Packer Forbes wins Remicade and Altana accounts
pharmafile | January 12, 2006 | News story | Medical Communications |Â Â Â
Packer Forbes has won new accounts from Schering-Plough for the arthritis treatment Remicade and from Altana Pharma for the company's internal and external communications.
Schering-Plough appointed the agency to provide PR for its biggest selling product Remicade as European regulators consider its proposed ulcerative colitis indication.
Packer Forbes managing director Alexa Forbes said: "Schering-Plough said we were head and shoulders above anything they had seen before and that we bowled them over. They liked our fresh ideas and the team and felt the chemistry was good between us."
Schering-Plough initially asked four agencies to pitch for the UK Remicade PR account after the incumbent, Athena Medical PR, decided not to re-pitch for the business. Packer Forbes was then asked to pitch against the top-placed agency from the original pitch round.
The medical education and marketing side of Remicade's promotion is handled by Brand X and that account is still ongoing.
The PR account is the first business Clapham-based Packer Forbes has won from Schering-Plough and the pharmaceutical company joins a client list that includes GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly and Pfizer.
Packer Forbes has also been engaged by Altana for a UK brief that is based around bringing its core values alive and making them clearer to the company's employees – part of this involves producing an internal newsletter.
The agency will also be working to an external communications brief that will see it managing communications with the pharmaceutical trade press.
Leading the four-strong team on the account will be Kerrie Mitchell, who recently joined Packer Forbes from Cohn & Wolfe.
Altana recently declared its openness to takeover talks following setbacks for chronic obstructive pulmonary drug Daxas and asthma treatment Alvesco.
Altana's intentions remain unclear but it has hired Goldman Sachs to look at its options including selling its pharmaceutical business, which is valued at around E5 billion.
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