Thursday 29 January 2015

Global pledge to immunise 300 million children

Commitment made at GAVI Pledging Conference follows criticism of high vaccine prices

angela merkel gavi conference phot by Oscar Seykens

Angela Merkel at the GAVI Pledging Conference in Berli. GAVI/Oscar SeykensWorld leaders have pledged to provide hundreds of million of children in the world’s poorest countries with vaccines for life-threatening diseases via the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).

Financial commitments of $7.5bn were made at the GAVI Pledging Conference in Berlin this week, which was hosted by German chancellor Angela Merkel.


The pledges will enable countries to immunise a further 300 million children, which is predicted to lead to six million premature deaths being avoided and additional economic benefits of up to $100bn for developing countries.


Speaking at the conference, Merkel said: “There is a long way still to go but today’s conference is an important milestone in the work of GAVI for the next few years to come.”


The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) used the build-up to the conference to highlight the high prices of some new vaccines, including shots made by the pharma companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to protect against pneumococcal infections.


Pfizer later said it would it would cut the price of Prevenar 13 provided to certain developing nations by 6% and GSK committed to a 10-year price freeze for Synflorix. However, these efforts were dismissed by MSF as “negligible”.


Countries to take art in the GAVI conference included China, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, all of which made pledges to the alliance for the first time. China’s pledge means that all the emerging economies that make up BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are making financial contributions towards childhood immunisation via GAVI.


Between 2016 and 2020, the alliance predicts that involved countries will allocate around $1.2bn to GAVI-supported programmes through the alliance’s co-financing policy, in addition to other funding provided by donors.


Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/global_pledge_to_immunise_300_million_children_639674




Global pledge to immunise 300 million children

Monday 26 January 2015

Nursing tech fund 2 winners informed


Trusts with bids for the second round of NHS England’s Nursing Technology Fund are being informed of their success, after the Treasury gave final approval for the fund.


Several trusts told EHI News they were notified about the success or failure of their nursing tech fund bids last week.


However, the fate of the £240 million Integrated Digital Care Fund, as tech fund 2 is formally known, is far less certain.


NHS England launched the second round of the nursing tech fund last November, with applications closing a month later.  Some £30 million was awarded to successful bids in the first round, with £35 million awarded this time around.


Shortly after the fund’s launch, EHI News reported that over a third of the £100 million on offer in the two rounds of the fund had been withheld by Treasury, taking the total down to £65 million.


The Department of Health said it must first “learn lessons from this initial investment” before providing further money.


An NHS England spokesperson told EHI News the organisation spent last week informing trusts of whether or not their bid was successful, after the Treasury confirmed the latest round of funding a week earlier.


The spokesperson said: “The Nursing Technology Fund has really empowered nurses, midwives and health visitors to carry out exciting and innovative work and it will continue to help provide safer, more effective and efficient care.”


However, while the second nursing tech fund has cleared approvals, trusts are still waiting for answers about the status of the second round of NHS England’s technology fund.


Sources have told EHI News the tech fund has been slashed by £90 million to shift money towards A&E pressures in the run up to the general election.


One senior IT director at an NHS trust told EHI News said the decision to cut funding for tech fund 2, while making awards for the nursing tech fund, is “barking mad”.


“Trusts have worked hard on business cases [for tech fund 2]; now, it seems there is different money just to ‘throw’ at nurses. I have worked in the NHS a long time, but this takes the biscuit.”


Announcing the opening of bidding for the second round last November, NHS England said it would have a strong focus on giving nurses access to information at the bedside and out in the community.


The second round prospectus says applications should be “aligned” with “digital capture of clinical data at the point of care” and with “mobile access to digital care records across the community”.


Other priorities for the round of funding included access to digital images, IT to enable nurses to locate equipment, workforce development, and specific forms of digital assessment, including wound assessment.


The Nursing Technology Fund was launched in autumn 2011 by Prime Minister David Cameron. It was taken over by NHS England in April the following year.


The first round of bidding secured 226 applications from 139 trusts, 74 of which were successful in winning £30 million for 80 projects.


The original launch of the fund in 2013 was affected by government-level concerns about funding, with the launch postponed due to delays in getting sign-off from Treasury.


EHI News asked for a list of which trusts had received funding for projects in the latest nursing tech fund, but NHS England said it was still in the process of informing successful trusts and could not yet publish a list.


Source EHI http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9846/nursing-tech-fund-2-winners-informed


26 January 2015   Sam Sachdeva



Nursing tech fund 2 winners informed

Friday 23 January 2015

DanMedical announces new 2015 specification for its D-MAS Remote and D-MAS HyperSat telemedecine solutions

Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK, 23rd January 2015


Today, DanMedical Ltd, the leading telemedicine solutions provider announces its latest 2015 specification for both its D-MAS Remote and D-MAS HyperSat Medical Monitoring Systems, for use in Remote locations and Saturation Diving or Hyperbaric chambers.


Both devices come with D-MAS medical software suite 2015 pre-installed and now include Pulse CO-Oximetry using the Masimo SET finger clip sensor for SPO2 (Saturated Oxygen) as standard amongst many other features.


