Canadian Pharma Chooses Thought Leader Select for COPD Key Opinion Leader Engagement Strategy

December 20, 2012 · Leave a comment

December 20, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a medical strategy engagement in pulmonology with a top Canadian biopharmaceutical company.

The company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for products treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), approached Thought Leader Select for support with scientific advisory boards and continuing health education (CHE) initiatives across multiple Canadian provinces.  Having already worked with Thought Leader Select to form rosters of key opinion leaders in Canadian rheumatology and oncology circles, the company will formulate its panel of key experts in pulmonology by deploying Thought Leader Select’s team to assess the skills and experiences of physician specialists across the country.

Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research, Thought Leader Select’s research group will analyze the skills and experience of these leading experts in multiple areas where they collaborate to advance the science of medicine and patient care, including basic and clinical research, scientific journal publishing, treatment guidelines, and more.

Throughout the remainder of the engagement, Thought Leader Select’s consulting team will provide strategic guidance, tactical recommendations for strengthening key opinion leader relationships in the nursing and pharmacy communities, and a suite of tools to promote collaborative work with KOLs.  Among these ... read more »

TAGS:                                                           

International Pharma Chooses Thought Leader Select for Women’s Health Initiative with Key Opinion Leaders, Centers of Excellence

November 6, 2012 · Leave a comment

November 6, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a national engagement in Canada focused on key opinion leaders and medical centers of excellence in women’s health with an international biopharmaceutical company.

The company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for products aimed at improving the health of women, approached Thought Leader Select for support in a variety of collaborative efforts with leading physicians and other health care professionals at leading universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, and specialty clinics.  The key opinion leaders represent medical experts within the Canadian obstetrics and gynecology community, with areas of sub-specialty including fertility and the treatment of uterine tumors.

Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research and analysis, Thought Leader Select’s research group will analyze the skills and experience of specialists in multiple areas where they collaborate with leading physicians and other health care professionals, including registered nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, and medical researchers, to advance the science of medicine and patient care in women’s health, including basic and clinical research, scientific journal publishing, treatment guidelines, and more.

Throughout the remainder of the engagement, Thought Leader Select’s consulting team will provide strategic guidance, tactical recommendations for strengthening collaborative ... read more »

TAGS:                                                               

Top US Pharma Chooses Thought Leader Select for Obesity Centers of Excellence Initiative

October 18, 2012 · Leave a comment

October 18, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC)  Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a national engagement focused on medical centers of excellence in obesity with a top U. S. biopharmaceutical company.

The company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for products treating the condition of obesity, approached Thought Leader Select for support with a variety of collaborative efforts, including medical science liaison outreach to leading universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, and specialty clinics in this area.  Having already worked with Thought Leader Select to form rosters of key opinion leaders in endocrinology, primary care, nursing, pharmacy, and long-term care in the treatment of type I and type II diabetes and obesity, the company has now chosen Thought Leader Select to pinpoint the leading centers of excellence in the treatment of obesity in the United States.

Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research and analysis, Thought Leader Select’s research group will assess the skills and experience of selected centers, detailing the collaborative activities of leading physicians and other health care professionals, including registered nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, and medical researchers, the people who advance the science of medicine and patient care, through basic and clinical research, scientific journal ... read more »

TAGS:                                                                                       

The Secret to Sound KOL Research—It’s Not a Data Dump

August 16, 2012 · Leave a comment

Industry Insights from Brian Castle

There are many ways that life science companies approach finding the right key opinion leaders in medicine to collaborate on next-generation treatments.

Some have the privilege of retaining staff members with decades of experience, during which they get to know the top doctors in their therapeutic area or disease state.  This do-it-yourself (“DIY”) method can be fraught with challenges, but it can also provide valuable insights through sound relationship building.

Other companies, to fill gaps in compliance or expertise within a given area, will contract with research organizations for their KOL work.  There are now over fifty companies (and counting) engaged in some form of key opinion leader identification, profiling, mapping, or engagement planning activities, and that’s not even counting the dozens of specialty medical communications agencies  and larger agencies that list medcomms as a specialty area.

