication in the challenging managed care environment of 2009.

The “Rediscover Wakefulness” campaign (shown with a triumphant “W”), which began in June 2009, is a textbook illustration of how to quickly take a product from 0 to 60. Only three months after launch, Nuvigil achieved a 16.5% share of the total Wakefulness Market (IMS Health, NPA Audit, week ending 9/4/09), making it one of the most successful pharmaceutical product launches in recent history. The campaign is rich in original ideas. So far it has included a nurse-led viral education program to educate local communities about sleep apnea and shift work disorder and an automatic Prescription Savings Program to provide patient savings in a tough economy.

The campaign continues to gain momentum. It will shortly introduce an interactive Nuvigil Clinical Community Center on www.Medscape.com that will allow physicians to access clinical and formulary information and to send requests directly to their sales representative.

Dermatology Winner
NeoStrata’s Psorent
As many as 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis, a chronic skin disease currently without a cure. Psoriasis sufferers are more likely to feel distressed and stigmatized because of how their skin looks, to have poor quality of life, and to have higher rates of depression and suicide. If their psoriasis is left untreated, they may be at higher risk of developing obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. So the results of a series of clinical tests on NeoStrata’s new OTC drug Psorent showing superior efficacy in treating psoriasis combined with high patient satisfaction and low cost have created a growing sense of pride and excitement at the company.

NeoStrata’s marketing strategy sought to leverage the clinical results of this low-cost OTC formulation by first targeting physicians—a group that generally limits psoriasis therapy to prescription medications due to a perceived lack of good OTC alternatives. The campaign theme “Psorent Psatisfies” conveyed the simple but powerful argument that Psorent satisfies the needs of both physicians and patients with “the efficacy of an Rx and the safety and cost of an OTC.” Dermatology journal ads coupled with a physician-directed online video (at www.psoriasissolution.net) showed high patient satisfaction with the clinical benefits, aesthetics, and ease of use. A DTC campaign took advantage of news coverage, targeted advertising and an online purchase incentive—a $10 donation to the National Psoriasis Foundation with each purchase. More recent studies have focused on cost savings, which are particularly relevant in the present economic climate. NeoStrata CEO Mark Steele put it this way: “At a time when we are all looking for effective, affordable healthcare alternatives, Psorent is a solution for psoriasis sufferers of all ages.”

Diabetes/Metabolic Disorders Winner
Sanofi-Aventis’s Lantus
Thanks to Lantus (insulin glargine), the only 24-hour insulin approved for once daily use, Sanofi-aventis has been a global and U.S. leader in diabetes management for some time. In the past year, the drugmaker introduced two innovative marketing programs that not only increased brand recognition but inspired type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients to be proactive about managing their health.

Under the first program, Sanofi-aventis sponsored and launched Team Type 1 in 2008 and Team Type 2 in 2009. Both are cycling teams comprised of amateur and professional athletes, many of whom have diabetes, who tour the country and compete in Race Across America and other races such as Tour de Cure. These groups spread the message of good diabetes management and are advocates for the Sanofi-aventis products Lantus and Apidra.

The second program, the Trailblazer Innovation Awards’ DTP Campaign winner this year, was based on Sanofi-aventis’s recognition that the diagnosis of a child with type 1 diabetes affects the entire family. These families need emotional support as well as tools to help get through the challenging first 30 days post-diagnosis. Sanofi-aventis partnered with Children With Diabetes to develop the KidCare Kit, a free multimedia resource containing a DVD with testimonials from families in similar circumstances along with other resources.

The goodwill and exposure created by these programs contributed to making Sanofi-aventis No. 1 in branded diabetes products.

Hematology/Oncology Winner
Centocor Ortho Biotech’s Procrit
For more than 16 years, Procrit (Epoetin alfa), distributed by Centocor Ortho Biotech Products, has been an important treatment option in anemia management for cancer patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Due to the changing environment, the brand needed to redefine positioning of Procrit in the oncology marketplace.

To overcome these challenges, the Procrit Marketing Team developed a creative strategy to identify a simple but powerful positioning statement that resonates with physicians: Control the Response.

Based on this theme, a unified campaign and message platform was created and distributed across multiple channels. The impact: increased awareness among healthcare providers and patients, driving the need to control hemoglobin levels and ensure the safe and effective use of Procrit. Procrit is a registered trademark of Centocor Ortho Biotech Products, L.P.

