Athena picks up account for key Bayer Schering product
pharmafile | January 24, 2008 | News story | Medical Communications |
Bayer Schering Pharma has appointed Athena Medical PR to handle the UK PR campaign for its anti-coagulant Xarelto ahead of the drug's expected launch this year.
Xarelto is a potential blockbuster for Bayer Schering, which has hailed the drug as a key product for its future growth.
Athena won a three-way pitch for the Xarelto account, which will see the Chiswick, London based agency advise on and implement a patient advocacy, med ed and media PR campaign beginning in the pre-launch stage of its lifecycle.
Account director Emma Keeling will lead the five-strong team the agency has put to work on the account.
"We are delighted to be working with Bayer Schering Pharma on such an exciting medicine," she said, adding: "it is an opportunity to really make a difference to patients' lives."
Xarelto (rivaroxaban) was filed with European regulators in October with a first indication for the prevention of the potentially fatal condition venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery of the lower limbs.
Drug safety is a key issue in the therapy area after the 2006 withdrawal of AstraZeneca's Exanta, another VTE treatment and potential blockbuster, due to concerns over its liver side effects.
Bayer Schering says its drug has been extensively studied and, based on clinical evidence to date, there is "no evidence of liver signal attributable to Xaralto."
VTE begins with a blood clot in a vein and includes both deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism. Patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery are at high risk for VTE because during orthopaedic surgery the large veins of the leg that carry blood back to the heart are damaged, significantly increasing the risk of coagulation and thrombosis.
VTE has recently been the subject of a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group, published in November following an audit of acute hospital trusts.
It found only 32% of hospital trusts are taking steps to risk assess patients for VTE and bring their practices in line with recent NICE and government recommendations, and also that there is nationwide under treatment of VTE with anticoagulants.