Contracting with external vendors can result in great work, full of insights on the right medical professionals who can make a difference in whether a product succeeds or fails in getting in the right hands—those of patients.  But it can also result in really bad work—a data dump—that basically tells the buyer nothing.

We can define bad research quite easily—you know it when you see it. It often comes from methodologies that are suspect at first glance, those that rely upon too much ... read more »

TAGS:                                                   

Top 30 Global Biopharmaceutical Company Chooses Thought Leader Select for Blood Disorder KOL Partnership

June 14, 2012 · Leave a comment

June 14, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a global engagement in blood disorders with a top 30 global biopharmaceutical company.

The biopharmaceutical company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for a product in development to treat iron overload in the body, approached Thought Leader Select for support with its launch activities across multiple global markets.  To meet the strategic needs of the company’s pre-launch for a new blood disorders treatment, Thought Leader Select will deploy its in-house research group for an assessment of key opinion leaders in the area of chelation therapy.

Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research, Thought Leader Select’s research group will analyze the skills and experience of leading specialists in the following geographic areas:

  • United States
  • Europe
  • Japan
  • Pacific Rim
  • Middle East

For the global assessment, the Thought Leader Select research group will identify 100 physicians appropriate for compliant engagement in support of drug development for blood disorders.

In the second phase of the assessment, Thought Leader Select’s in-house research group will engage in its exclusive, validated methodology of deep profiling, delivering objective assessments of the skills and experience of key opinion leaders across 14 areas where health care professionals define themselves as thought ... read more »

TAGS:                                                     

Top 10 Global Biopharmaceutical Company Tabs Thought Leader Select for Infectious Disease Partnership

April 26, 2012 · Leave a comment

April 26, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of an inter-disciplinary infectious disease engagement with a top 10 global biopharmaceutical company.

The biopharmaceutical company, part of a select group of global leaders in drug development for the treatment of infectious diseases, approached Thought Leader Select for support with its development pipeline across the Canadian market.  To meet the combined strategic needs of the company’s emerging pipeline in treating conditions like HIV and Hepatitis-C, Thought Leader Select will deploy its in-house research group for a multi-disciplinary assessment of the key opinion leader community in infectious diseases.

Known for the versatility of applications for its in-house research, Thought Leader Select’s research group will analyze the skills and experience of leading specialists in the following areas:

Gastroenterology

Hepatology

Infectious Disease

Internal Medicine

For the first wave of the assessment, the Thought Leader Select research group will identify 50 physicians appropriate for compliant engagement in support of drug development for infectious diseases, across multiple Canadian provinces.

In the second phase of the assessment, Thought Leader Select’s in-house research group will engage in its exclusive, validated methodology of deep profiling, delivering objective assessments of the skills and experience of key opinion leaders across 14 areas where health care professionals define themselves as thought leaders, ... read more »

TAGS:                                                                           

Top 20 Global Pharma Chooses Thought Leader Select for Urology Partnership

April 18, 2012 · Leave a comment

April 18, 2012 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a Chapel Hill, NC-based consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries, announces the commencement of a urology engagement with a top 20 global pharmaceutical company.

The pharmaceutical company, a global leader in drug development for urological conditions, approached Thought Leader Select for support with its existing portfolio of medicines, as well as new drugs in its development pipeline across the Canadian market.  To meet the combined strategic needs of the company’s existing portfolio as well as its emerging pipeline, Thought Leader Select will deploy its in-house research group for a two-part assessment of the key opinion leader community in urology.

For the first wave of the assessment, the Thought Leader Select research group will validate the skills and experience of the urology specialists that currently comprise the company’s KOL roster.  In addition, Thought Leader Select will identify new physicians appropriate for the panel, bringing the total roster to 40 thought leaders across multiple Canadian provinces.