Infectious Disease Winner
MiddleBrook’s Moxatag
If you’ve ever had strep throat, you’ll appreciate the benefits MiddleBrook’s Moxatag provides. Indicated specifically for pharyngitis/tonsillitis secondary to Streptococcus pyogenes in patients 12 and older, Moxatag is the first and only FDA-approved once-daily amoxicillin. The convenience of once-daily dosing offers significant advantages over traditional amoxicillin therapies for strep throat, since convenience drives compliance, which in turn increases the odds of therapy success. (Not taking antibiotics properly is the No. 1 reason patients fail therapy.) Moreover, noncompliant patients have a 175% greater chance of infection recurrence, which can result in additional physician visits, medications, and even hospitalization. So MiddleBrook and its marketing agency Dudnyk had a solid case to make.

Dudnyk’s compelling brand identity for Moxatag was a crucial element of MiddleBrook\'s launch strategy, which has yielded impressive market share gains for the brand. The key was a visually striking ad campaign that drove home the selling points, a balanced and comprehensive multi-channel marketing campaign, and careful coordination with the sales force. The eye-catching central image of the advertising campaign shows molten ore being poured into a “MOXATAG” mold against a black background, conveying both the newness and the strength of the product. The words “The First Once-Daily Amoxicillin Is Formed” complement the image. The marketing campaign ran in 30 professional journals and included a Strep Treatment Guide for distribution to 200,000 pharmacists, robust direct mail and Website ad campaigns, several healthcare and medical conferences, a customer-centric Website, and an innovative patient assistance program. These tactical elements have been strategically coordinated with the MiddleBrook trade and field sales effort, and the product is poised for great success as strep throat season advances.

Medical Device Winner
Leica Microsystems’ Leica FL800
A neurosurgeon injects a dye intravenously into a patient diagnosed with a brain tumor, and within seconds, a special camera picks up the dye’s fluorescent signal in the patient’s brain and displays it to the surgeon in real time through the eyepieces of the surgical microscope. The edges of the brain tumor actually glow. The neurosurgeon now knows how aggressively he or she can resect the tumor. This is how Leica Microsystems’ tumor fluorescence system, the Leica FL400, can, in many cases, be used to extend the life of a patient. The Leica FL800, a vascular fluorescence system, uses similar technology to make blood flow visible in real time, also leading to better surgical outcomes. These two fluorescence innovations are the biggest advances in years for intra-operative neurosurgery and plastic/reconstructive surgery.

The challenge faced by Leica Microsystems was to successfully introduce these technologies to neurosurgeons, plastic/reconstructive surgeons, and hospital administrators. Knowing that surgeons listen to the opinions of their peers, Leica Microsystems promoted the new systems through testimonials from neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons and used two DVDs to illustrate real cases. The DVDs presented surgeries that allowed surgeons to appreciate the instruments’ high-quality imaging capabilities, the improvement in surgical outcomes, and hence, better patient care.

DVDs were mailed to attendees of major conferences. For the general public, Leica Microsystems produced a consumer PR program featuring a prominent neurosurgeon explaining the efficacy of the technology. The capstone of the campaign was a Brain Imaging Symposium sponsored by the company, which attracted speakers and specialists from around the world.

The verdict: Real-time fluorescence really is the biggest advance in the field in years.

Men’s Health Winner
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Flomax
Flomax has long held the distinction of being the No. 1 prescribed medication to treat male urinary symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, when Boehringer Ingelheim realized U.S. Hispanic consumers were a largely ignored patient population, it decided that was not good enough. Out of an estimated 2.4 million Hispanic men, over 1.5 million are undiagnosed and suffering. Research shows that Hispanic men tend to dismiss the symptoms as a normal part of aging, lack awareness about the condition, or are embarrassed to seek help out of “macho” pride.

Flomax launched an innovative campaign to reach U.S. Hispanics through television and print ads, visual aids in doctors’ offices, a call center, a Spanish-language Website, Web banners, and fulfillment mailing materials. The television ad spread the message that taking care of yourself is a sign of strength not weakness. The Flomax team went above and beyond to ensure a successful campaign. For example, when Hispanic call completions to the interactive phone recording were uncharacteristically low, they pioneered the company\'s first use of live phone operators. The increased personalization doubled call completion rates.

The results were impressive. Within three months of launch, new prescriptions in high Hispanic-density zip codes had increased 7% over the previous year. Among prostate sufferers, fully 58% of those surveyed discussed their urinary symptoms with their doctor after seeing the Flomax TV ad. The company also received over 1,700 calls to its toll-free number, and coupon redemption increased 125% over 12 weeks. The success of Flomax’s campaign has affected marketing for other brands at Boehringer Ingelheim through companywide presentations that share the campaign’s insights and results.

Ophthalmology Winner
Alcon’s AcrySof IQ Toric Intraocular Lens
Prior to the launch of the AcrySof IQ Toric Intraocular Lens (IOL) by Alcon Labs, the only way to correct astigmatism following cataract surgery was to rely on eyeglasses or contact lenses, which can be both inconvenient and expensive over time. The AcrySof IQ Toric gave surgeons a way to replace cataract-clouded lenses while improving distance vision and image quality at the same time.

