Agency CEO Andrew Gottfried wants it known that, even amid the coronavirus pandemic, access specialist firm Entrée Health is looking for talent. “We have 20 open positions right now, so I hope this article is a recruiting tool for us,” he says dryly. “Even though the rest of the industry is unfortunately going through a tough time, we’re in a moment of very rapid growth.”
To that end, the agency saw revenue jump 13% in 2019 to $35 million from $31 million in 2018. It added work from Genentech (on Huntington’s disease, the company’s ophthalmology arm and relapsing MS drug Ocrevus), Takeda (five brands), Pfizer (four assignments), Kite Pharma (on its Yescarta CAR-T therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), AstraZeneca (on a market access resource optimization platform), Bristol Myers Squibb (for segment marketing) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (on cystic fibrosis). The firm ended its work on Novartis’ heart drug Entresto, Merck’s vaccine unit and UCB Pharmaceuticals’ population health initiatives.
Head count was relatively stable during 2019, with an increase of four full-timers to end the year at 145. Key additions included VP, associate director, business development Dr. Sidharth Mehta (formerly a surgical resident at Rutgers med school) and SVP, director of technology Franklin Williams (formerly at CDM’s New York office). Entrée Health managing partner and executive director Nina Manasan Greenberg hails Mehta’s “wonderful medical expertise” and characterizes Williams as “an innovator and an educator.”
Other hires included two Entrée Health alumni: SVP, client service director Lauren Elliott (who returned from Cyberwoven) and SVP, group creative director Alex Mindlin (from Klick Health).
When reminded about her prediction to MM&M last year that a new client for Entrée Health would be “some sort of market disruptor,” Greenberg laughs. “Well, the entire market has been disrupted as a result of COVID-19,” she says. “But this is a health crisis, and it’s going to have to be solved by people in healthcare.”
Along those lines, Gottfried notes that nearly all healthcare organizations have moved quickly to adjust their tactics and strategies, which has required them to lean heavily on agency partners such as Entrée Health.
“Health plans need to change the ways they cover services to allow for more virtual care, so drug manufacturers must change how they communicate about their products,” he explains. “For example, infusing drugs is harder now, so there’s been a shift to oral medications. We’re helping our clients who aren’t in the oral game to communicate not just the value and benefits of their products, but also the ways to get them to patients.”
Greenberg agrees, adding, “When you work in market access, there’s this perception of payers as the bad guy, but what we’re seeing right now is their humanity. These are organizations that are perceived as generally slow to change policies, but suddenly copays and costs and paperwork are being waived to help people get access to healthcare. It will be hard to dial that back at the other end of this crisis.”
The best marketing we saw in 2019…
There’s basically no good COVID-19-related mass marketing coming out of healthcare right now. Everyone has been forced into the same clichés. In this public health crisis, the yeoman’s work of every manufacturer — advertising their patient support programs to those who need their medicines — is the most beautiful work there is. — Nina Manasan Greenberg
From the June 01, 2020 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
