FACT SHEET: Women's Health
Frequent healthcare decision-makers, women are key to any medical communications program. As research increasingly focuses on the impact of many diseases on women, MCS takes pride in creating and implementing inventive programs that empower women to take an active role in the treatment of their condition (including breast cancer, reproductive health, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, overactive bladder and heart disease) by offering education and encouragement.
Overcoming Social Stigma
Speaking up about certain health topics can make patients, reporters and even physicians feel uncomfortable. Our campaigns provide patients with a platform to share their stories of strength and determination and to motivate others to seek counsel and treatment.
For Pharmacia's Detrol LA® for overactive bladder (OAB), MCS developed the first patient-education campaign focusing on the effects of OAB on largely overlooked issues such as travel, career, sleep and intimacy. Partnerships forged by MCS between Pharmacia and the American Society of Travel Agents and the Michigan chapter of the American Automobile Association formed the cornerstone of a travel health campaign that increased product sales in the pilot market by 20 percent and garnered coverage from the Associated Press, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.
Educational Initiatives
MCS develops a variety of programs to educate patients and professionals in women's health.
- An inspirational breast cancer education campaign called "Living With It" for Taxotere®, a chemotherapy agent for late-stage breast cancer from Aventis Pharmaceuticals (now sanofi-aventis), profiled Judy Pickett, a 38-year old, three-time breast cancer survivor and Taxotere patient who had pledged to run 100 cancer benefit races around the country. Taxotere had been on the market for several years, losing media attention to newer therapies, but MCS generated media coverage breaking the stereotype that chemotherapy ended an active lifestyle.
- MCS conducted a media campaign to raise awareness of von Willebrand disease (VWD), an under-diagnosed bleeding disorder that affects millions of women. On behalf of Humate-P® (ZLB Behring), the only factor concentrate approved by the FDA for the treatment of VWD, MCS provided media relations and on-site support during the 2005 National Hemophilia Foundation meeting for the "Project Red Flag" consumer symposium that discussed the treatment of and the psychosocial issues surrounding VWD. To help raise awareness of the condition, MCS conducted targeted outreach to appropriate medical, news and women's media. Our efforts garnered coverage in relevant medical and consumer outlets and won interest and attention from editors at Glamour, Shape and Ladies Home Journal.
Meeting Recruitment Goals
MCS jump-started lagging patient recruitment, in a study of Organon's synthetic hormone tibolone for osteoporosis in 700 post-menopausal women, by creating standardized messages in an ad campaign and a turnkey community-relations module. This made it possible for the company to meet its goals on time. (Today, the drug is marketed as Livial® in more than 70 countries.)
Results
We are proud of our relationships with consumer and medical trade reporters who rely on our expertise about issues affecting women's health. MCS generates widespread, positive media coverage for our clients, including:
- USA Today (front-page), ABC World News Tonight, CNN Headline News - Enbrel®
- Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Dermatology Times - Noritate® (rosacea)
- Associated Press, The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press - Detrol LA
- KABC-TV Los Angeles, Sacramento Bee, The Palm Beach Post - Taxotere/"Living With It"
- Medical Herald, NewsRX, Advance for Nurses and Discovery Health - Humate-P