The D-MAS Remote Medical Computer comes with D-MAS medical software suite 2015 pre-installed. Medical devices now included as standard comprise:

-   Blood Pressure : Cuffs in three sizes (S,M,L)

-   Pulse CO-Oximetry with Masimo SET finger clip sensor for SPO2 (Saturated Oxygen)

-   Resting ECG (10-lead)

-   Extended ECG

-   D-MAS Webcam for still images

-   D-MAS software licence for 12 months


The D-MAS HyperSat device was developed and tested specifically for use in Saturation Diving and Hyperbaric treatment chambers. The 2015 specification includes all medical monitoring functions needed to enable Diving clients to comply with the requirements of OGP-411, so in addition to the patient measurements of the D-MAS Remote it includes additional functions such as Core Temperature measurement.

There are a wide range of optional medical functions available such as Spirometry and Audiometry; and patient record and communications options to suit our clients’ patient record and communications systems.


Source -


For further information and media enquiries please contact –


Sergei Sollo


Marketing Manager


DanMedical Ltd.


sergei.sollo@danmedical.com


DanMedical.com


@DanMedical


t: +44 (0)1608 658924


m +44 (0)7836 261128


DanMedical Ltd., 12 Threshers Yard, Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK  OX7 6YF



DanMedical announces new 2015 specification for its D-MAS Remote and D-MAS HyperSat telemedecine solutions

Thursday 22 January 2015

New light microscope gives faster 3D images of living organisms

A new type of light microscope can image living things at the cellular level in 3D at very high speeds and can capture both cellular structure and function and behaviour.


The new technique was developed by Elizabeth Hillman, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering and of radiology at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). It has a simpler design than comparable microscopes, using a single objective lens to capture light swept across the sample in a sheet. It requires no sample mounting or translation, making it possible to image freely moving living samples.


The microscope has 10-100 times faster 3D imaging speeds than laser scanning confocal, two-photon, and light-sheet microscopy. Hillman calls the technique SCAPE, for swept confocally aligned planar excitation microscopy. Her study is published in the Advance Online Publication (AOP) of Nature Photonics, 19 Jan, 2015.


“The ability to perform real-time 3D imaging at cellular resolution in behaving organisms is a new frontier for biomedical and neuroscience research,” says Hillman, who is also a member of Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. “With SCAPE, we can now image complex, living things, such as neurons firing in the rodent brain, crawling fruit fly larvae, and single cells in the zebrafish heart while the heart is actually beating spontaneously — this has not been possible until now.”


SCAPE is a variation on light-sheet imaging, but “it breaks all the rules,” says Hillman. While conventional light-sheet microscopes use two awkwardly positioned objective lenses, Hillman realized that she could use a single-objective lens, and then that she could sweep the light sheet to generate 3D images without moving the objective or the sample.


“This combination makes SCAPE both fast and very simple to use, as well as surprisingly inexpensive,” she explains. “We think it will be transformative in bringing the ability to capture high-speed 3D cellular activity to a wide range of living samples.”


SCAPE allows microscopy to catch up with biomedical advances in fluorescent proteins and transgenic techniques over the past 20 years, even delivering neurons that flash as they fire in the living brain. Yet imaging techniques that can capture these dynamic processes have lagged behind. Although confocal and two-photon microscopy can image a single plane within a living sample, acquiring enough of these layers to form a 3D image at fast enough rates to capture events like neurons actually firing has become a frustrating road-block.


While SCAPE cannot yet compete with the penetration depth of conventional two-photon microscopy, Hillman and her collaborators have already used the system to observe firing in 3D neuronal dendritic trees in superficial layers of the mouse brain.


In small organisms, including zebrafish larvae, SCAPE can see through the entire organism. By tracking these tiny, unrestrained creatures in 3D at high speeds, SCAPE can capture both cellular structure and function and behaviour. SCAPE can also be combined with optogenetics and other tissue manipulations during imaging because, unlike other systems, it does not require any movement of the imaging objective lens or the sample to create a 3D image.


Hillman and her students built their first SCAPE system using inexpensive off-the-shelf components. Her “aha” moment came when, looking at an old polygonal mirror in the lab, she realized how it could be used to generate SCAPE’s unusual scanning geometry. After several years of trial and error, Hillman and graduate student Matthew Bouchard came up with a configuration that worked, and beautiful images started to flow out. “It wasn’t until we built it that we realized it was a light-sheet microscope!” says Hillman. “It took us a while to realize how versatile the imaging geometry was, how simple and inexpensive the layout was — and just how many problems we had overcome.”


A schematic depicts SCAPE’s imaging geometry, and an example of an image of a mouse brain

SCAPE imaging geometry and neuronal firing in apical dendrites in mouse brain This schematic depicts SCAPE’s imaging geometry. The sample is illuminated by a thin sheet of light (blue), incident at an oblique angle. SCAPE achieves high speed imaging by sweeping this light sheet back and forth within the sample, achieved using a scanning mirror configured similarly to confocal microscopy. This optically sectioned plane is imaged onto a high speed sCMOS camera via the same objective lens. Unique de-scanning and image rotation optics ensure that the illuminated plane is always co-aligned with the camera plane, throughout its scan position. The end result is data equivalent to conventional light-sheet microscopy, but requiring a single, stationary objective lens, no sample translation, and consequently very high speed 3D imaging.

