Projects – Eastmond Medicomm Ltd

29/11/202301/12/2023

Informational videos

Challenge:

“Can you make a risk-management video for a loco-regional regulator?”

Response:

Eastmond Medicomm combined existing client assets with stock graphics and local branding guidelines to produce an 8-minute RMP video. A well-known actor was engaged for the voiceover, and the video was cut such that key information points appeared in time with the script with varied animation styles. We delivered ahead of schedule and bang on budget despite a significant delay from the regulator.

“I’m happy with the video. It was fun project indeed and you made it easy despite the delay and short deadline.”
Regional medical lead

“I love it! Thank you for the great work Nigel!
Global medical lead

18/10/202329/11/2023

NEJM

Challenge:

“Can you get us into NEJM?”

Response:

Yes and no. The New England Journal of Medicine is the stone-like pinnacle of medical publishing upon which careers have been made and hopes have been dashed. Over 13 years of operation, we have submitted something like eight or so papers to NEJM. Only one of them ever made it. In order to get into NEJM, you need to satisfy the following tests:

Will the results of your research change therapeutic approaches for the rest of forever?
Does your proposed indication cover a lot of patients?
Have you designed your study properly such that the sample size is correct, any stopping rules are pre-defined, no unplanned interim analyses have been done, the right analysis set is set to be fed into SAS, the hierarchical tests are predefined and sound, and all of that is canonised in the protocol lodged before the trial was started?
Is your control treatment (if applicable) unambiguous and logical?

If all above the above are affirmative, then you have a chance. But only a chance. NEJM rejects more than 90% of everything it receives; so if you are accepted, you are in the top <10% of submitted works.

If your paper is rejected from NEJM, and you come to us suggesting Lancet or JAMA, then you may not see us roll our eyes on a telecon, but trust us that we are. Going from a NEJM rejection to a Lancet or JAMA submission is insane. The reasons are twofold:

They apply the same standards.
They use the same reviewers.

So, if you have been bounced from NEJM, your most sensible route is to submit to a top-flight specialist journal., and suggest reviewers to the journal editorial team. For all of those eight or so NEJM submissions we mentioned above, all of them selected Lancet and the secondary, and all were rejected outright. There is no point pursuing this. From there, most went for JAMA next, and were similarly rejected. We will tell our clients this, but some still persist (often driven by author demands) to go for the next ‘biggest’ journal.

In all cases, the paper has ended up in the best two or so specialist journals in the field, which is no bad thing.

If you think you have a NEJM paper, come and talk to us about it. You will not be spared the truth because we want you to get your research out in front of doctors in the shortest time without spending a fortune..

10/08/202329/11/2023

Middle-Eastern publications projects

Challenge:

“Can you minute a meeting in the Middle East and work with the participants to create a white paper on the state-of-the-art of clinical care in a rare disease?”

Response:

We travelled to Dubai to assist in the facilitation and minuting of a meeting of leading regional experts. Once back in the UK, we prepared the minutes, and used them as a framework to create a clinical review paper that provided an overview of diagnosis and treatment of the disease at hand. This paper eventually formed the basis of clinical treatment guidelines.

Working with physicians in the Middle East is all about relationship building and understanding how the doctors work together. It is also very rewarding, as appreciation is always forthcoming for high-quality work.

15/07/202301/12/2023

Internal Medical Communications Leader

Challenge:

“Can you join our medical affairs team as Medical Communications Leader? We need help with a very busy period.“

Response:

Nigel joined the Medical Affairs team of a major blue-chip European pharma company. He quickly gained recognition for the delivery of live events and difficult publication projects. Nigel and his colleagues invented and oversaw a new annual programme of high-science events to support the disease franchise. Publications output was maximised by assembling high-quality cohorts of writers, statisticians and medical affairs leads in a ‘Skunkworks’-style operation that redefined what was possible with the existing clinical trial databases.

What was supposed to be a short stop-gap turned into a three-year contract with relationships and friendships that have extended far beyond that.

The day we turned the main auditorium in the Nice conference centre into the deck of a sailing ship, complete with an actor playing Charles Darwin shrouded in an atmospheric mist of dry ice. Nobody ever forgot this event or its central message,.

13/07/202318/10/2023

Infographic-style posters

Challenge:

“Can you produce scientific posters as an infographic?”

Response:

We already knew that infographics in their true sense are very hard to get approved by Legal/Regulatory, because they deal with proportions in area and dimension that are not represented by accepted scientific standards. We met the client in the middle by producing poster graphics that navigated the grey area between art and graph.

We cannot show an example of this due to patient and client confidentiality.

13/07/202318/10/2023

Standalone meeting

Challenge:

“Can you deliver a 200-delegate, 2-day standalone meeting with 21 speakers in a UK location?”

Response:

We assisted our client in fleshing out an agenda, and worked with the entire faculty to ensure that their slides looked great on the day. We skilfully managed some speakers who delivered their presentations via remote links. For theming, we reached into the archives of work for this client to identify an underused creative theme that could be adapted for the new meeting at minimal cost. We also engaged our trusted AV supplier to make sure that nothing could go wrong on the day.

Eastmond Medicomm staffed the main room and the lobby with its own, in-house Medical Writer and Events Manager to provide all the delegates with an enjoyable two days from check-in and badge collection all the way to the the lively Q&A.

The meeting room set up and ready to go. We projected to two screens,, and produced all the room dressing and print items you can see in the photograph. Coloured LEDs easily set the scene on a tight budget.

Our AV team working hard to ensure that content makes it to the screen unscathed. All that wiring shows how many backup systems we install to ensure we can deal with any eventuality.

A roomful of delegates enjoying the keynote speech. Some of the speakers delivered their talks remotely with no discernible lag.

12/07/202301/12/2023

New web page

After 13 years of operation, it was high time to make sure that our offering is represented properly on the Internet. Please take a look around our site to see how Eastmond Medicomm can help you reach your communication goals.

10/07/202318/10/2023

Colin’s leg

Challenge:

“How can we contribute to disability sports and highlight the function of high-tech medical devices?”

Response:

We assisted in the funding of a new carbon fibre racing leg for Irish para-cycling legend Colin Lynch. We learned a lot about the rules governing prosthetic legs for cycling — did you know they are considered part of the bike and not the person? Colin raced the leg at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games winning Silver for Ireland.