April 24, 2014 (CHAPEL HILL, NC) Thought Leader Select, a research and consulting firm serving the life sciences industries, recently earned a new engagement supporting a top-10 global biopharmaceutical company’s efforts in the area of atrial fibrillation and stroke prevention.
The client company, known worldwide as a leader in the development of prescription medicines and nutrition products, named Thought Leader Select to help the company develop and implement strategies for outreach to and collaboration with key opinion leaders (KOLs) and medical centers of excellence in critical treatment and prevention of stroke.
According to the World Health Organization, atrial fibrillation, also known as AF or AFib, affects over 33 million people worldwide. AFib is a condition marked by irregular heartbeat, which if left untreated, can result in heart palpitations and a variety of symptoms, such as fatigue. According to the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, if the heart isn’t pumping blood effectively, it can stagnate and clot. If the clots break apart and travel to the brain, they can cause stroke.
Thought Leader Select, headquartered in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, provides research and consulting services to companies in the life sciences industry, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics companies. These custom-tailored services support the necessary and critical industry outreach to and collaboration with leading medical experts, the health care professionals that advance treatment options and promote better public health at regional, national, and global levels.
For the new engagement, Thought Leader Select’s in-house research team will identify and profile a large number of North American KOLs and centers of excellence in the area of atrial fibrillation and stroke. The KOL profiles will touch upon critical skill and experience areas such as clinical trial work, publishing in scientific journals, speaking at medical meetings and congresses, as well as patient advocacy and regulatory efforts. Center profiles will include areas such as the geographic footprint of each clinical network as well as programs to develop young doctors in the treatment area of AFib and stroke.
Thought Leader Select will also analyze the breadth and depth of the respective physicians’ social networks, through Professional Impact Network analysis and geographic segmentation of global, national, and regional KOLs. In addition to the core research of the skills and experience of the designated KOL group, Thought Leader Select will also work to provide insights on the KOLs’ current beliefs and perceptions about treatment effectiveness in the area of AFib and stroke.
The company’s post-research advisory support will include engagement planning for strategic areas such as advisory board and consultant selection, as well as KOL collaborations in publications and conference planning, patient advocacy work, and many other areas.
“Thought Leader Select has a great history of working in the cardiovascular space, with a wealth of experience in heart conditions,” stated Neil Mellor, the company’s global business development consultant based in Toronto. “We are pleased to begin work that reflects the full breadth of our services, as we will deliver a combination of knowledge, insights, and engagement preparation to this client, setting them and their KOLs up for success in offering patients more and better options for treatment of AFib.”
About Thought Leader Select
Thought Leader Select is a Chapel Hill, NC-based private consulting firm serving the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries with strategies, in-house research, and a suite of engagement tools and support for collaborating with and reaching out to key opinion leaders and centers of excellence in medicine.
Thought Leader Select has supported companies as they develop effective treatments to promote better patient and public health across more than 18 therapeutic areas and 50 diseases and conditions. Thought Leader Select’s customized work strengthens medical marketing initiatives, medical affairs outreach, and payer marketing strategies to support market access, pricing, and reimbursement issues.
Media Contact:
Brian Castle, Director of Global Marketing and Client Relations
Phone: 919-360-9690
E-mail: bcastle@thoughtleaderselect.com