This unique configuration permits volumetric imaging of intact tissues including the awake, behaving mouse brain. While limited in penetration depth (since SCAPE is currently implemented with a 488 nm laser) spontaneous activity in apical dendrites in layers 1 and 2 of the mouse cortex can be resolved at >10 volumes per second. Panels show dendrites rendered from SCAPE data acquired in an awake behaving mouse with layer 5 neurons labeled with GCaMP5g. Renderings show dendritic branches corresponding to the colored time-courses shown below the image.

Temporal resolution and signal to noise are sufficient to discern different properties of onset and decay dynamics within individual dendritic branches for single events (see publication).

Source: Elizabeth Hillman, Columbia Engineering.


Future applications


Beyond neuroscience, Hillman sees many future applications of SCAPE including imaging cellular replication, function, and motion in intact tissues, 3D cell cultures, and engineered tissue constructs, as well as imaging 3D dynamics in microfluidics, and flow-cell cytometry systems — all applications where molecular biology is delivering tools and techniques, but imaging methods have struggled to keep up. Hillman also plans to explore clinical applications of SCAPE such as video-rate 3D microendoscopy and intrasurgical imaging. Next-generation versions of SCAPE are in development that will deliver even better speed, resolution, sensitivity, and penetration depth.


As a member of the new Zuckerman Institute and the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia, Hillman is working with a wide range of collaborators, including Randy Bruno (associate professor of neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience), Richard Mann (Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics), Wesley Grueber (associate professor of physiology and cellular biophysics and of neuroscience, Department of Physiology & Cell Biophysics), and Kimara Targoff (assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics), all of whom are starting to use the SCAPE system in their research.


“Deciphering the functions of brain and mind demands improved methods for visualizing, monitoring, and manipulating the activity of neural circuits in natural settings,” says Thomas M. Jessell, co-director of the Zuckerman Institute and Claire Tow Professor of Motor Neuron Disorders, the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia. “Hillman’s sophistication in optical physics has led her to develop a new imaging technique that permits large-scale detection of neuronal firing in three-dimensional brain tissues. This methodological advance offers the potential to unlock the secrets of brain activity in ways barely imaginable a few years ago.”


Hillman’s technology is available for licensing from Columbia Technology Ventures and has already attracted interest from multiple companies.


Source MTBEurope http://www.mtbeurope.info/news/2015/1501029.htm



New light microscope gives faster 3D images of living organisms

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Prof Bruce Keogh: wearable technology plays a crucial part in NHS future



NHS’s top doctor believes gadgets that record heart rate and other health information will revolutionise healthcare







Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's medical director, believe wearable technology, like Apple's Watc
Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s medical director, believe wearable technology, like Apple’s Watch, could revolutionise the NHS and future healthcare. Photograph: Getty


Devices worn on the wrist like the ones that record your heart rate, calorie intake or distance run have a vital part to play in securing the NHS’s future, the service’s medical director says.


Prof Sir Bruce Keogh believes that gadgets similar to fitness trackers, which are growing in popularity, and others resembling games consoles will revolutionise the monitoring of patients’ health, especially those with a serious condition.


“Fitness trackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. But there are devices coming along which not only measure how much exercise you do but can also measure your heart rate, your respiratory rate, and whether or not you’ve got excess fluid in your body – quite complex changes in your physiology.


“Technology is emerging which enables those to be brought together and transmitted through mobile phones or other methods where health professionals can analyse them and act upon any warning signs,” Keogh says.


Wearable technology could easily prove useful for people with heart failure – one of the most common causes of admission to hospital – and thus relieve the strain on overcrowded hospitals.


“I see a time where someone who’s got heart failure because they’ve had a previous heart attack is sitting at home and wearing some unobtrusive sensors, and his phone goes, and it’s a health professional saying: ‘Mr Smith, we’ve been monitoring you and we think you’re starting to go back into heart failure. Someone’s going to be with you in half an hour to give you some diuretics’,” says Keogh.


Technology “enables you to predict things, to act early and to prevent unnecessary admissions, thereby not only taking a load off the NHS but, more importantly, actually keeping somebody safe and feeling good”.


Sitting in his office on the “corridor of power” occupied by the bosses at NHS England’s south London headquarters, Keogh is almost evangelical about how technology can improve health and cut NHS costs at the same time.


With a fitness tracker just visible under the left cuff of his white shirt, Keogh says in the future “people will use more wearable technology. People with conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, liver disease or asthma will wear devices, skin sensors or clothes capable of detecting deterioration and bringing this to the attention of the patient or anyone else they choose, through mobile phones.


“This monitoring will help keep people safe in their own homes rather than just waiting for serious deterioration necessitating an ambulance or GP call, followed by admission to hospital for several days.”


A polo shirt that can track the wearer’s gait, breathing and heart rate, created for tennis players, shows how quickly technology is developing that makes such monitoring simple, he says.


“The other day, on a visit to the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network, I saw a device that looks a bit like a games console. It’s much easier for elderly people to use. They hold it with both hands and a little screen asks you questions such as ‘are you breathless?’, and they just press a button that says yes or no. While they are holding the device, it is measuring their heart rate and transmitting their ECG, among other things. It can also monitor changes in bodily fluid, which is an early sign of heart failure.”


In case this all comes over as wildly futuristic, Keogh cites the results of an eight-month trial in 2013-14 of “low intensity telehealth” among 92 residents of nursing and care homes in Sussex. They had typical ailments of old age: congestive heart failure, diabetes, serious breathing problems and urinary tract infections. The local NHS community care trust gave the homes involved Android tablet computers fitted with an app devised by Docobo, a digital health company. That enabled staff to ask the patients questions regularly about how they were feeling, with the information then analysed remotely by four “admission avoidance matrons”. Anything untoward about a patient’s readings triggered an alert.


