KOL Case Study: Global, National, and Regional Experts in Diabetes

July 19, 2011 · Leave a comment

Often, prospective clients ask us, “What do other clients do with your KOL research?” or “Will you please send examples of your research and its uses?

We relish opportunities to share the applications for Thought Leader Select’s objective, validated expert identification, subject matter expert-driven deep profiling, and engagement services informed by industry leaders with decades of experience. Recently, the team developed a formal case study to showcase how one client, a top 20 pharmaceutical company, relies on Thought Leader Select to fuel and support its KOL relationship strategies and efforts in the treatment of diabetes.

Relationships with thought leaders in medicine help biopharmaceutical companies continue understanding and addressing the illnesses and diseases impacting all of us. To advance medicine and improve public health, medical professionals and biopharmaceutical companies must partner together, and they should base those partnerships on high levels of therapeutic expertise, an understanding of patient needs, and superior research insights and capabilities. Thought Leader Select is proud to support these important relationships with objective information that connects the right medical professionals with biopharmaceutical teams, for the right reasons, and at the right times.

Read our first case study, regarding our breadth of services in support of a biopharmaceutical company’s scientific development in the treatment of diabetes here:  http://www.thoughtleaderselect.com/kol-services/kol-case-studies/.

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Clinical Trials—The New Way Forward

July 14, 2011 · Leave a comment

Industry Insights from Paul Meade, M. Sc, MPH

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal announced that Pfizer is conducting a clinical trial in which patients are able to use their computers and smartphones to enter information about the study, rather then spend time visiting a clinic. It was only a matter of time before clinical trials entered the social media era!

Actually, this approach makes a lot of sense, not just for the investigator, but especially for the patient. The patient is recruited over the Internet, enrolls electronically, receives laboratory tests in the mail along with test drugs, and tracks responses through an application on his or her computer or smartphone. Having participated in a clinical study before where I had to repeatedly return to the clinic, keep a paper log of reactions, bring in my responses to the study site, and answer weekly phone calls from the study nurse, I can say wholeheartedly that it was a big inconvenience. And all of that grief for the incredible reimbursement of $60!

We live in an age of instant and ubiquitous communication. I am never very far or long away from a business-related e-mail, even when I am on vacation. In fact, this instant communication has really changed the face of vacations for most people, but that is another subject ... read more »

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Clinical Trial Ethics

July 7, 2011 · 2 comments

Industry Insights from Paul Meade, M. Sc, MPH

According to an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr Joseph Ross claimed a study conducted by Parke-Davis, before it was acquired by Pfizer, using gabapentin (Neurontin), as the drug under investigation, appeared to be a “seeding” trial. And while the author states that seeding trials are not illegal, he states that they are unethical. There are really two separate issues at stake here:  first, what is really an unethical trial, and second, what is really a “seeding” trial?

About 25 years ago, when a pharmaceutical company launched a new drug and wanted to get as many physicians as possible to have some experience in using this drug for appropriate patients, they would provide samples packaged in a box to resemble supplies you might receive if you were a clinical investigator. There would be cards to report on one’s experience with the new drug, such as efficacy and side effects. But these sample cards were rarely collected and reported back to the head office. The goal was really to have physicians become familiar with this new drug, and for their own information record some information. These were not formal clinical trials, not required by the regulatory authorities, and did not need the scrutiny of an Institutional Review Board. These ersatz trials became ... read more »

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