ENG I DEU

What we do

They have it, but they don’t know it

Plasmapheresis allows the extraction of immunoglobulins from blood plasma in patients with severe autoimmune diseases. Our customer offers a plasmapheresis kit for their dialysis machines and wanted to inform users unaware about this option. However, because severe autoimmune disorders are rare and several competitors share the market, data to promote specifically the customer’s system are scarce. Together with the customer, we decided to present an overview of state of the art evidence on the use of plasmapheresis in different indications. This was possible because experts and guidelines consider the devices used for plasma apheresis basically all effective in most indications.

We scanned the current guidelines on apheresis and recommendations of specialist societies on specific indications to compile a comprehensive and current overview of indications for the busy intensivist.

Quick – what is my competition up to?

Selling generics to hospitals is tough business – buying drugs is one of the areas where hospitals can quench out the last drop from their suppliers without having to fear a serious public pushback. So if it is all about money, is there any other relevant way to promote generics for inpatient use? When discussing this with our customer, we decided as a courtesy to check what their competitors were doing. The quickest and most efficient way to do this was to scrutinize their webpages. A systematic and effective approach with a tabulated matrix of questions generated some interesting answers to their pressing questions. Within a few hours we had an idea what the competitors focused on and could plan what we could change for our customer.

The mysterious case of …

Solving a case is one of the most-used plots in literature and films. It drags in readers and beholders and captures their attention. We do the same with a device for extracorporal lung support: Our client has asked their sales people to listen closely to their customers when they tell them about interesting cases. Would a case study help other users of the device to understand its potential? The case series focus on the educational messages, the medical device is embedded into the wider story of a pressing, often life-or-death, therapeutic challenge. This is a rewarding project for everyone – the experts providing us with their experiences, our work to form a story out of it and the readers who may read it by the fireside.

What's going on right now?

In the good old days, getting feedback from doctors about new marketing materials meant a full-day advisory board meeting with an elaborate program and half a year of planning ahead. Now, we have a casual video conference of one or two hours and rush through a tight agenda, often having to cut answers short to push through with all queries. But miraculously, we still get what we need, e.g. knowledge about expected market acceptance of a product and tips how to optimize market access. The reason for that: We transfer discussions on details to a quasi-Delphi method comparable to those used for development of medical guidelines. After the initial online discussion, experts receive new versions of the materials for review at their convenience (okay, a timeline is given, but they can at least choose day and time when it fits into their tight schedule). The collected feedback is aggregated, open questions are addressed to the whole group and a final version developed. It is a common saying that this pandemic will mother profound changes. If this structured feedback is one of them, I’m fine with it.