Havas Health & You (HH&Y) has announced the launch of its first standalone value and access consultancy, Archipelago, to assist life sciences clients in optimising market access solutions.

Led by managing partner Michael Pill, Archipelago is a global division of Havas Gemini, the value and access centre of excellence for HH&Y.

The agency explained that the Archipelago team offers “experience in payer, manufacturer, agency, consulting and clinical practice settings, and across a range of therapeutic areas and acquisition models, including chronic, small molecule, buy-and-bill, gene, orphan and digital health.”

Pill said: “Standing at the intersection of the wants and needs of providers, patients and payers is a dynamic access and reimbursement environment that will significantly impact the success of a brand.

“Archipelago leverages unique expertise to provide clients with actionable strategies that create value, address barriers to access and improve the human condition by getting appropriate patients on the therapeutic interventions they need to live a healthier life.”

Archipelago has already completed over 50 value and access strategy engagements for early- to late-stage brands.

This includes customer and market segmentation, pricing and contracting scenario evaluation, stakeholder journey optimisation and product acquisition pathways.

Donna Murphy, chief executive officer of Havas Creative Group and HH&Y, said: “As a business that services clients across issue areas at a global scale, it’s critical that we both understand and are able to solve complex market and brand problems effectively and efficiently.

“Archipelago has the experience and expertise to service brands and meet these challenges, and I’m excited to work closely with them to bring their capabilities to as many of our brands as possible. “ The launch is the latest in a line of strategic moves for HH&Y. In January, the agency said it had teamed up with Trinity Life Sciences in a deal that would allow both companies to “offer cohesive end-to-end commercial solutions to the life sciences industry.”

It also announced a global partnership with HCP engagement company Evermed in December to expand its content solutions for doctors and other clinical workers.

Michael Pill

Donna Murphy

WebMD Health has announced that it has acquired Spain-based Grupo SANED, a provider of scientific communication and medical education services.

The corporation said the acquisition marked a ‘significant expansion’ for its flagship global brand Medscape, which already boasts a reach of more than 6.5 million physicians worldwide.

This latest deal now extends the Medscape healthcare professional footprint in Spain by more than 200,000 registered physicians, nurses, pharmacists and one million Spanish-speaking consumers.

Jeremy Schneider, senior vice president, and group general manager at WebMD Global, said: “Grupo SANED strengthens our ongoing mission to deliver best-in-class medical information and tools to even more Spanish-speaking physicians worldwide.

“With Grupo SANED, we further deepen our connection to Spanish-speaking scientific organisations, professional associations and universities within Spain and Latin America.”

Grupo SANED, which is currently made up of more than 50 employees and 400 external collaborators, has provided communication, marketing, publishing, research and onsite training for the medical and healthcare sector for more than 40 years.

Its accredited training has been key to driving membership loyalty, made possible through close collaboration with academics, along with its partnerships with universities, business schools and scientific societies.

The platform will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary of WebMD, as the companies build on and integrate products, platforms and services. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Francisco Bascuas, chief executive officer of Grupo SANED, said: “We are delighted to be part of Medscape. Together we will be able to provide Spanish doctors and other healthcare professionals with the broadest and most complete medical education and scientific information offered worldwide.

“We both share a commitment to contribute strongly to improve patient care and quality of life through providing high standard information and education services to healthcare professionals.”

The acquisition is part of Medscape’s strategic growth plan, which has seen the purchase of other country-specific clinical and health information providers that target healthcare professionals including UK-based MGP in 2021, Germany-based Coliquio in 2020 and Benelux-based MediQuality in 2018.

Jeremy Schneider

Francisco Bascuas