During the trial, the matrons received 252 alerts as a result of heart failure, 181 for breathing problems, 36 for a UTI and 20 for diabetes. Previously most patients whose health deteriorated ended up in hospital. But the early warning system, which cost just 90p a day per patient, led to a 75% drop in those who had to be admitted. Staff were able to intervene earlier and, for example, change their drug regime to stabilise their health.


Over the next few years the NHS will push forward with “a huge rollout” of such devices as part of “a revolution in self-care”, Keogh says.


Source The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/19/prof-bruce-keogh-wearable-technology-plays-crucial-part-nhs-future


, health correspondent


The Guardian







Prof Bruce Keogh: wearable technology plays a crucial part in NHS future

Tuesday 20 January 2015

MHRA names vice-chair of Commission on Human Medicines

Angela Thomas is a consultant paediatric haematologist


Angela Thomas, MHRAThe UK’s medicines regulator has appointed Dr Angela Thomas as vice chair of its Commission on Human Medicines (CHM).


Dr Thomas replaces Prof Ian Weller who retires from the body, which advises the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on drug safety and efficacy.


“I am delighted to be taking up this new role,” said Dr Thomas. “The Commission plays a vital role in the licensing of new medicines and in monitoring drug safety.”


Dr Thomas is an experienced healthcare professional and currently works as a consultant paediatric haematologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.


She is also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, a former president of the British Society for Haematology and has been on the CHM since 2005, where she chairs the clinical trials, biologicals and vaccines expert advisory Group.


In her new role she will help lead the CHM regarding the advice it gives on applications for both national and European marketing authorisations. Commissioners also frequently attend the European Committee on Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) meetings as part of the UK delegation.


Source http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_appointments/mhra_names_vice-chair_of_commission_on_human_medicines_634612




MHRA names vice-chair of Commission on Human Medicines

Monday 19 January 2015

Nurturing change in (digital) pharma marketing

Multichannel pharma marketing could be ready to hatch

Nurturing Change duck eggs

At the turn of the millennium, as the industry began its painful descent from the summit of the blockbuster era, the optimisation of sales resources in a changing environment was global pharma’s biggest strategic challenge.Arguably, it still is. The days when vast armies of representatives descended on GPs in their droves have long departed; they were expensive, unsustainable and misaligned with the emergence of payers as key influencers in the adoption of medicines. As the industry’s single biggest commercial outlay, the field force was always going to take the hardest hit – but analysts’ post-millennium forebodings of the Death of a Salesman have never materialised. Fifteen years later and, despite a significant reduction in the number of representatives, plummeting access rates and the ever-increasing importance of payer communication, the sales force still remains.

The 2015 model is the Elton John of field forces; it’s half-sized, it’s had its fair share of cosmetic surgery, but it’s still standing. The transition through facelifts such as key account management and the deployment of field-based market access teams, has given the appearance of sales force evolution – but critics claim that much of that restructuring has been skin deep, producing superficial transformations that mask a continued reliance on old methodologies. But, as the wider world adapts to technological evolution, even pharma is not immune to the need for real change. In fact, if managed appropriately, technology could provide the catalyst for optimal, efficient and highly effective sales engagement.


The development of a more nuanced, multichannel approach … can support and supplement the field force


The rapid development of digital, mobile and ambient technologies has transformed the global communications paradigm, and, with it, set new expectations in how consumers and professionals consume information. The potential impact on pharma/HCP interaction is significant. To succeed, and indeed to optimise valuable resources, companies must align disruptive innovation with the undisputed skills of specialist sales resource to deliver targeted and effective integrated communications.


But despite rhetoric to the contrary, new technologies will never replace face-to-face engagement. The next phase of commercial optimisation will focus not on the death, but on the depth of a salesman. The development of a more nuanced, multichannel approach, where organisations harness technology and leverage communications and insight across a variety of channels, can support and supplement the work of the field force. By adopting a balanced, multichannel approach with the sales force at the centre, companies can enjoy deeper engagement, build deeper relationships and communicate the depth of information that customers in the value-based economy require.


The jury is out on whether European field force numbers have finally plumbed the depths – but the signs are encouraging. “In a lot of markets, downsizing has bottomed out,” says Julian Tompkins, regional president, Ashfield Commercial and Medical Services. “Across Europe, lots of companies have cut quite deeply – in some cases up to 50% – but many are now in a phase where new opportunities are emerging and they’re looking to reinvest in sales resources. The most progressive companies are resisting the temptation to revert back towards bloated headcount and are instead resourcing sales much more flexibly. In addition, companies are increasingly considering alternative channels and how they can supplement the activity of the field force and make it more efficient and more cost-effective. The trend towards adopting a multichannel approach is growing, but there remains a lot of experimentation across newer channels.”