In what Senior Product Manager Stephon Payseur describes as “a truly collaborative effort with an innovative agency,” Alcon teamed up with 2e Creative to establish the AcrySof IQ Toric as the most precise option for the surgical correction of astigmatism in cataract patients. Their direct-to-surgeon initiatives included a micro-site where surgeons could access vital information, Web-based training programs, an updated online Toric Calculator that precisely determines the optimal IOL position in the eye, and a downloadable iPhone application. They also maintained visibility throughout ophthalmic journals with articles and advertisements. The power of e-marketing helped spread awareness of a new and clinically successful product and produced a meteoric rise in sales and market share. Although for years no Toric-class IOL had been used by more than about 4% of U.S. surgeons, now up to 40% report using them. The AcrySof IQ Toric has not only spurred growth in elective IOLs, it has achieved a share of over 95% of the U.S. Toric IOL market since its launch.

Pain/Inflammation Winner
Schering-Plough’s Celestone Soluspan
If we had an award for Best Product Resurrection, it would go to Schering-Plough’s Celestone Soluspan. Like a veteran forced to retire early, Celestone was taken off the market for two years due to manufacturing problems, despite a track record of 43 years as the gold standard of corticosteroid treatments for painful inflammatory conditions. At its peak, it had a market share of 75%.

Now with limited funding and no sales force, a new brand management team was given the job of breathing new life into the stalwart brand, entering a tough market in which brand loyalty is paramount. The central theme of the campaign was Celestone’s distinctive strength and differentiating factor: It is still the only injectable corticosteroid that is both fast-acting and long-lasting. (In addition, it has 40 years of clinical experience behind it and is now widely available.) An attractive flash animation with this message evoked the idea of speed of relief by look and sound and was sent to 33,000 specialists in orthopedics, rehabilitation, hand surgery, sports medicine, and rheumatology. Direct mail initiatives, Web-based programs, and a print ad campaign were similarly targeted. The result: Celestone is back at work with the company, its market share having risen from 0% to 15% in two and a half years.

Respiratory Winner
Abbott’s Oxepa
Who showed up last year at the ASPEN and SCCM conventions with a large green fire truck? Stonefly Communications Group client Abbott Nutrition, that’s who. It was part of the Fight Fire Integrated Campaign on behalf of the Therapeutic Nutrition Division’s brand Oxepa. Why firefighting? Oxepa is therapeutic nutrition that helps modulate lung inflammation in critically ill patients with acute lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome. The Fight Fire Campaign was based on a beautifully simple idea: Create a powerful connection between firefighting and ICU dietitians and clinicians who fight lung inflammation.

The “Fight Fire” theme was realized in a series of viscerally compelling images of fire in the shape of lungs. These appeared in print ads, a printed detail aid, an electronic sales aid, and a Website banner ad that were directed at the target audiences of clinicians and dietitians.

(At the conventions mentioned, you could even get branded fire helmets.) A second series of ads, combining the “Fight Fire” theme with empirical data from a number of clinical studies demonstrating effectiveness, took aim at the long-standing skepticism among some clinicians about the use of nutrition as therapy for the critically ill. The result of this one-two punch: an increased awareness of the benefits of therapeutic nutrition and a new attitude toward Oxepa among the target audiences. In addition, Oxepa’s success has led to the development of a new Critical Care Portfolio of therapeutic nutrition products from Abbott Nutrition with Oxepa as the flagship of the portfolio. Two other products are now being marketed in the positive light created by the Fight Fire Campaign’s halo effect, and a new product launch is imminent.

Women’s Health Winner
Novartis’s Femara
One third of all women with hormone receptor positive early breast cancer will hear the grim news that their cancer has returned. However, recent studies bring hope that at least among postmenopausal women, this number can be reduced. Patients taking Novartis’s drug Femara had a significantly lower rate of breast cancer recurrence than those taking generic tamoxifen, the standard treatment for the last 30 years. AgencyRx sought to leverage these findings in a campaign that would arrest the attention of physicians who view the market as undifferentiated.

AgencyRx focused on one key fact. The most dangerous recurrences of breast cancer—those most correlated with an early death—are not located in the breast; they are “distant metastases,” migrations of the breast cancer to other sites in the body, especially to the lungs, bone, liver, and brain. And Femara is the only drug among its competitors to provide an early significant reduction—a full 27%—in the risk of distant metastases versus tamoxifen.

