Day 2: Notes from “Fueling Creativity”, the 2023 European Meeting of International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), London, UK

08:45-16:30 BST, Wednesday 25 January 2023

Connecting the dots – turning information into insights

The second day of the European Annual meeting of ISMPP 2023 began with parallel sessions, with The Salve first attending an enlightening session entitled “Connecting the dots – turning information into insights” delivered by Belinda Dean CMPP (3 Stories High), Laura McGovern (Nucleus Global), Clare Baker (Idorsia), and Sharon Suntag (IQVIA).

Different types of insights and how they relate to each other were summarised by Susan Sontag highlighting that actionable insights tell us what we need to do with the information we have gathered, which can then feed back into what additional information we may need to know. Gathering that information (i.e. your “data lake”) to provide the insights can be structured (i.e. tables, databases set up for an intended purpose) or unstructured (i.e. qualitative, gathered quickly in multiple formats), and we need to use the right type of information to ask the right questions of various stakeholders.?

Not all insights are equal! The quality of different insights should be considered

Using an example from the agency world for context, Laura McGovern explained that we need to take this process and apply it correctly when utilising insights-driven medical planning, for example:

1) capture cross-functional insights (e.g. feedback from medical science liaisons and medical information, literature searches, gap analyses etc.)

2)?consider the quality of the insights and evaluate against the medical objectives

3)?align on the priority of actionable insights (can be achieved via a cross-functional workshop)

4)?develop an action plan, including target audience and timeframe/milestones

5)?implement and evaluate the success of the plan by collecting metrics.?

This process was reflected on by Clare Baker providing the industry perspective. She noted that insights gathering, analysis, reporting and actioning utilising a cross-functional team underpins the success of a med comms plan. Involving AI tools such as Microsoft Power BI can be useful too.

A Balancing Act: Creativity and Industry Compliance

The second parallel session with Géraldine Drevon (GSK), Christine Vanderlinden (GSK), Catherine Skobe (Pfizer), Jonas Lind Hansen (Novo Nordisk), and Veronica Porkess (UCB) explored the fine line that needs to be navigated between risk and innovation in medical communications. Bringing his legal background into the discussion, Jonas Lind Hansen acknowledged that there are risks connected with independent platforms, such as figshare, for data dissemination for example, uncontrolled data access, variable quality of materials, and potential missing information. Nevertheless, pharma is using such platforms successfully and Catherine Skobe showcased the process Pfizer uses to share peer-reviewed PLS, using a DOI. Catherine noted that additional materials will be added following this successful pilot. Industry-owned platforms also have similar risks, with Veronica Porkess mentioning copyright and data access issues. Interestingly, Jonas stated that such websites should not be deemed promotional if materials are balanced, objective, and peer-reviewed. Support from compliance and legal teams can help disseminate these high-quality scientific materials and Novo Nordisk’s Science Hub, providing papers and other medical education assets to HCPs, is a great example of this.?

Finally, patient involvement is another major compliance topic, and similar to other discussions in the meeting the panel agreed that patient involvement should not be a tick-box exercise. Appropriate engagement from an early stage of clinical trial development is important, although patient remuneration for their involvement is still under debate. An example from UCB highlighted patient involvement throughout the process from trial protocol design to poster and peer-reviewed manuscript authorship.?

Once upon a time… Effective storytelling in an age of omnichannel communication

Omnichannel discussions were covered in a fascinating session from Caroline Halford (Springer Healthcare), Fiona Thomas (KPMG), Nathalie van Havre MD, M.Sc., FRACP (European Hematology Association), Owen Hall (Envision Pharma Group), and James Dathan (AstraZeneca).?

Nathalie van Havre presented a compelling case for microlearning as part of omnichannel communication highlighting that the amount of medical information available to HCPs is mammoth – the time to double medical knowledge has reduced from 50 years (in 1950) to just 73 days (current day). Efficient learning therefore requires effort, but careful planning can help disseminate information quickly and effectively. At the EHA they employ a variety of formats and strategies such as Learning Mondays, Thinking Thursdays, and QR cases, which link to guidelines, and they also utilise adult education learning principles. Fiona Thomas stated that a great story is one that is told over and over again, and this should absolutely be the aim for scientific stories too.?