Deep-seated culture


The approach is embryonic. In a conservative industry, it’s hardly surprising that the move to multichannel is a slow work-in-progress. Perhaps more surprising, however, is the apparent failure of some organisations to learn from the lessons of history. “There are occurrences of resurgence in sales resourcing and reversion to the old models, particularly to support new product launches,” says Jan van den Burg, VP commercial strategy, Veeva Systems. “Rather than opting for a more customer-centric multichannel approach, the failing reach and frequency approach is tried once again. ”


In a conservative industry, it’s hardly suprising that the move to multichannel is a slow work-in-progress


This reliance on old methodology often manifests itself in the field force, where rebadged sales representatives can often resemble new dogs doing old tricks. “As the industry’s customer-base has expanded, companies now fully recognise the need to understand why each stakeholder is important, and how they must tailor communications in line with the diverse needs of individual influencers,” says Alex Ide, principal, commercial analytics at IMS Health. “However, in some organisations, marketers go through the process of stakeholder mapping with real rigour – but conclude by writing job profiles that ask representatives to perform in exactly the same ways that they would have done five years ago. The tendency to lapse back into old, familiar habits is a barrier to multichannel progress.”


Silo mentality


The word ‘multichannel’ is now de rigueur in marketing circles, but in the pharmaceutical industry, it’s a look that’s proving difficult to pull off. In the real world, however, it’s a simple proposition. “The Holy Grail is having a mixture of channels that enable you to engage with the broadest contingent of customers, with the requisite frequency, to help influence prescribing and change behaviours,” says Julian. “From a sales perspective, the routes to market are manifold. For example, the medical representative, KAM, hospital representative and MSL (medical scientific liaison) are all different channels. So too are call centres, web-enabled remote representatives and other forms of online engagement. The industry is looking at lots of different ways in which it can engage, but – crucially – none of them are mutually exclusive.”


Perhaps that’s the major obstacle: mutual exclusivity runs deep in pharma’s operational psyche. “To progress, everything needs to be integrated across all channels. However, although pharma is putting all these channels in place, they still operate them in silos,” says Jan. “Interaction information rarely makes it back to the representative. The most effective models provide the representative – or anyone with customer-facing responsibilities – with full end-to-end visibility of all interactions. For example, MSLs can see interactions between customers and representatives, or monitor online engagement. Likewise, representatives have visibility that a clinician has logged a medical enquiry. By improving visibility across all channels, sales professionals can develop more informed interactions.


“Companies have historically struggled to connect all of their channels. But, with advances in Cloud technology, the opportunity to integrate everything – from digital and face-to-face interaction, to remote detailing and events – is here, providing the stimulus for a measurable multichannel approach. Proactive companies are now combining CLM, approved emails, co-browsing and other digital engagement tools with CRM functionality to empower their field force with end-to-end multichannel visibility. And it’s helping reinforce the value of face-to-face engagement.”


Measure for measures


For senior executives buoyed by the opportunities of multichannel, measurability is key. Optimising sales and marketing resources is a perennial challenge, but as long as companies persist with operational silos, divisions such as sales, digital, marketing communications and SFE will continue to compete head-to-head for budget – and the multichannel opportunity risks being squandered. “Organisations need to develop effective ways of measuring ROI across every channel,” says Alex.


“Pharma is used to making decisions based on lots of data, but with many of the more innovative digital initiatives still in their infancy, some of that data is not available to them. This makes marketers uncomfortable and can perpetuate a tendency to maintain the status quo. What’s needed is independent and rigorous approach to help companies understand where they should be investing, across brands and channels, and why. The prior year’s plan is a common base for much strategic planning – but it’s just one component and far from the most important. If organisations really do want to develop an effective multichannel approach, they must plan and resource based on detailed insights into which channels work. The best insights will not only drill down into therapy areas, markets and specific customer groups, in some cases they can be as granular as individual physicians and payer influencers.”


The best multichannel approaches will comprise the proper alignment of human and digital resources


The best solution will be to adopt an agile, brand-by-brand approach to resourcing and marketing spend, based on a holistic understanding of all the key constituents in the decision-making matrix. “You need to evaluate where your product is in its life cycle in every market, and understand the relative market constraints, key customer characteristics and market access challenges. This will help inform the level of resource that’s most suited to those individual circumstances. This forms the basis of your multichannel strategy – enabling you to coordinate digital and educational campaigns in harmony with targeted, face-to-face engagement,” says Julian.


The future model of pharmaceutical sales will almost certainly be multichannel – but, despite the harbingers of doom, the sales professional will remain the driving force. “The best multichannel approaches will comprise the proper alignment of human and digital resources,” says Jan. “Technology can help provide scale, speed, intelligence and analytics – but it’s only by putting human resource at the centre of communications that multichannel can fully deliver.”


Deep and meaningful


As field force deployment begins to show green shoots of resurgence, pharma’s determination to optimise its European sales resources remains a major strategic priority. For many, multichannel may be a desirable, yet distant, destination. But as they endeavour to maximise salesforce ROI in an evolving healthcare environment, companies are increasingly recognising the role that integrated technologies can play in adding quality, value and, crucially, depth to face-to-face interaction.


Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/nurturing_change_in_pharma_marketing_631634




Nurturing change in (digital) pharma marketing

Friday 16 January 2015

Pharma joins European Alzheimer’s research initiative

EU flag

Lilly and Janssen among participants of dementia-focused IMI project


The European Prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia (EPAD) initiative is a five-year programme launched by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private partnership between the EU and members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).


EPAD brings together companies with experience in neurological research, such as Lilly and Janssen, with research institutions and universities from across Europe.