To communicate this compelling data, AgencyRx created an image featuring the chilling X-ray of such a metastasis—in the pelvis or brain, for example—coupled with the headline “This is Breast Cancer.” The image is riveting and highly effective, even more stark against the unusual black background. Direct mail, detail pieces, and case studies centered around this theme elicited strong, positive responses from physicians. According to AgencyRx Vice President Aimee Roca, the campaign “combines the rational, scientific side of breast cancer diagnosis with the emotional component that both physicians and patients feel when faced with a distant recurrence.”

As you might expect, Femara has been on a nonstop success flight ever since. It became a billion-dollar brand in 2008 and continues to have double-digit sales growth.

INITIATIVE WINNERS
2009 TRAILBLAZER INITIATIVES OF THE YEAR WINNER
CRITERIA

PM360’s initiatives awards recognize outstanding healthcare marketing programs and publications. Our winners were judged by how well their initiatives met their goals, with special attention given to elements of originality in strategy or execution, challenges, and effectiveness, including cost-effectiveness, as measured by response, sales, or other indications. The judges also took account of the resulting benefits for patients. Our two publication awards honor innovations in design or editorial content, readership response, and benefit to readers.

Product Launch Winner
ClearCount’s SmartSponge System
Counting sponges does not seem especially glamorous or high tech, but the consequences of counting wrong during surgery can be devastating. ClearCount Medical Solutions’ SmartSponge System—a new technology using sponges embedded with radio-frequency identification chips—automates the counting and locating of surgical sponges, eliminating the danger of surgical error.

However, new technologies aren’t always greeted with open arms. There were already counting and locating devices on the market with lower price tags. In a slowed economy, hospitals hesitated to invest in a relatively unknown product. And nurses, many of whom were seeing their hours cut, were proud of their ability to count sponges and sometimes bristled at the idea of funding fancy technology instead of staff.

The Zer0 to 5ive Agency “hit this problem from all sides,” as one of our judges put it. A convenient point of departure was a new CMS mandate that expenses for retained surgical sponges would no longer be reimbursed. ClearCount deftly leveraged this ruling by introducing the “Never Event Warranty,” a no-risk/no-loss guarantee that boldly indicated the company’s intention to stand behind the accuracy of its product, securing SmartSponge’s position as the gold standard in its field. At the critically important Congress of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), ClearCount announced the warranty while receiving the AORN Seal of Approval for SmartSponge Operating Procedures. An intensive campaign across a variety of media sources culminated in a Time magazine story on the adoption of SmartSponge by the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. In the aftermath of this coup, key hospital leads have multiplied and SmartSponge has begun to fulfill its promise to patients, providers, and shareholders.

Professional Campaign Winner
Kimberly-Clark’s Not On My Watch
Healthcare can be bad for your health. Some 100,000 people die needlessly from healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) every year in the U.S. alone. In developing countries, the situation is much worse. Kimberly-Clark Health Care says it shouldn’t be—infection is preventable.

In this context, Kimberly-Clark, a leader in infection control, undertook a campaign to promote its products and raise awareness around this important issue. It also aimed to sharpen its image as a leader in the field. Marketers found that when asked, “What would a leader do?” 91% of respondents said a leader would provide clinical education. Thus was born the groundbreaking Not On My Watch Campaign. With its two-pronged message (issue and product), the campaign’s cornerstone became infection prevention awareness and education. This message was delivered as part of a richly integrated motivational and image-making marketing campaign. One delivery vehicle was the HAI Education Tour Bus, a classroom on wheels in which customers could take computer-based training, which was also available on KC’s resource Website, www.HAIwatch.com. A multinational ad campaign featuring defiant healthcare professionals under the slogan “Infection? Not On My Watch” sought to mobilize caretaker pride, ranking first or second in “stopping power” in multiple ad readership studies. The campaign has been embraced by marketers, sales reps, and customers worldwide, resulting in strengthened relationships and new multi-million dollar contracts.

Consumer Healthcare Publication Winner
Health Monitor at Home
With an abundance of health information available to patients through various media, most still look to their doctors for reliable guidance. Now more than ever the communication between doctor and patient is critical. And no publication is better positioned to strengthen this bond than Health Monitor at Home. It is the only health magazine in the country that is sent free to patients’ homes compliments of their personal physicians.

Health Monitor at Home offers its one million subscribers and six million readers a great deal, combining education with inspiration. It provides information on health, wellness, and how to better manage a disease or condition. But each issue also features personal stories from sufferers, including celebrities. These stories express hope and triumph, teach disease and condition awareness, and underscore why attention to wellness is so important. Diabetes, arthritis, heart care, and many other conditions are covered regularly.

In addition, the publication provides many types of tools—such as medication trackers and doctor visit question reminders that are useful for both patients and doctors—and interesting columns like “What I Wish My Patients Knew” and “Caregiver’s Perspective.”

