Hidden Depths – The Impact of COVID-19 on the Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Devices Industries

Mark Senak

July 27, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is shifting gears and with it, the ways in which we cope and respond. We are moving from an initial state of surprise, fear, consternation and a general lack of knowledge to an evolving understanding of consequences of the pandemic in our lives – that we are going to have to adapt...

Is It Too Risky to Visit Your Doctor?

Anne de Schweinitz

May 14, 2020

The direct health impact of COVID-19 is flashed in front of us every day in the staggering numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths recorded around the globe. But the indirect impact of the pandemic due to the massive disruption in the healthcare delivery system – the cancelled surgeries, delayed appointments and undiagnosed illness – will...

Difficult Realities Related to Antibody Testing as a Tool in COVID-19 Recovery

Mark Senak

May 6, 2020

In the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic took root in America, there was no test for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Rather, once developed, the HIV-antibody test was used as a surrogate marker to identify the infected. Particularly before there was a treatment, an antibody test became a...

Will COVID-19 Turn the Tide on Innovation for Pharma Companies?

Emma Cracknell

April 8, 2020

The current COVID-19 pandemic has launched huge humanitarian waves across the globe, uniting the general public, healthcare providers, governments and industry around one common goal – to beat the virus. Even as countries begin easing the restrictive containment measures that govern our daily lives, we can be certain that the post-COVID-19 world will look radically...

J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference: FDA Speaks

Mark Senak

January 9, 2019

Yesterday Commissioner Scott Gottlieb was to take the podium to address attendees at the J.P. Morgan 36th Annual Healthcare Conference being held in San Francisco.  Unfortunately, due to the current government funding impasse, he did not make it. But had he been there, it is fair to say that he would have had a lot...

What to Watch at the 2019 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

Adam Silverstein

January 7, 2019

The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco starts today. More casually known as “JPM,” it is the year’s must-attend event of the healthcare world. Billions of dollars are at stake. At JPM, leaders of healthcare companies and organizations stand in front of investors to persuade and demonstrate why they should risk capital. Say...

Gottlieb Signals Depth and Scope of Changes Coming to Drug and Device Approvals in FY 19 Budget Comments

Mark Senak

April 20, 2018

On April 17, 2018, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb appeared before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development to discuss the Fiscal Year 2019 budget request for FDA. He began by touting the broad achievement in record approvals last year for new molecular entities, generic drugs and medical devices. Faster approvals and a lower regulatory...

These 3 Things Have Us Excited for the Healthcare Industry in 2018

Adam Silverstein

January 8, 2018

Predicting the future is a tricky business. Still, investors, analysts, public and private companies and journalists will soon peer deeply into their crystal balls to forecast the year ahead for the healthcare industry. The forecasting is part of an annual tradition known as the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Held every January in San Francisco, it...

The FDA Welcomes A New Commissioner: What Will Dr. Gottlieb Do?

Adam Silverstein

May 18, 2017

Mark Senak contributed to this article. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the newly appointed commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has taken the lead of an agency that regulates one-fifth of the economy and oversees two of Americans’ most important commodities, food and medicine. As he gets to work, he’ll face a litany of issues...

These are Three Storylines We’re Watching at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

Adam Silverstein

January 5, 2017

It’s that time of year again. We’re days away from the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. All eyes will be on this gathering of the world’s biotechnology start-ups, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and health insurers. And it means that what company leaders say and the stories they tell media and investors,...

The Best of Cannes Lions Health: Smart Ideas, Well-Executed

Heather Pierce

June 20, 2016

The sheer volume of inspiring and excellent work shared at this year’s Cannes Lions Health has been remarkable—from breathtakingly beautiful films to stunning works of art and fantastically creative social campaigns. As I watched the awards ceremony presentations, I had two realizations. First, as health communicators we often get weighed down by our largely conservative...

Cannes Lions Health: Empathy Is the Key to Life-Changing Creativity

Heather Pierce

June 18, 2016

Earlier today at Cannes Lions Health, Genentech (a FleishmanHillard client) shared the powerful findings of their Lung Cancer Project, a study which sought to identify and understand unconscious bias. They found that an astonishing three out of four people had negative perceptions about lung cancer, which likely contributes to the high percentage of people diagnosed...

Why Media Coverage of Medical Research is Making John Oliver Mad, and What PR Pros Could Do to Help

Adam Silverstein

May 10, 2016

You’ve seen the headlines. They appeared on your Facebook feed, your Twitter handle and your local news. You probably overheard someone mention one on your way to work. Maybe you’ve even seen these: “Swaddling May Be Linked to SIDS, New Research Analysis Suggests” “Eating Moderate Amounts of Chocolate Could Benefit Mom and Baby” “Drinking a...

