DTC Perspectives Offers Specialized Pharma Marketer Training Program

Bob Ehrlich, CEO, DTC Perspectives, offers marketers DTC education and certification.

DTC Perspectives, with 20 years of advertising education, conferences, and publications that serve thousands under its belt, recently founded its new DTC University and DTC Certification program. The program can help pharmaceutical brand marketers, advertising agencies, and companies stand out in the pharmaceutical advertising space by becoming DTC Certified Marketers after attending DTC Perspectives’ events or online instructionals, which are designed to provide individualized learning on specialized topics that distinguish students as experienced marketers.

“DTC marketing is now about 25 years old. It is still evolving as regulations are in flux, new media is being created, and the consumer is taking more control of their health decisions,” says Bob Ehrlich, CEO, in a statement. “We created DTC University to offer continuing education for both experienced marketers and for those new to our industry. For 20 years, DTC Perspectives has been dedicated to professional development and DTC University is the culmination of that experience.”

To craft relevant course content covering all Direct-To-Consumer marketing campaign topics, DTC Perspectives consulted industry veterans and pharmaceutical marketing educators from established universities. The result is useful and reliable information for marketers in a user-friendly format. To receive a DTC Marketer Certification, participants must complete the introductory course, which includes a variety of important topics related to the latest trends, regulations, and technical capabilities in the industry.

All DTC Certified Marketers will receive special designation at DTC Perspectives’ events, a credit for additional education, a certificate, and access to a library of ongoing education videos featuring DTC experts. Certification hours can be achieved in-person by attending the DTC National Conference, April 16-18 at the Sheraton Boston, live at any office, or online at DTCUniversity.com.

FreshBlood HMC Expands as FreshBlood Group

FreshBlood Healthcare Market Consultants, a young solutions company specializing in brand development, commercial positioning, and pre-launch market preparation, expanded its creative services capabilities and announces its rebranding as FreshBlood Group. Divided into two integrated divisions of consulting and creative, FreshBlood Group’s consulting division specializes in brand development and commercial positioning, and pre-launch market preparation while the creative division executes full-on launch initiatives, creative campaigns and communications that target the spectrum of health industry channels and stakeholders.

FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Resigns

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb resigned from the position, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD announced on March 5th that he is resigning to spend more time with his family and will stay in the role for about a month longer, which would put his departure around early April. Dr. Gottlieb had been commuting weekly to D.C. from his home in Connecticut, where his wife and three daughters reside.

“I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to help lead this wonderful agency, for the support of my colleagues, for the public health goals we advanced together, and the strong support of Secretary Alex Azar and President Trump,” Dr. Gottlieb tweeted. “This has been a wonderful journey and parting is very hard.”

During his tenure as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Gottlieb tackled difficult public health issues including youth vaping and opioid addiction. His plan to restrict the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to age-restricted stores or parts of stores is still being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Separately, he also proposed to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, as well as reduce nicotine levels. Despite pushback from some Republicans regarding his stance on tobacco regulations, Dr. Gottlieb said that did not factor into his decision to resign and he still plans to advance the pending tobacco regulations before he leaves. Both Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and President Trump praised the work Dr. Gottlieb has done as commissioner.

“Scott’s leadership inspired historic results from the FDA team, which delivered record approvals of both innovative treatments and affordable generic drugs, while advancing important policies to confront opioid addiction, tobacco and youth e-cigarette use, chronic disease, and more,” Azar said in a statement. “The public health of our country is better off for the work Scott and the entire FDA team have done over the last two years.”

Cohen Elaborates on Past Novartis Deal in Testimony

While testifying in front of Congress, President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, further explained the consulting deal he struck with Novartis last year. While the pharma company hoped to resolve the issue by providing the Finance Committee with documents that described one interaction with the attorney, Cohen claims that he in fact met with the drugmaker about six times. He admitted that the company allegedly wanted not just insight as to how the Trump administration would affect the pharmaceutical industry, but influence over these governmental actions.

During his testimony, Cohen stated that the company “sent me their contract, which stated specifically that they wanted me to lobby. That they wanted me to provide access to government, including the president.” Senate Democrats read from a report that supported his claims, stating that former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and Cohen “had at least four phone calls, and, between April and September 2017, exchanged multiple emails on substantive issues, including the Trump administration’s drug pricing proposals, Novartis’s potential investment in a small drug company backed by Columbus Nova, and with regard to opioid lawsuits.” According to Reuters, the report noted that during these calls, Jimenez made suggestions regarding drug pricing that later appeared in the Trump administration’s “blueprint” for lowering the cost of drugs.

PatientPoint and Antidote Partner to Drive Clinical Trial Recruitment

PatientPoint, a leader in patient engagement solutions at the point of care, will be driving more patients to Antidote Technologies’ digital clinical trial search tool at more than 7,300 primary care and subspecialty practices nationwide. The partnership is expected to be extremely effective for increasing clinical trial participation due to the company’s experience in the highly influential point-of-care setting. With increased participation through Antidote Technologies, the two companies believe research has more of a chance to grow.

Recent Research America surveys show that 86% of Americans believe healthcare professionals should discuss clinical trials with their patients, yet nearly 75% of these patients have never had a conversation with their provider about medical research. PatientPoint and Antidote Technologies believe that the current U.S. clinical trial participation is extremely low for this reason, and is mainly why 90% of U.S. trials are unable to reach recruitment goals on time, while nearly a third are unable to enroll a single qualified patient. This partnership aims to end this negative impact on medical research and allow for further progress in the industry.

“When research comes to a standstill, so does the development of tomorrow’s therapies that patients desperately need today,” said PatientPoint Founder and CEO Mike Collette in a statement. “Our partnership with Antidote is designed to help reverse that trend by harnessing the influence of the physician and the power of patient-provider discussions to drive interest and enrollment in clinical trials.”

To achieve their goal, PatientPoint will implement educational segments and physician briefings on clinical trial participation rates to encourage doctor-patient discussion. In addition, waiting room and exam room content will direct patients to text Antidote Technologies or visit their website to begin a clinical trial search via Antidote Match, the company’s proprietary technology. Antidote Match makes it easy for patients to find and connect with medical research by answering a few easy questions, connecting thousands of patients to research each month.

“Partnering with PatientPoint is a natural extension of our mission to accelerate breakthroughs in potentially life-saving treatments by bridging the gap between medical research and the people who need it,” said Antidote Technologies CEO, Laurent Schockmel, in a statement. “By extending our reach to the point of care, we will meet patients and their trusted providers where they are and when they are primed to act.”

Mylan Launches Unique Generic Pricing

FDA-approved therapeutically equivalent generic of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus, called Wixela Inhub.

Mylan recently launched the first FDA-approved therapeutically equivalent generic of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus, called Wixela Inhub. The new drug can be substituted with Advair for patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Mylan is demonstrating a commitment to increasing affordability for patients and reducing costs to the U.S. healthcare system by offering all three strengths of Wixela Inhub at wholesale acquisition costs 70% less than Advair and 67% less than GSK’s authorized generic version. Wixela Inhub, at 100 mcg/50 mcg, 250 mcg/50 mcg, and 500 mcg/50 mcg strengths will cost $93.71, $116.44, and $153.14, respectively.

“We’ve had numerous discussions with customers about the need for a unique launch strategy for the first substitutable generic of Advair Diskus that increases affordability to all in our healthcare system,” says Tony Mauro, Mylan’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We trust that by launching Wixela Inhub at a significantly discounted list price, we will demonstrate the savings that generics can deliver for patients through reduced out-of-pocket costs, as well as the U.S. healthcare system overall.”

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