Pharmaceutical Market Europe • March 2023 • 37
HEALTHCARE COMMS
OPEN Health to acquire US life sciences strategy and advisory firm Acsel Health
OPEN Health has announced the acquisition of US-based life sciences strategy and advisory firm Acsel Health (Acsel) in a move that is set to broaden the organisation’s offering to pharma and biotech companies.
OPEN Health said the New York firm’s “deep industry expertise, scientific rigour and actionable analysis drives its success in providing valued partnership to life sciences companies”.
Commenting on the acquisition, Rob Barker, OPEN Health chief executive officer, said: “Acsel is an extraordinary addition to OPEN Health. Acsel’s expert team and long-standing client relationships significantly strengthen our ability to support the commercialisation of our clients’ assets and unlock access for patients.
“We are excited to welcome Acsel into the OPEN Health Group and look forward to working with our new colleagues to offer our clients innovative, scientific solutions around the globe.”
Lujing Wang, managing partner of Acsel, said the firm was “thrilled” to join OPEN Health and to work with a wider team to “solve today’s demands and meet tomorrow’s expectations for pharma and biotech customers”.
“With new colleagues and capabilities to partner with, we are equipped to answer the most challenging cross-disciplinary questions in life sciences across all key therapeutic areas,” Wang said.
The acquisition of Acsel is the latest in a series of deals by OPEN Health. In 2021 it acquired medical communications agency Spirit, as well as digital creative agency ARK.
More recently, the organisation announced that it would acquire The CM Group, a US domestic medical communications platform, from NaviMed Capital.
“The CM Group provides us with a significant scientific communication offering within the US domestic market place,” Barker said at the time of the July 2022 announcement. “Our clients are global and need providers who understand not only the increasing complexity of the science, but also the ever-changing global and local landscapes.”
The CM’s Group then chief executive officer, Daniel Leonard, added: “With new colleagues and capabilities to utilise, we now have the ingredients to offer an even better suite of integrated solutions to our clients.”
Publicis Health launches new advisory and insights business Insagic
Publicis Health has announced the launch of Insagic, a distinct advisory and insights business designed to help healthcare marketers succeed in the current platform world.
Insagic will seek to address the issue of an over-abundance of data resulting from the healthcare and media digital explosions that have taken place over the past few years.
In order to make patient and physician data actionable, the new business’ proprietary data architecture crosswalks billions of clinical and lifestyle data points, including information from Publicis sibling Epsilon’s consumer database and more than 1.6 million minutes of real-world doctor-patient dialogues.
“We understand that our clients don’t need more data – they need more insight,” explained Larry Mickelberg, chief commercial officer at Publicis Health. “By expertly uniting data science with social science, we deliver actionable insights that power modern healthcare marketing.”
At launch, Insagic’s service offerings will include patient and healthcare professional analytics, audience finding and segmentation, advanced targeting, persuasion modelling, intervention design and outcomes optimisation.
Susan Manber, chief patient officer at Publicis Health, said: “We know that diverse minds coming together to tackle complex healthcare and business challenges will always yield better results and better patient outcomes.
“By bringing together an array of experts – from world-class linguists to leading data scientists – we can help health and wellness brands purposefully realise the promise of true patient-centricity.”
Insagic has its headquarters in New York, US and joins Publicis Health’s existing offices in London, Boston, Chicago, Paris, Philadelphia, Toronto and Windsor.
The business is comprised of more than 50 behaviour scientists, data scientists, ethnographers, linguists, strategists, researchers and designers, which the agency says are all united on the central vision of creating better outcomes.
Publicis Health’s worldwide staff is comprised of more than 3,000 healthcare professionals across advertising and branding, data and analytics, strategic planning, service design, digital media and technology, science and medicine.
“We believe human-centred, context-sensing, hyper-individualised patient support models – built in collaboration with stakeholders throughout the industry, sourcing data from across the healthcare ecosystem – will transform the larger healthcare industry as we know it,” Mickelberg said.Publicis Health has announced the launch of Insagic, a distinct advisory and insights business designed to help healthcare marketers succeed in the current platform world.
Insagic will seek to address the issue of an over-abundance of data resulting from the healthcare and media digital explosions that have taken place over the past few years.
In order to make patient and physician data actionable, the new business’ proprietary data architecture crosswalks billions of clinical and lifestyle data points, including information from Publicis sibling Epsilon’s consumer database and more than 1.6 million minutes of real-world doctor-patient dialogues.
“We understand that our clients don’t need more data – they need more insight,” explained Larry Mickelberg, chief commercial officer at Publicis Health. “By expertly uniting data science with social science, we deliver actionable insights that power modern healthcare marketing.”
At launch, Insagic’s service offerings will include patient and healthcare professional analytics, audience finding and segmentation, advanced targeting, persuasion modelling, intervention design and outcomes optimisation.
Susan Manber, chief patient officer at Publicis Health, said: “We know that diverse minds coming together to tackle complex healthcare and business challenges will always yield better results and better patient outcomes.
“By bringing together an array of experts – from world-class linguists to leading data scientists – we can help health and wellness brands purposefully realise the promise of true patient-centricity.”
Insagic has its headquarters in New York, US and joins Publicis Health’s existing offices in London, Boston, Chicago, Paris, Philadelphia, Toronto and Windsor.
The business is comprised of more than 50 behaviour scientists, data scientists, ethnographers, linguists, strategists, researchers and designers, which the agency says are all united on the central vision of creating better outcomes.
Publicis Health’s worldwide staff is comprised of more than 3,000 healthcare professionals across advertising and branding, data and analytics, strategic planning, service design, digital media and technology, science and medicine.
“We believe human-centred, context-sensing, hyper-individualised patient support models – built in collaboration with stakeholders throughout the industry, sourcing data from across the healthcare ecosystem – will transform the larger healthcare industry as we know it,” Mickelberg said
Larry Mickelberg
Susan Manber