Content has to be king; we need to consider how HCPs acquire and consume information?

Cross-functional input in strategic/omnichannel communication planning is required and consistency is key, particularly when splitting the story across different channels. The speakers noted that making a plan is all well and good but it needs to be dynamic and flex and adapt for unexpected events. Stories can be segmented and chunked, and digital adoption should be considered. In summary, make a good story, profile your learners (and not your HCP type) and plan for the long term.?

Lastly, James Dathan issued a call to action for patients, HCPs, agencies and pharma to co-create new possibilities for medical communications.?

Oral sessions

Three excellent abstracts were chosen for presentation as oral sessions:

Artificial intelligence for the development of clinical trial lay summaries: Are we ready to replace writers with machines? David McMinn PhD (Lay Summaries Ltd) came to the conclusion that AI is not (yet) ready to develop lay summaries, although improvements in natural language processing may make this possible in the future.

Are conference presentations accessible? Insights from an online survey to improve equity. James Wells (CMC Connect) highlighted the unmet accessibility needs of congress attendees and many practical recommendations for addressing these, such as: less visual clutter on posters and bigger text, providing slides ahead of the presentation or a narrated video following the presentation, and improvements to conference spaces such as sufficient seating, sufficient space for wheelchair access, and provision of quiet spaces. ???

Adverse event reporting in industry-sponsored primary clinical trial articles. Susan Wieting (Takeda) highlighted that adverse event reporting in publications did not align particularly well with the Medical Publishing Insights and Practices (MPIP)?recommendations. Vague phrases around safety and tolerability continue to proliferate and the industry has an opportunity to improve communication of these data.

Global economic and policy influences on the pharmaceutical industry

In the penultimate presentation, Mark CHATAWAY (Hyderus) gave an impactful talk on the “Global economic and policy influences on the pharmaceutical industry”. The global population is ageing, and the working-age population is dwindling. While there will be (or is already) a dependency crisis due to this, we also spend more and save less as we age. What impact does this have on med comms? There will be even more focus on QALY and DALY data with treatments; there will be a new focus on the effects of treatments on productivity and on healthcare resource utilisation; and there will need to be improved education for patients to manage expectations of the quality of life possible in later years.

While extreme poverty is decreasing, low-income countries have not financed healthcare to the same extent as higher-income countries. Nevertheless, politicians have realised that chronic diseases make pandemics worse and that African (and also European countries) need to be more self-sufficient in providing treatment and healthcare, and become less reliant on medicines from China, for example. Investment in health technologies and big data are key priorities; increasingly, private healthcare networks are being utilised in some middle-income countries like South Africa, together with adopting economies of scale approaches, will help these countries implement innovative practices.?

Medical communicators will be the arbiters between the “threatened” and the “threateners”

Finally, personalised treatment will increase, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where the largest range of genetic diversity is found. Clinical trials will become more complex, and there will need to be greater biomedical research innovation. Access to huge amounts of data via registries in low-middle-income countries will expand systems and opportunities for analyses.

GPP and Me

In the final session, authors and steering committee members Eleanor Raynsford (Ipsen), Laura Dormer (Becaris Publishing), Christine Vanderlinden (GSK), Eline Hanekamp, PhD (Excerpta Medica), and Fiona Plunkett (Articulate Science) presented the latest iteration of the Good Publication Practice guidelines (GPP-2022) discussing how medcomms and industry professionals have updated and aligned their working practices using the guidance. Results from a pre-meeting survey indicated that the guidelines update had largely affected publication activities, and that respondents still had questions. Again, one of the main topics of discussion was the involvement of patients as authors and issues surrounding appropriate reimbursement and acknowledgement. The panel agreed that patients can be included as authors and reimbursed for their time supporting manuscript development as long as this is disclosed fully and transparently. Involving patients in manuscript development is invaluable and should not be avoided, with GPP-2022 now providing best-practice guidance. Case studies from the audience helped demonstrate how GPP-2022 has supported further improvement in publications processes and clarified author involvement (with the ISMPP Authorship Algorithm tool also helping greatly in that respect).

Liz Southey, Co-founder and Scientific Services Director, The Salve Health