Health Monitor at Home makes it easy for patients and doctors to discuss health concerns in an effective way, and the magazine serves as a reminder and motivator for compliance with the doctor’s treatment plan. As of last fall, survey results from 41,000 readers showed that 56% had discussed a product or service after reading ads or content in the magazine, 96% felt that receiving the magazine indicated their doctor was concerned about their health, while an astonishing 94% were reminded to be more compliant with their doctors’ treatment plan.

Unbranded Campaign Winner
Endo’s Patchwork of Hope Network
If your company plans an unbranded campaign, you would do well to study the ongoing educational and patient support campaign created by GCI Health and Endo Pharmaceuti- cals, which was first in its category in a field of strong contenders. Called the Patchwork of Hope Network (P.H.N.), the campaign aims to raise awareness of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) or after-shingles pain, a debilitating condition striking women over age 50 especially. It will affect one in five of the million people in the U.S. who contract shingles every year.

GCI’s strategy was both to secure credibility and to multiply its resources by developing a vast network of third parties to disseminate information on PHN and the P.H.N. campaign. The key to the strategy was its creation of formalized relationships with three carefully chosen third-party organizations—the National Council on Aging (NCOA) with its network of senior centers, the National Pain Foundation (NPF), which is an organization of physicians, and the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA).

The campaign consisted of live social and educational events and a newly redesigned Website, www.AfterShingles.com, as well as a variety of materials distributed to senior centers and physician waiting rooms. NCOA provided emcees and senior center locations and NPF provided spokespersons for the heavily promoted events, which culminated in New York on the NPF-sponsored first annual PHN Awareness Day on September 15. The Website has seen more than 32,000 hits in three months. The media effort has reached almost two and a half million readers in 180 publications. As one attendee in Miami commented: “Knowledge is power. This was time well spent.”

Persistence Program Winner
Alkermes’s Touchpoints Recovery Support
The sale of liquor is on the rise, but not in restaurants and other public establishments. Liquor\'s sales growth is in home consumption, and many blame the current economic downturn, in which lost jobs, savings, and homes are all too common. For physicians who treat alcohol dependence, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out a way to help people stay in treatment. That\'s where Alkermes and Group DCA stepped in. The result? The Touchpoints Recovery Support Program.

Touchpoints Recovery Support is a free, interactive online support program developed by the makers of Vivitrol, a medication used for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Treatment with Vivitrol should be part of a comprehensive management program that includes psychosocial support.

The program is designed to complement the physicians\' efforts by offering clinically validated tools developed and used by recovery professionals. As each week progresses, patients are invited to utilize recovery support tools that help the patient track progress in sobriety and urges to drink, as well as quality-of-life goals like physical and emotional health and family relations. Patients are encouraged to print out their responses to share them with their healthcare provider—especially since evidence shows patients who receive support and feedback do better in recovery.

A personalized treatment timeline tracks the patient’s injection schedule, and emails are sent to remind patients to schedule their next appointment. With Touchpoints Recovery Support, patients can access video narratives of real-life recoveries, an interactive educational animation, and reviews/ links to mutual support groups, which enrich the program.

DTC Campaign Winner
Allergan’s Doctor as Patient
Restasis Campaign
Let’s start with the bottom line. Beacon Healthcare’s “Doctor as Patient” Campaign took a brand that was a tough sell in more ways than one and sparked a tenfold increase in sales by 2008. No wonder our judges were impressed.

The brand? Allergan’s Restasis (cyclo- sporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05%, a treatment for chronic dry eye (CDE)—a condition that reduces your ability to produce your own tears. Unlike its competition—over-the-counter artificial tear products—Restasis treats the underlying cause of CDE, increasing natural tear production. However, it also requires a prescription, costs more, and takes weeks to be effective. Also, most doctors prescribe it only for severe cases. Moreover, many people who are potential customers don’t even realize they have a treatable condition.

Beacon’s multi-faceted campaign addressed each of these problems. Each part of the campaign projected the same theme—“Doctor as Patient”—and a single image—Dr. Alison Tendler, an ophthalmologist who is also a patient suffering from CDE. The first prong of the campaign was outreach to potential consumers by means of 60-second TV commercials and print ads featuring Dr. Tendler. They offered a $20 rebate toward the purchase of Restasis and drew consumers to an 800 number and the Website. Patients who call this number or visit the Website receive an information kit that helps them self-diagnose and a dry eye actionnaire they can bring to their next doctor’s appointment. The Smart Start Program provides doctors with free vouchers for their first prescription, while a separate patient rewards program manages expectations and offers periodic incentives to keep them going until the drug takes effect. The results speak for themselves.