One of its key aims is to establish a European-wide register of 24,000 participants who either have Alzheimer’s disease or have the potential to develop the condition, a form of dementia that affects cognition, function and behaviour.


Of these participants 6,000 people will be studied as part of a consistent, longitudinal follow-up and 1,500 will be invited to participate in clinical trials to test new treatments to prevent Alzheimer’s.


Prof Craig Ritchie, one of the projects co-ordinators, described EPAD as a “game-changer” for Alzheimer’s research, which has faced major setbacks in recent years including the failure of several drugs to have an effect when used in the later stages of disease.


“[EPAD] is only possible because of the absolute commitment of academics, industry, policy makers and the public to work hand in hand to defeat this global threat,” said Prof Ritchie.


Unlike previous research attempts EPAD is focused on the prevention of dementia in the early stages of disease rather than treating it at a later stage.


By committing to a joint effort researchers have several advantages such as being able to accelerate the identification and referral of patients and being able to test several treatment options rapidly within the same trial.


Pharma companies involved in the project include Janssen, UCB, Pfizer, Amgen, AC Immune, Biogen Idec, Takeda, Lundbeck, Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Sanofi, Eisai and Araclon Biotech.


Academic institutions that have signed up to EPAD include both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the UK and the Karolinska Institutet, Center For Alzheimer Disease Research in Sweden.


The launch of EPAD follows other recent developments in Alzheimer’s research including a £20m trials fund launched by Alzheimer’s Research UK and the £30m Neurodegeneration Medicines Acceleration Programme, which is focused on research into brain disease.


Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/pharma_joins_european_alzheimers_research_initiative_631828




Pharma joins European Alzheimer’s research initiative

Thursday 15 January 2015

Wales - A&E staff to have instant access to patient records as part of £3m investment

Frontline NHS staff in Wales’ emergency departments will have instant access to details of patient’s medical records as part of a £3m investment in a new national IT system for the Welsh NHS, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford and Finance Minister Jane Hutt announced today (Wednesday January 7).




The new national Emergency Department Clinical Information Management Scheme (EDCIMS) will help improve unscheduled care services by streamlining the flow of information about patients and reducing paperwork for healthcare professionals.


The new system will allow real-time information to be shared and will fully integrate with existing hospital and GP systems to support test requesting, results reporting and clinical correspondence. It will also ensure information follows the patient.


It will initially be introduced in Abertawe Bro Morgannwg and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Boards, subject to business case approval, with all other Health Boards expected to adopt the national system.


The Ministers made the announcement during a visit to Neath Port Talbot Hospital, which will be introducing this new system in July 2015.


The £3m investment is part of a wider £14.9m package of new Welsh Government capital funding for the Welsh NHS. Details of further projects will be announced in due course.


Professor Drakeford said:


“The development of the Emergency Department Clinical Information Management Scheme is a major step forward, which will eventually allow information sharing across all emergency departments and minor injury units across Wales.


“It will support service re-design by allowing electronic patient information to be shared throughout NHS Wales, allowing improved integration and coordination of services.”


Finance Minister Jane Hutt said:


“Investing in our health service is a priority for this Government. That’s why we’ve increased our investment in our Welsh NHS by more than a half a billion pounds over two years.


“Effective capital investment is vital to delivering modern public services and we are using our capital budgets to support a healthier and more prosperous Wales.


“The additional investment we are announcing today will help to support reconfiguration of our health services and help to ensure that health services are sustainable, efficient and affordable in the long term, as well as to deliver an improved patient experience in a prudent healthcare service for Wales.”


Source Welsh Government  http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/healthandsocialcare/2015/records/?lang=en






Wales - A&E staff to have instant access to patient records as part of £3m investment

Monday 12 January 2015

NHS e-Referral Service Vision

Making paperless referrals a reality




By the spring of 2015 a new NHS e-Referral Service will be launched to replace the current Choose and Book service. It is being developed using feedback from patients and NHS professionals, and will use enhanced technology to deliver even greater benefits.


The new electronic referral service will improve the quality of the referral experience for patients and better support current and future business processes for clinicians and administrative staff.


In so doing, it will help create a more patient-centred, people-powered service, making the NHS much easier to do business with, and supporting the drive towards paperless referrals and a paperless NHS by 2018.


Progress towards the launch of the new service


The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) and NHS England are jointly committed to ensuring a smooth and efficient transition from Choose and Book to the new NHS e-Referral Service.


We had hoped to confirm a go-live date during the course of 2014, but, in order to ensure a safe and successful transition, this will be delayed while we complete our ongoing rigorous testing of the new service.


This testing is essential to ensure that the new system is fully fit for purpose and working well for the estimated 40,000 patients who book appointments in this way, every working day. It is also essential that we make sure that the transition to the new service will be as seamless as possible. The intent is that at go-live the system should look and function in a very similar way to Choose and Book. This will minimise the requirement for retraining of healthcare staff that will be using the new service.


Testing with GP and hospital system suppliers is progressing well. Early in 2015 the NHS e-Referral Service will be tested alongside the new NHS Care Identity Service to ensure integration with the controls that allow authorised staff to refer patients, book appointments, upload and review clinical information etc.


Users of the service are already heavily engaged in testing and the programme team will extend this, in late January 2015, to include a wider representation from both patients and professional users. This final phase of testing will help ensure that the system is safe and fit for purpose.


