Click here for the Merch Stand.
If there’s one thread that ties together everything that Fishawack Health sought to achieve in 2022,
it’s collaboration.
“We’ve been working across the organization more and more,” reports president, marketing Mario Muredda, the former Harrison and Star CEO who arrived at Fishawack earlier this year. “Even when our clients are outwardly desiring one focused offering from the marketing division, we’re constantly collaborating behind the scenes with our colleagues in consulting, policy access, value reimbursement and medical.”
By way of example, Muredda points to the way Fishawack’s marketing and medical communications units worked together to build the Rheumuseum, an interactive disease education concept for UCB that “blends clinical disease education and information in a really compelling creative and digital execution.”
Company CEO Jon Koch agrees, succinctly noting that Fishawack is “keenly focused on delivering interdisciplinary responses to our clients’ commercialization challenges.”
Fishawack added a crucial offering when, in June 2022, it acquired Avalere Health, a consulting firm focused on policy and market access. The deal should help the company accumulate insights “on how broader healthcare developments impact particular stakeholders and their behaviors,” Koch says. Fishawack had previously upped its HEOR capabilities with the acquisition of Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI) in March 2022.
Revenue grew from $139.4 million in 2021 to $173.3 million in 2022, a 24% jump. Koch predicts similar growth for 2023, with the firm setting its sights on a goal of $200 million in North America.
On the client front, Fishawack expanded its relationship with Argenx to include work on myasthenia gravis treatment Vyvgart. It also engineered numerous high-profile launches, including projects for Ipsen and healthcare services firm Carelon.
Asked for additional highlights, Muredda cites the company’s work for Travere Therapeutics (on a recently approved rare kidney disease therapy) and Novocure (on a medical device that treats glioblastoma). “That’s one of the hardest cancers to treat, so any innovation in this space is really notable,” he says.
Head count jumped from 812 full-timers at the start of 2022 to 1,271 at the end of it. Key additions included chief technology officer Geoff Thorne and chief financial and operating officer Brendan Ferretti.
As for the challenges ahead, Muredda notes that Fishawack’s approach to hybrid work has been guided by the motto “people before places.” The agency has reconfigured its offices as collaboration hubs and largely left employees to make their own decisions about how and where they work most effectively.
Expect to see Fishawack continue to build out channels of collaboration, both internally and externally, in the months and years ahead.
The most frequent challenges in the healthcare environment today defy categorization into discrete areas of expertise, Koch says. Likewise, “Part of our focus this upcoming year is to ensure that our processes, our talent and our data conduits are structured in a way that allows people to easily access information and people from around the organization.”
. . .
Our marketing role model…
When we think about marketing role models, we think about people who inspire us to do great work every day. So instead of choosing one role model, we’ve chosen many — millions, in fact. Our role models are the healthcare workers around the world who have dedicated their lives to making the world a healthier place. Their unflinching commitment to coming together as a team to improve our health is what inspires us. — Koch
Click here to see Fishawack Health’s Agency 100 2022 Profile.
Click here to return to the MM+M Agency 100.
From the June 01, 2023 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