Professional PR Campaign Winner
Novo Nordisk’s Changing Possibilities in Hemophilia
Novo Nordisk has been strongly committed to hemophilia research, investment, education, and patient support for some time, but a recent survey showed that only a dismaying 9% of the hemophilia community were aware of this commitment.

Novo Nordisk Senior Brand Manager Mike Ferrara sought to change this. His goal was to forge a new presence for Novo Nordisk in the marketplace by leveraging the company’s passion for improving the lives of those touched by hemophilia. To accomplish this, he designed a multi-faceted program that would implant a fresh image of the company’s mission in the public mind, thus making the commitment to hemophilia part of its very identity.

Through the partnership of the Novo Nordisk brand team and Cline, Davis & Mann, the strategy was pursued at several levels. First, they developed every Novo Nordisk employee into an ambassador for the company. The field force received comprehensive Ambassador Kits containing modules that defined each core company value—Passion, Science, Actions, and Commitment. Additional elements included a motivational video and brochures. A series of remarkably effective ads targeted both physicians and patients, each reinforcing the idea that Novo Nordisk is Changing Possibilities in Hemophilia. A new hemophilia resource Website conveyed these messages with an unusual combination of emotional appeal, simplicity of design, and richness of information.

The results were overwhelming. The campaign gave the sales force new life and a renewed passion for their company and gave physicians a new interest in Novo Nordisk. Within six months, customer access increased by 35%. Moreover, 28% of the community now displays an unaided awareness of the campaign themes and thus of Novo Nordisk’s central contribution to the hemophilia community.

DTP Campaign Winner
Sanofi-aventis’s KidCare Kit
What do the parents of newly diagnosed diabetic children and adolescents care most about? That’s the question Euro RSCG Life MetaMax asked when given the task of creating a greater presence for Sanofi-aventis and its products Lantus and Apidra in the pediatric insulin market. The answer is not getting more information; they found that parents were already overloaded. The answer lies in the heart rather than the head. These parents feel overwhelmed emotionally and physically. They often blame themselves for the diabetes and live in fear they might kill their child if they do something wrong. Euro RSCG Life MetaMax concluded that what these parents need most is emotional support, reassurance, and simple, practical tools to get them through those difficult first days after diagnosis. That was the central idea behind the Sanofi-aventis KidCare Kit they designed.

Every aspect of the kit reflects these ideas: Its look is warm and engaging, featuring a visual theme of helping hands. Users are asked to watch a specially created Diabetes Comes Home DVD, an emotional account of two families’ personal stories of learning to cope with their children’s diabetes as well as advice and encouragement from experts. Other materials inside the kit, made to be tucked into a purse or backpack, include “Give One” cards—designed to lighten the burden of difficult conversations —that parents can give to teachers, coaches, and babysitters on ways to address their child’s special needs. (A Website allows parents to customize these.) Finally, a copy of the book Calorie King is included to get families comfortable with carbohydrate counting. In the end, the KidCare Kit helps parents and caregivers understand that they aren’t alone and provides the tools they need to move forward after a difficult diagnosis.

Interactive Marketing
Program Winner
virco®TYPE HIV-1
The current HIV drug arsenal includes over 20 medications in six drug classes, which need to be used in combination to be most effective. HIV resistance tests can help physicians determine which drugs may or may not work in a patient’s therapy, allowing them to create treatment plans that are more likely to suppress the virus and prevent complications of HIV.

The virco®TYPE HIV-1 uses a sophisticated bio-informatics technology, Virtual Phenotype™-LM to calculate the level of drug resistance and optimize drug choice. In 2007 Virco designed an online tool—www.Resist-HIV.info—that sought to guide HIV treatment experts through the wealth of HIV resistance information and provide information on the Virco test.

Virco, facing a flat or declining market for resistance testing in 2008, turned to several partners to execute an integrated strategy to improve sales—Physicians Interactive, R&R Healthcare Communications, and Skyscape. Their strategy: Target 5,400 healthcare providers specializing in HIV and drive them to the Resist-HIV Website, where they could join the opt-in database while learning what the Website and Virco testing tools had to offer.

To accomplish this on a small budget, Virco deployed a collection of online and interactive tools. PI’s interactive eDetail programs increased the reach of the sales force. Mobile alerts to PDAs were issued with the help of PI’s partner Skyscape. PI’s Rapid Access Surveys elicited responses in days. Clinical updates created by R&R provided detailed information in an educational format.

The low-cost campaign reached 75% of the target group and doubled opt-ins to the resource center, resulting in 9% sales growth in the first half of 2008. To view the celebratory video (to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes”), see www.physinteractive.com/Demo/Virco_Burke/index.html.

