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Guidant Corporation engaged FischerHealth to develop and execute a national media campaign to broaden physician and patient awareness of its cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices by leveraging the publication of its COMPANION clinical trial in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), a
top-tier medical journal.
The COMPANION trial evaluated the use of implantable CRT devices in patients with heart failure. The results of the trial indicated that patients who received CRT therapy demonstrated a 19-20% improvement in quality of life versus patients treated with medications alone. Additionally, the trial showed that patients who received the CRT defibrillators (CRT-D) also exhibited a 36% reduction in mortality. |
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The results of the trial were presented eight months earlier, diminishing the newsworthiness of the publication announcement. |
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Embargo guidelines from the NEJM precluded Guidant from promoting the title of the journal or talking about the results prior to publication, restricting the media outreach as reporters were often not interested in covering the trial without knowing in which journal it would be published. |
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Publication was delayed for five months, causing loss of interest with press who were prepped early in the campaign and then had to be re-introduced to the topic once the publication date was determined. |
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FischerHealth developed a media relations campaign designed to promote the Intuitive System by focusing on the science and the technology that made it both unique and possible. Elements included:
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Introduction of Intuitive to engineering and high-tech focused media |
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Development of third party "endorsement" articles to be used in company information packets |
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Generated awareness for Intuitive within the scientific and research communities |
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Differentiated Intuitive from other competing systems |
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Capitalized on interest in the relatively new category of computer-enhanced minimally invasive surgery |
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Key articles in respected trade media and investor relations journals, including American Medical News, BBI Newsletter, Cardiovascular Device Update, In Vivo, Bio/Med Technology Alert, San Jose Business Journal, Red Herring, MedPro Month and Private Equity Week. |
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Byline and feature articles placed in top engineering and trade publications, including a cover story in R&D magazine, MIT's Technology Review, and Mechanical Engineering. |
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Broadcast coverage included ABC News, Discovery Channel (Science Times), CNN, and PBS (Frontiers of Medicine). |
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Cover story in LIFE magazine's special issue on medical breakthroughs. |
