A Streaming Service Exclusively for NPs & PAs
Knowing how important NPs and PAs have become in the healthcare industry, especially in the pandemic environment, POCN launched POCN+. The first Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming service of its kind, this free offering provides premium live and on-demand educational content for the NP and PA peer-driven influencer community while giving pharmaceutical and life sciences manufacturers opportunities to sponsor channels of their own content. The platform features videos created by NP and PA peers with content sourced from the CDC and other reputable partners, pharmaceutical and therapeutic information, as well as product-specific videos and case studies via the platform’s Industry Spotlight Channel and Expert Series.
“We developed POCN+ to be NPs’ and PAs’ comprehensive, one-stop resource for health-related news, case studies, and career-advancing educational courses in the first ever OTT platform for providers,” stated Richard Zwickel, CEO of POCN. “By sponsoring content on the POCN+ platform, brands are able to align their product messaging with high-quality, trusted content, providing unmatched credibility among key decision-makers.”
As the largest and most informed network of NPs and PAs, POCN offers members free access to POCN+ via the web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Amazon fire stick, Chromecast, and other media.
New AI-Powered POC Platform Announced
OptimizeRx, which creates digital solutions for life sciences companies, has updated its Point-of-Care Platform to use machine-learning methods applied to real-world data (RWD) to deliver therapeutic support and brand messages to clinicians at critical points in a patient’s care journey. An innovation in digital health and communication platforms, the new design leverages patient and scenario modeling to optimize and automate information delivery at the point of care. The upgrade helps providers make better decisions for their patients, especially for those with complex dosing requirements or chronic disease indications, and delivers more messages to more physicians whose actions were not previously visible on the platform.
“The entire healthcare system is focused on data interoperability in order to deliver the most effective care,” Miriam Paramore, OptimizeRx President, said in a statement. “Data alone doesn’t help, but actionable information does. Given our platform’s access to real-world data, such as diagnoses, lab results, and procedure details, we can apply our ‘secret sauce’ of AI and machine learning so that the data becomes useful information. We can then deliver this information at the right time, to the right person, and right within their daily e-prescribing workflow. This represents a true breakthrough in our efforts to improve the overall healthcare system for patients and providers alike.”
Patient outcomes can be impacted by delays and breakdowns in communication during the care delivery process, especially for oncology and specialty medicines. OptimizeRx is speeding time-to-diagnoses and care referrals, as well as preventing delays in treatment and reducing cost in the system, ultimately allowing patients to have a better overall experience with improved outcomes.
Influencer Marketing Agency Emerges
Influencer Marketing (IM) has been making waves in the healthcare space, but many marketers cannot fully capitalize on the practice. Inpulsus, a new consultancy designed to help put “influence” at the center of marketing transformation and to redefine the role of IM within businesses, aims to help marketers close their strategy gap.
COVID-19 has helped bolster the upward trend of social media marketing investments. A recent report, “Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Society 2020,” quotes that 73% of brands have upped their influence marketing spend this year despite the pandemic. As IM becomes more critical to business, many businesses are rushing straight to campaign execution at the expense of a more unified IM strategy. The fully remote, global firm sees untapped potential for many marketers to more fully optimize and scale IM, growing valuable audience engagement and positive results for their businesses.
CEO Robbie Vann-Adibé said, “Inpulsus brings together 35 years of advanced executional expertise and pioneering IM vision. Where the practice has advanced through numerous iterations, we believe that new ideas in how marketing and business organize around IM internally can unlock vast growth potential. As more companies see better direct return on investment from IM versus traditional paid media, the opportunity to become vastly more efficient and drive positive impact to the business is incredible.”
Inpulsus works with clients to benchmark current programs against market competitors and industry dynamics, while producing a detailed map of subsequent opportunities. The company works with in-house teams (or potential agency partners) to set best practices and enable technology.
Huntsworth Adds Nucleus Global to Its Growing Health Group
Huntsworth, an international healthcare and communications group, acquired Nucleus Global, one of the world’s largest medical specialist communications groups. Nucleus Global joins the healthcare operating units of Huntsworth, MediStrava, the Evoke Group, and The Creative Engagement Group. The acquisition strengthens Huntsworth’s commitment to providing pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with the most complete suite of strategic counsel, medical affairs, market access, stakeholder engagement, and marketing services across all therapeutic areas and across the entire drug development and commercialization lifecycle of molecule to medicine.
“The addition of Nucleus Global to Huntsworth creates one of the largest high science teams in the world to meet the increasingly complex needs of next generation prescription drug development,” Paul Taaffe, CEO of Huntsworth, said in a statement. “Together, Nucleus Global and Huntsworth are one of the most powerful combinations in healthcare communications.”
The agency will benefit from Nucleus Global’s wide medical specialty network, containing more than 800 experts with 14 offices to help deliver world-class compliant events, publications, and digital programs for the major healthcare and medical brands around the world.
Daiichi Sankyo Moves Deeper into Oncology
Daiichi Sankyo is in the midst of transitioning to an oncology drugmaker. The company established plans to create an integrated oncology business unit, putting U.S. business chief Ken Keller in charge. The new unit consolidates all U.S. and European oncology business, including global marketing, market access and pricing, and medical affairs, as well as alliance management, which covers its metastatic breast cancer treatment partnership with AstraZeneca. Previously a small-molecule metabolic and cardiovascular drugmaker, Daiichi Sankyo is planning to make the complete shift to oncology by 2025.
“Our plan is to become one of the fastest-growing oncology companies globally, as measured by new product revenue,” Keller said. “That’s what we’re driving toward, and we’ve got everything in place now. We’ve got the development organization, manufacturing organization, and now will have the business organization all transformed and focused on oncology.”
COVAXX Will Deliver COVID Vaccine to South America
While big pharma battles for federal deals in the U.S., smaller companies are targeting other markets with their own COVID-19 vaccines. New York’s COVAXX is entering Phase 2 of its UB-612 vaccine, but has already signed a $2.8 billion deal with Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. The company is ramping up production to hit 100 million doses in the first half of 2021 after agreeing to provide 140 million doses to the South American nations upon approval. This supply won’t be a problem if COVAXX receives approval, given they plan to roll out one billion doses by the end of 2021.
While the company may not be moving as fast as industry giants such as Pfizer, UB-612 may be a more practical option—the company claims the vaccine will be stable at normal temperatures unlike mRNA-based shots that require more stringent cold-chain storage. COVAXX could enter a key niche market in developing countries that do not have cold-delivery transportation or resources readily available.
Lilly Lands Two Emergency COVID Treatment Approvals
Eli Lilly first received emergency authorization for its antibody bamlanivimab for use in patients who just contracted COVID-19 and are at risk of severe symptoms. The company partnered with Samsung to ramp up production of the drug, aiming for a million doses by the end of the year, not long before receiving another emergency use authorization for Olumiant (baricitinib) to be used with Gilead’s remdesivir. Combining Olumiant with remdesivir reduced hospitalized patients’ recovery time by 12.5% compared to using remdesivir alone. Fortunately, Lilly’s drug is easy to produce and already globally available.