While this work continues towards achieving a successful go-live of the new NHS e-Referral Service, the existing Choose and Book service will, of course, continue to be maintained, ensuring patients can be referred to a hospital or clinic with their choice of place, date and time for their appointments.


A short animation which explains our visions for a new service


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Vision principles



  • The new NHS e-Referral Service will improve patient outcomes, user experiences and support the drive to a future paperless NHS referral system.

  • The new service will build upon the benefits and successes of the Choose and Book system, acknowledging its failures (both real and perceived) and lessons learned.

  • There will no longer be a mixed economy of paper and electronic referrals.

  • The needs of patients and professionals will be foremost in designing the new service, which will include support for enhanced functionality and usability.

Read the full NHS e-Referral Service Vision (this content will open in a new window) (PDF, 1.9MB).



What might an NHS e-Referral Service look like in the future?


The needs of patients and professionals will be foremost in designing the new service, which will include support for enhanced functionality and usability. Hover over and click on the images to the right to find out more information.


  • Integration and Usability

    A more intuitive system with a modern look and feel that will support the seamless transfer of referral information from GP clinical systems into provider systems.


  • Referral Management

    Enhanced Advice and Guidance functionality and Clinical Request Templates supporting clinical decisions. Commissioners driven Referral Assessment Services.


  • Any to Any

    Consultants able to make tertiary and onward referrals and commissioners being able to assign referrer rights to groups of clinicians and practitioners.


  • Linked appointments

    Ability to link appointments in a care pathway to ensure all take place in a pre-determined order.


  • Follow-up appointments

    Patients able to choose and book their own follow-up appointments electronically along with alert/reminder advising them when to book.


  • Self referral

    Commissioning organisations able to determine services that are appropriate to accept self-referrals from patients. Patients able to refer themselves into services.


  • Enhanced reporting

    A rich reporting function that provides easy access to referral and booking data in meaningful formats.


  • Electronic communications

    Use of modern technology – mobile phone Apps, e-mails, text reminders etc. to support different ways of communicating appointment-related information to patients and system alerts to professional users.


What have we heard so far?


Since 2004 over 40 million referrals from GP to first outpatient appointments have been made using Choose and Book (this content will open in a new window) and the service is used to refer around 40,000 patients every day.


We have been looking at the possibilities for a new solution and have been out and about in the NHS asking users and patients about their experiences and aspirations of what an ideal NHS e-Referral Service might look like in the future.


We have talked to a range of stakeholders, including Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), referrers (GPs), service provider organisations and, of course, patients. So far we have spoken to more than 2,500 stakeholders and they have told us about some of the functionality they would like to see from a future NHS e-Referral Service. To find out what we’ve heard so far and how to get involved in the development of the new service visit our getting involved page.


What will we do with information?


The feedback we have received so far has helped to shape the new NHS e-Referral Service. We have gained a greater understanding of user requirements and the information will allow us to prioritise proposed functionality for the future.


As we continue to engage with a variety of stakeholders, we will feedback into plans for the electronic referral service, ensuring that it meets user needs and is a reflection of what users have told us that they want.


We will continue to engage and feedback as the new service develops.


Source HSCIC http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/ers



NHS e-Referral Service Vision

Friday 9 January 2015

Medelinked app available for Android

Smartphone users can now access and share medical history from their device

Medelinked on iphoneThe free Medelinked app is now available for Android devices in the Android Market on Google Play.

The app enables users to record a range of medical details such as allergies, conditions, immunisations, medications and tests. Individuals can also store images of scans and x-rays as well as insurance and other documentation.


Ian Gallifant, founder and CEO of Medelinked, said: “We are now seeing a dramatic shift in healthcare – individuals have a heightened interest in their own wellbeing and are increasingly interacting with person technology to manage their lives.


“Personal electronic health records are the way forward for effective healthcare in the future. It starts with past health information being stored in an easily accessible way but offers the prospect of future health scenarios being generated through predictive analytics from large databases of information including lifestyle data, as well as medical intervention choices.”


The medical records of users are stored using the Medelinked Health Cloud system, with the user having sole control over the information that is stored and whether they wish to share it with healthcare professionals. Users can also choose information they wish to password-protect.


Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2015/january/medelinked_app_available_for_android




Medelinked app available for Android

Thursday 8 January 2015

NHS England’s Medical Director launches search for pioneering healthcare innovators

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, today launched the NHS Innovation Accelerator programme.


Together with hosts UCLPartners and The Health Foundation, NHS England is inviting healthcare pioneers from around the world to apply to develop and scale their tried and tested innovations across parts of the NHS.


The programme will focus on the conditions and cultural change needed to enable the NHS to adopt innovations at scale and pace, aiming to improve outcomes and give patients more equitable access to the latest products, services and technology.


As outlined in the Five Year Forward View, the NHS is facing many pressures, including an aging population, more long-term conditions, rising costs and constrained budgets. State-of-the-art development, cost-effective solutions and new ways of delivering care are essential to improving patient outcomes and the health of the nation. The programme will help to deliver these priorities and to further develop our country’s proud history of healthcare innovation.


Applicants should be experienced innovators in healthcare who are currently leading or working on new technologies, services and processes that have the potential to make a real difference to patient outcomes.


