Healthcare Media & Marketing

“Politically correct” has become a powerful cultural meme that transforms our language and the way we communicate.  It can signal a level of respect for a group of people – “garbage collectors” became “sanitation engineers”, and Whole Foods calls their employees “team members”.  Marketers have been quick to inflate the value of their products with new terminology.  The downscale “used car” became “pre-owned”, and so much more appealing.

One would think that healthcare language, anchored in the solid world of science, would be immune to PC terminology.  While no one has found a better way to say “lipids” which is already an improvement over “fats”, the language of healthcare continues to  morph in response to public sensibilities and scientific insights. Read full post »

The news was devastating.  Lance Armstrong,
one of the greatest athletes of our age, had just announced that he would no longer contest the USADA investigation on doping charges.  Although he did not admit to using performance enhancing drugs, and many believe he is innocent, the decision not to fight the charges was a stunning development.  As a result, Armstrong will be stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and will be permanently banned from cycling.

But while perceptions of Armstrong’s role as an athlete may be altered by this development, what about his role as a philanthropist?  With Livestrong, his cancer advocacy group, Lance Armstrong has become as prominent in the world of health as he is in the world of cycling. Read full post »

An August 2011 study from
The American Journal of Human Genetics summarized in Science describes an extended Swiss family (10 members) with adermatoglyphia – or more simply – no fingerprints.  Also known as “Immigration delay disease” (and indeed it caused delay when a family member tried to enter the United States and had no distinguishable fingerprints), adermatoglyphia was found by Janna Nousbeck, Eli Sprecher and colleagues in Tel Aviv and Basel to be caused by a mutation in a gene located in the skin called SMARCAD1.  Read full post »

Nancy Hicks, SVP and associate director, North America
Healthcare Practice, and Christina Nicols, VP and director of Research, Ketchum Washington, D.C., co-authors and editors of a new book entitled Health Industry Communications: New Media, New Methods, New Message sat down with Ketchum Corporate Communications Editor Jeff Lewonczyk to shed some light on the book, what communicators can learn from it, and overall trends in health industry communications.

JEFF: What is the goal of the book? What need does it fulfill, and what audiences is it intended for? Read full post »

Advertising prescription-only drugs in the EU is a
legal m inefield for drug makers, but for the moment, even in the age of ‘information anywhere’ the strict rules will remain.

This month, the European Commission has been in the headlines with an update relevant for all drug makers, communicators, advertisers and generally anybody responsible for the branding, promotion or distribution of prescription-only drugs across Europe. The update was announced after what appears to have been a review, prompted by proposals that there is increasing interest by patients to have a better understanding of the medicines they take. Read full post »