Is It Enough to Mean Well? The Importance of Empathy

Heather Pierce

March 3, 2016

A few weeks ago, I was helping to lead a client message training session for an amazing group of female philanthropists. These women are leading incredible global health initiatives, from addressing gender-based violence in Honduras and Trinidad to transforming sanitation in Vietnam and detecting and treating cervical cancer in India. As we were discussing their...

What a Difference a Year Makes: Three Observations from the JPM Healthcare Conference

Adam Silverstein

January 25, 2016

Hotel room rates in San Francisco have resumed being just expensive, not uber-expensive. Union Square is crowded, not overflowing. Sports talk in bars and restaurants is more likely to be about real football – the Super Bowl, Monday morning quarterbacks, watching from the sidelines, dropping the ball – than borrowed football metaphors to describe business...

Five Things to Watch for at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

Adam Silverstein

January 12, 2016

San Francisco’s population is swelling, but the rising wave of people, much like the bay at high tide, will ebb. The flow of people into the city, specifically Union Square, is an effect of the 34th Annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference (JPM is a FleishmanHillard client), happening this week in San Francisco as it...

Can Technology Bridge the Gap Between Knowing and Doing?

Heather Pierce

October 14, 2015

Chronic disease prevention isn’t sexy. Its core tenets induce eye rolls with their basic simplicity: “Eat better. Exercise more.” Ugh, how boring. Isn’t there some pill I can take to stave off a heart attack or cancer? A one-time shot to make me diabetes-proof? Healthcare providers and public health professionals have long struggled with how...

Social Media at ASCO: Weekend in Review

Adam Silverstein

June 1, 2015

Day 4 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago brings with it some weary attendees and followers. Hundreds of abstracts have been presented on a range of cancers and generated some large conversation volumes, both in McCormick Place and online. On Friday, we previewed three topics and trends we’re watching at the meeting....

Sweet Home Chicago: What We’ll Be Watching at ASCO

Adam Silverstein

May 29, 2015

Chicago, get ready. You’re about to have a lot more doctors, business executives and journalists. Thousands of them are gathering in the Windy City for the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), one of the largest oncology meetings in the world. While the surge will be temporary, the research and insights shared by oncologists...

Are We Too Optimistic About Progress in Cancer?

Adam Silverstein

April 29, 2015

A giddy smile has taken hold of the faces of many oncologists and cancer patients. They have good reason to grin, for three reasons: We could be on the way toward doing away with the cancer biopsy. Researchers reported that a “liquid biopsy” blood test that’s possible due to advanced genome sequencing can find tiny pieces of cancer DNA in...

The FleishmanHillard 2015 Social Health Survey

Ephraim Cohen

April 7, 2015

How people care for themselves and others using social and mobile media Which networks people use and how they use them differs greatly depending on age range as well as whether the person is looking for information about their own health or finding information as a caregiver to someone else. The charts below show the...

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of Year

Adam Silverstein

January 16, 2015

It’s the most wonderful time of year. For healthcare, that is. This week in San Francisco, over 300 healthcare companies, both public and private, presented vision, business objectives, challenges and opportunities for 2015 at arguably the year’s largest meeting, the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan (client) Healthcare Conference. Investors, media, healthcare professionals, even patient advocates swarmed...

Putting Ebola Into Context

Pippa Galbraith

October 17, 2014

Striking a delicate balance between communicating a healthcare threat and managing public perceptions “Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus,” said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation on Monday this week. In the same speech she called the Ebola outbreak “a crisis for international peace and security”. While the...

No Roar From Pharma at Cannes Lions Health

Jenyne Engelhardt

June 15, 2014

And the Grand Prix winner is…Well, turns out we’re going to have to wait until next year at least in the pharmaceutical category. The pharma jury at the inaugural Cannes Lions Health festival shocked the audience at the Palais des Festivals by opting not to award one, throwing down a challenge to clients and agencies...

Saving Lives Is a Creative Endeavour

Orla Burke

June 15, 2014

What if mobile phones could detect cancer cells? Or an ultrasound was performed via television? How would these disruptive technologies impact healthcare models and how would communications adapt to help save lives? These were amongst some of the most provocative questions asked on day one at Lions Health. During a session entitled Creative Ideas and Innovators...

Curiosity, Creativity and Healthcare

Anne de Schweinitz

June 12, 2014

Some might think that those of us who work in healthcare lack the creative instinct, that our analytical minds and the rules restricting marketing and communications in the industry squeeze out any room for real originality and inspiration. I disagree completely. When I was a kid my favorite topic in school was biology. I was...