Consumer Website Initiative Winner
WebMD Symptom Checker
In this age of technology, the first place people often go to look for health information and related symptoms is the Internet. WebMD learned through metrics analysis, focus groups, and surveys that information on symptoms is a top reason for visiting its site. The WebMD Symptom Checker was created by an experienced group of WebMD physicians, using the latest standards of evidence-based medicine, and an easy-to-use, patent-pending interface. All the user has to do is enter a gender and an age, and click on the appropriate body part. A user-friendly vocabulary list of possible symptoms that may occur will appear, and as a user clicks on symptoms possible ailments appear. Each ailment is accompanied by an information overview, possible symptoms, articles, images, and videos. When a symptom is entered that may be associated with a serious or life-threatening condition, a message alert is provided.

The WebMD Symptom Checker is widely viewed as the gold standard for online symptom-checking tools and has become prevalent in popular culture. Even MLB television analysts will use it to explain where a player is injured. Not only was it one of the most popular tools on WebMD in 2008, but users also sent in countless letters and emails about lives the Symptom Checker has saved. Just ask Elizabeth Edwards. In an interview with WebMD’s Miranda Hitti, Edwards says that when she felt some pain in the fall of 2008, she searched the Internet for “bone cancer symptoms” and used WebMD’s Symptom Checker.

Professional Publication Winner
New England Journal of Medicine
Who can compete with the New England Journal of Medicine? For some time it has been the most-cited clinical research journal, with an ISI impact factor of an astonishing 50.017, nearly twice that of other multi-specialty journals. In 2009 the independent Essential Journal Study found NEJM among the top three essential journals in all 13 medical specialties. At the same time the journal’s website www.NEJM.org has been named both the most useful medical journal Website and the best-read medical journal Website by syndicated research organizations. It’s even a leader in news. According to ABC news, the top five medical news stories of 2008 first appeared in NEJM. So what else is new?

In fact, so much is new we scarcely know where to begin. But most of the recent innovations have one thing in common: the journal’s central commitment to supporting frontline clinicians, with their hectic schedules a major design consideration. For clinicians on the go, NEJM provides a Web interface designed for wireless handheld devices, audio podcasts summarizing journal articles, and PowerPoint-compatible downloads for adapting article slide sets for teaching. Editorial content now includes peer-reviewed videos of common clinical procedures, the H1N1 Influenza Center, the U.S. Health Care Reform Center, and, even more remarkable, the newly launched Interactive Medical Cases— online modules that present physicians with a virtual patient and a rich clinical background given partly by video and graphic information, on which they can test their diagnostic and therapeutic skills.

Consumer PR Campaign Winner
Wyeth’s Blueprint for Hope
Depression is a serious, often chronic condition that has affected an estimated 33 million to 35 million U.S. adults. As a leader in neuroscience, Wyeth realizes depression is treatable but also knows that many patients are not getting the help they need. So Wyeth partnered with the PR firm Porter Novelli to launch the Blueprint for Hope campaign, with the goal of inspiring people to speak with a healthcare professional about depression and create a “blueprint” or plan to manage their illness.

The campaign’s three partners are Paige Hemmis, designer on the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, who suffers from depression; Jesse H. Wright, University of Louisville psychiatry professor; and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). The campaign’s Website (www.BlueprintforHope.com) contains depression information, a progress tracker to assist patients in discussions with their healthcare professional, and Hemmis’s do-it-yourself projects, which helped to inspire her when she was battling her depression. Hemmis also spread awareness by telling her story for the first time via national talk shows, a People magazine feature, local morning shows, and a newspaper feature. Local DBSA chapters are hosting patient events featuring Hemmis in six cities.

So far the launch has resulted in five national media placements, 29 SMT/RMT interviews, and placements in targeted Websites and blogs. Highlights include in-studio appearances by Hemmis on Fox News and ABC News Now and featured articles/postings on www.Health.com and www.PsychCentral.com blogs. The first four DBSA patient events were well attended and generated positive feedback. Whether via the media, the Web, or patient events, the campaign has now inspired many.

Professional Website INITIATIVE Winner
Abbott’s Glucerna Glycemic Pursuit
Sometimes interactive technology is meant to replace face-to-face meetings between sales reps and customers. Stonefly’s Glucerna Glycemic Pursuit Edutainment Game has the opposite purpose. It was designed to provide another channel for consistent message delivery and to make face-to-face meetings with dietitians more productive and enjoyable, while giving them a branded tool for learning best practices in diabetes-specific nutrition. The ultimate goal was to drive recommendations.

Glucerna is a specialized nutritional formulation developed by Abbott Nutrition that has been clinically shown to reduce spikes in blood glucose levels, which can be particularly dangerous in people with diabetes. While Glucerna is available at retail, its heritage as well as the majority of its usage, is in hospitals and long-term care facilities, where sales reps typically rely on in-service presentations to small groups of dietitians and clinicians. At these educational forums, the sales reps detail the advantage of Glucerna’s diabetes-specific formulation in helping to get patients released from the hospital with their blood glucose at a safe level.