In the second phase of the assessment, Thought Leader Select’s in-house research group will engage in its exclusive, validated methodology of deep profiling, delivering objective assessments of the skills and experience of key opinion leaders across 14 areas where health care professionals define themselves as ... read more »

TAGS:                                       

Is Social Media the Right Tool for Finding Key Opinion Leaders in Medicine?

March 14, 2012 · Leave a comment

Industry Insights from Brian Castle

As in nearly all other aspects of life, social media is fast becoming a dominant force in the world of healthcare. Leading centers of excellence—hospitals, clinics, research foundations, and universities—are utilizing social media to educate patients about medical resources and treatments on a daily basis. Biopharmaceutical companies are using social media to promote new medications and further educate patients about other wellness resources at their disposal to help with debilitating diseases and conditions.

Physicians and other healthcare professionals, like practically every other profession, are embracing social media at unprecedented levels, engaging with each other on everything from new medical devices to tough medical cases. Due to this rise in HCP use of social media, some have begun to question the very essence of what makes a key opinion leader in the medical profession.

Some of these questioners have gone a step farther, at their ultimate peril, in misinterpreting physician involvement in spaces like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and physician-only social media networks like Sermo. They incorrectly perceive that social media participation is the new thought leadership.  Last year, I sat in the audience for a presentation by a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. This person posited a talking point she’d heard from an executive at a physician-only social media network:  “If you’re not in their social network, you’re not ... read more »

TAGS:                                                                                               

Fast Facts from Thought Leader Select—Profile of a Top ADD/ADHD Center of Excellence

July 8, 2010 · Leave a comment

In a recent study commissioned by a global pharmaceutical and medical device company, Thought Leader Select delivered an objective research assessment of the top 35 medical centers of excellence for the treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the United States and Canada.  For the assessment, Thought Leader Select analyzed information in several key areas, including basic and clinical research, publications, residency programs, and treatment guidelines involvement.

Within the scope of the overall assessment, the client company commissioned a more focused look at the top centers of excellence for research in the ADD/ADHD field.  The top center’s profile included 11 ongoing clinical trials to evaluate the potential for new medicines to effectively treat ADD and ADHD.  Previously, the center completed nine major studies evaluating the effectiveness of various treatment methods for the conditions, and the center had generated 18 clinical trial publications over a seven-year period.

In addition to the center’s array of landmark studies and clinical trial participation, the Thought Leader Select assessment also noted the center’s dominance in the area of publishing. For this category, the company used keywords relevant to the client’s focus within the therapeutic area to determine medical journal article relevancy. The center had generated a total of 94 publications in the treatment area of ADD/ADHD since 2001, with 67 of ... read more »

TAGS:                                       

Thought Leader Select Finishes Speaker Validation Project for Top-20 US Pharmaceutical Company

May 4, 2010 · Leave a comment

New press release out today from the offices of Thought Leader Select.

5/4/2010 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a North Carolina-based firm dedicated to delivering superior key opinion leader (KOL) management solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry, announces the completion of large speaker validation project for a top-20 US pharmaceutical company.

The pharmaceutical client contracted Thought Leader Select to validate the skills and experiences of a legion of health care professionals for the company’s speakers bureau.  The firm asked Thought Leader Select to look at over 1,000 specialists, primary care physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other important health care providers across several key dimensions, including:  experience speaking within the medical community, clinical research involvement, publishing history, developing treatment guidelines, and active patient care.

Thought Leader Select’s validation process empowered the client with the knowledge that they were engaging experienced speakers with demonstrated experience in clinical practice, research, and speaking.  The study’s findings also enabled the client company to determine fair market value (FMV) honoraria compensation for these health care providers.

“I thought it was only natural to ask Thought Leader Select to do this validation work for us,” stated the brand director for the client company. “They get so close to the data and have a real understanding of who these key opinion leaders are and why they are so important.  Their methodology is so ... read more »

TAGS:                                         

Older posts »