PharmaTimes Recognizes inVentiv Health's Litmus Medical Marketing and Education As Communications Agency Team of the Year

BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Litmus Medical Marketing and Education, the London-based unit of inVentiv Medical Communications, has been named PharmaTimes Communications Agency Team of the Year, one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious industry awards.

Litmus took top honors in the "NHS Challenge" designed specifically for agencies with expertise in the UK's National Health Service. The PharmaTimes Marketer and Communications Team awards, now in its 20^th year, recognize innovative, competency-based programs. To participate, communications teams must be nominated by their clients for the work they do over a year.

"This is a fantastic honor for the Litmus team, but the award is especially meaningful to us because we were nominated by clients who we work with every day," said Elaine Ferguson, Global Managing Director of inVentiv Medical Communications. "Working for great clients, excelling in what we do and winning this sort of recognition encourages us to do even more."

To win the award, five finalists compete in a simulated pitch challenge with just two hours to respond to a brief and 15 minutes to present their recommendations. The challenge was crafted by senior marketing and healthcare leaders to gauge key agency capabilities.

inVentiv Medical Communications (iMC) has created one of the industry's largest global network of experts in peer-to-peer medical and scientific communications. In addition to Litmus in London, iMC's network includes offices in Munich, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, Dallas and Philadelphia. iMC's deep understanding of healthcare professionals and health systems throughout the world mean clients benefit from both a global perspective and local insights.  The result is rich, persuasive communications that educate and influence the clinical and payer audiences the healthcare industry must reach for successful commercialization.

iMC also is breaking new ground in integrating late-stage clinical development with commercialization teams through an approach called Evidence Catalytics, designed to meet the growing need among biopharmaceutical companies for timely, real-world evidence of a product's value.  Healthcare professionals and governments/payers increasingly require more than evidence that a drug works and appears relatively safe in carefully controlled clinical studies.  They need to be convinced of the clinical, economic, real-world value and how it is better than other drugs and existing standards of care.

"The approach we're taking through Evidence Catalytics allows us to act as a catalyst for accelerating commercial success by planning the needs of a product in the real world in advance and efficiently generating the evidence required to communicate with stakeholder in the marketplace," Ferguson said. "We are finding tremendous interest in this approach among our clients."

For a full recap of the competition and all winners, visit PharmaTimes Online.

About inVentiv Medical Communications
iMC is uniquely focused on facilitating peer-to-peer and scientific communications. Its use of a full range of communications channels is bolstered by employing cutting-edge digital technology. Working in close partnership with clients, iMC provides medical strategies for advisory boards, medical content development and publication, virtual and in-person events and communications between physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals. The goal is to build relationships, foster understanding and encourage collaboration between the biopharmaceutical industry and medical/healthcare professionals.

About inVentiv Health
inVentiv Health, Inc. is a leading global provider of best-in-class clinical, commercial and consulting services to the life sciences industry. inVentiv offers convergent services that accelerate the performance of companies working to improve human life. In 40 countries around the world, inVentiv's 12,000 employees work with more than 550 pharmaceutical, biotech and device companies, as well as companies that see health as a central part of their mission. inVentiv Health, Inc. is privately owned by inVentiv Group Holdings, Inc., an organization sponsored by affiliates of Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., Liberty Lane Partners and members of the inVentiv management team.  inVentiv Health helps clients transform promising ideas into commercial reality. For more information, visit http://www.inVentivHealth.com.

Contact:
Danielle DeForge
inVentiv Health
+1 781 425 4646
[email protected]

SOURCE inVentiv Health, Inc.