After the presentation, the sales reps utilize Glycemic Pursuit with the attendees. The electronic game serves to summarize and reinforce key clinical advantages of Glucerna versus the use of standard nutrition formulas, to extend the time of the sales call—increasing critically important face time with the sales rep—and to charge the meeting atmosphere with a sense of fun, novelty, and goodwill. Since the game can also be played by one player, Glycemic Pursuit can be used as a standard sales tool with a single HCP or even on the Web if preferred.

Trailblazer Award winner articles were written by Special Projects Editor Bruce Lacey, with contributions by Andrew Matthius (for the Diabetes, Men’s Health, and Ophthalmology Brand winners and Consumer PR and Consumer Website Initiative winners).

PM360 TRAILBLAZER INNOVATION AWARD JUDGES

Rich Baron is Executive Director of Marketing at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. He leads Customer Development Marketing—including HCP Development, Consumer Marketing, and E-Business. He has spent the last nine years in brand marketing, leading such brands as Micardis and Flomax. He can be reached at rich.baron@boehringer-ingelheim.com

Carole Huntsman has more than 18 years of experience in small and large pharma as well as biotech sales and marketing. She is currently Vice President of Marketing, U.S. Neurology, at EMD Serono. She can be reached at Carole.Huntsman@emdserono.com

E.M. (Mick) Kolassa, MBA, PhD, is recognized internationally as the leading expert on pharmaceutical pricing. He is Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy Administration at the University of Mississippi. Prior to founding MME, he was Direc- tor of Pricing and Economic Policy at Sandoz. His email address is mkolassa@m2econ.com

Andrea LaFountain is a Cognitive Psychologist and opinion leader in evidence-based marketing and adherence. She is the CEO of Mind Field Solutions, a research and consulting firm that specializes in the application of cognitive science to pharmaceutical marketing. She can be reached at andrea.lafountain@mind-field-solutions.com

Linda LaMagna is a global executive with over 20 years of management expertise in sales, marketing, project manage- ment, and business development for large global medical device companies. Currently, she’s Director of Global Marketing for ConvaTec, a medical device company. She can be reached at linda.lamagna@convatec.com

R.J. Lewis is Founder, President, and CEO of e-Healthcare Solutions, a premier vertical healthcare Internet advertising network. Previously, Lewis spent several years at Physicians’ Online (which is now part of WebMD) as well as at the Grey Healthcare Group. His email address is rlewis@e-healthcaresolutions.com

Abby Mansfield is VP, Creative Director, at Topin & Associates, a medical marketing communications company. Both as creative director and in her previous life as a copywriter, she has worked on a number of pharmaceutical and medical device brands. She can be reached at amansfield@topin.com

Joe Meadows has both client and supplier-side experience and is widely known as an innovative healthcare strategist and patient marketing expert. He is currently VP of Marketing & Creative Services at Catalina Health Resource and can be reached at joseph.meadows@catalinamarketing.com

Richard Meyer has over 10 years of healthcare marketing experience and currently owns Online Strategic Solutions, an Internet marketing consultancy. He is author of www.WorldofDTC Marketing.com, a Website dedicated to DTC marketing for empowered patients. He can be reached at richardameyer@me.com

Steven Michaelson has over 30 years of consumer and professional advertising experience. He is the Founder and CEO of Wishbone (2009 Agency of the Year). He can be reached at smichaelson@wishbone-itp.com

Jim Sluck, during a 20-year career in the medical industry, has spent time in sales, sales management, managed care, and brand management. His current position is Global Director of Allergy Marketing for Alcon, directing marketing strategy for the Patanol franchise globally. He can be reached at jim.sluck@alconlabs.com

David Templeton is an industry entrepreneur and marketing strategist with extensive experience in large to start-up pharma corporations and pharmaceutical services corporations. He is currently Chief Marketing Officer of Storm King Media Group and is also a freelance marketing strategist for several emerging companies. He can be reached at info@davidatempleton.com

John Vieira has a career spanning more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including local and global sales and marketing as well as healthcare agency roles. He is currently Director of Marketing Operations at Daiichi Sankyo. He has worked on significant product launches across several therapeutic areas. He can be reached at jvieira@dsus.com

Steve Wirtz has extensive experience in pharma, biotech, PBMs, oncology reimbursement, and CRO service areas of the industry and is currently VP of Marketing at XenoTech, a pre-clinical CRO specializing in drug metabolism and interaction studies. He can be reached at swirtz@xenotechllc.com
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