The programme will offer successful candidates a range of support to develop and spread their innovations across parts of the NHS – such as access to international leaders in healthcare development and established networks through high calibre mentors including Lord Ajay Kakkar, Lord Ara Darzi, Sir John Tooke and Sir Sam Everington.


At NHS England the programme is being led by Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, Senior Fellow in the Chief Executive’s office. UCLPartners and The Health Foundation will deliver the programme, working in collaboration with patient groups and Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) across the country to support delivery of the innovations into practice.


Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, said: “Britain has made a significant contribution to medical science and humankind. The smallpox vaccine invented by Edward Jenner is said to have saved more lives than have been lost in all wars. Sir Ronald Ross won the first British Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for his discovery that malaria was carried by mosquitoes. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and Crick and Watson discovered the structure of DNA. We are responsible for the first test tube baby, the first stem cell transplant and the ability to stop and restart the heart – which is the basis of modern heart surgery.


“The Innovation Accelerator will build on our enviable history of discovery and innovation by embracing cutting-edge healthcare innovators from around the world to improve patient care while reducing costs and providing better value for the taxpayer.”


Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, Senior Fellow in NHS England’s Chief Executive’s office, said: “Innovation is integral to a sustainable and successful NHS, and scaling cutting-edge innovations can improve patient care.”


“The NHS Innovation Accelerator aims to build on our proud tradition of supporting advancements in healthcare, helping to secure our position as one of the best and most progressive healthcare systems in the world.”


Professor Sir David Fish, Managing Director of UCLPartners, said: “There is no one solution for getting innovation into practice, but the NHS Innovation Accelerator gives healthcare a fantastic opportunity to address some of the historic barriers and develop future strategies for diffusion that are planned from the outset with patients and local communities, supported by international learning and expertise.  Through such partnerships we can create stronger platforms for delivering the best and latest healthcare solutions to patients and the population where it matters most to them.”


Jo Bibby, Director of Strategy at The Health Foundation, says: “Having worked with innovative clinical teams across the NHS for the last 5 years we know that there is no shortage of good ideas for improving our health services. However, we know that there are considerable challenges to getting proven ideas adopted fast. We are excited to be part of this programme as we believe it will ensure patients benefit from the creativity and passion NHS staff have for improving their care.”


To bring global learning to the NHS, the programme will be supported by the International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery (IPIHD) – a collaboration including the World Economic Forum, and Professor Victor Dzau, President of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.


The first wave application process is now open. Innovators from across the international healthcare spectrum are invited to apply. For more information, including criteria and the application form, please visit www.england.nhs.uk/accelerator/. The closing date for applications is 27 February 2015.


Source NHS England http://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/01/07/nia/



NHS England’s Medical Director launches search for pioneering healthcare innovators

Monday 5 January 2015

HSCIC data lab to launch in March


The Health and Social Care Information Centre will launch a secure data lab for viewing sensitive patient data in March, allowing it to support the pathfinder stage of NHS England’s controversial care.data programme.


It is currently considering four separate but not exclusive options for secure data access, including a physical facility in Leeds.


The HSCIC started developing plans for a secure data facility to address public concerns about data privacy, after a review conducted by HSCIC board member Sir Nick Partridge found “lapses” in how its predecessor organisation, the NHS Information Centre, shared patient data.


In July, HSCIC chief executive Andy Williams said the organisation was working on plans for a secure data lab, in which organisations can view sensitive patient data in a sealed environment, rather than sending it out to them.


However, he said the HSCIC had not yet decided whether a data lab would become the only way to access the data or whether some organisations could still have data sent to them.


“It’s a really tricky one: some people say we really ought to only use a data lab service, and some people say that’s a bit inhibitive, but we know it needs to feature in some way. We’ll go through a consultation process to draw the line on, is it for all or is it for some?”


According to a progress report on the Partridge review, released recently by the HSCIC, the organisation developed four potential solutions for secure access to data after a consultation process that included researchers, charities, NHS bodies, data analysis companies and campaign groups. They are:


• A secure physical facility, based in Leeds, where authorised users will be able to access the data.


• A partnership across two or more organisations to provide a network of secure data facilities, in which data remains in the HSCIC but can be accessed from these secure settings.


• Secure remote access, enabling remote and secure virtual access to data with data remaining in the HSCIC.


• A public and open data system allowing the wide range of people who use data to “self-serve” and look at anonymised information, rather than requesting bespoke data.


An HSCIC spokesperson told EHI the solutions will be taken to an expert reference group, consisting of researchers, charities, state, patient representatives and commissioning bodies, to “further help the HSCIC flesh out which…should be developed further” by next spring.


The spokesperson said preparations are underway to make sure that a secure data facility is available in March 2015 to support care.data and the clinical commissioning groups acting as “pathfinders” to trial the programme.


They said the facility will allow access to a limited number of approved researchers on HSCIC premises, with approved applicants able to use and analyse the data, but not to take it away from the site.


“There will be tight regulations in place to ensure that any resulting analysis which is taken away is in anonymised form.”


The spokesperson said the HSCIC is also planning to implement a new remote secure access service by December 2015 for some data sets.


“We are committed to taking the time necessary to ensure that we take all the feedback we have received into account so that any new data access arrangements can be properly used to achieve improvements in health and social care for all while protecting patient confidentiality,” the spokesperson said.


Source EHI 5 January 2015   Sam Sachdeva http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9815/hscic-data-lab-to-launch-in-march



HSCIC data lab to launch in March