Case Studies
“It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play” – Dizzy Gillespie
Advisory Board Meeting
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Situation:
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A biopharma start-up company was considering broadening their clinical development programme by expanding into a new tumour type. To understand the current and emerging clinical landscape and gain expert clinical advice on potential development plans, a virtual advisory board was needed. The request for advice was particularly time-sensitive.
Task:
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Virtual advisory board meeting to guide development plans.
Actions:
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Apogee Life Sciences identified, secured and contracted advisors in a timely manner. We worked with the clinical development team, business development and senior management to design the agenda, identify data gaps and questions for advisors. Apogee Life Sciences hosted the meeting, participated in discussions and drafted minutes and actions.
Results:
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The advisory board meeting was executed within a few weeks of the initial client briefing. Given our experience in oncology and leading advisory board meetings, Apogee Life Sciences was able to begin productive work immediately, taking on a number of tasks from the client and giving them confidence in the project. It was imperative that a go/no-go decision be made as soon as possible given the rapidly evolving competitive landscape. The insights and advice from the meeting allowed the client to present findings to their senior management and assist their decision-making.
Advice to agencies
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Situation:
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With cross-functionality becoming more embedded in brand strategy and the emergence of new capabilities/tools, it is important that specialist agencies gain insights into how Medical Affairs teams and the pharmaceutical industry works.
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An agency specialising in digital technology was seeking insights into the pharmaceutical industry and specifically, Medical Affairs. Although the agency is an expert in developing new applications and mining data, they did not fully understand if their products would be useful to a Global Medical Affairs Lead.
Task:
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1) Educate teams on the role of Medical Affairs, 2) provide critical feedback on future products from the eyes of a potential client.
Actions:
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A one day, in-person meeting on “everything you wanted to know about Medical Affairs but were afraid to ask” was held with the agency. Apogee Life Sciences provided an overview of Medical Affairs and conducted a Q&A session with invited staff.
Results:
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By engaging Apogee Life Sciences in an advisory capacity, the digital agency was able to upskill their teams on the role of Medical Affairs in a pharmaceutical company. This session also provided critical insights to the development team on future products, saving time and budget, allowing them to focus on value from a client’s perspective.
Scientific communications platform
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Situation:
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A client was launching a new product in the UK but did not have a local Medical Affairs lead or medical communications agency to support. Apogee Life Sciences was able to provide both medical strategy and scientific communications advice given our background.
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Task:
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Create a Scientific Communications Platform (SCP) to support the medical education and brand promotional claims development for a new product launch.
Actions:
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Given Apogee Life Sciences’ experience as a Global and Regional Medical Affairs lead and as a Scientific Communications Director, we were in a position to support the client with minimal input. Where needed, we proactively provided recommendations to the client and managed the project within time and budget. We reviewed the literature and existing client resources to create a scientific communications document and accompanying slide deck to be used to support the launch. An external scientific expert also reviewed the materials to provide further confidence and robustness to the project.
Results:
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The client was very pleased with the timely delivery and quality of the scientific communications slide deck and messaging document. These materials will act as a basis for the development of educational and promotional content to support the launch. By aligning scientific statements, images and references through an SCP, brand consistency and alignment can be ensured.
