CMI Media Group has stepped up its play in the orphan drug marketing sector, unveiling a framework tailored to promoting complex, low-incidence therapies.
The business, a healthcare media agency within WPP, has helped launch 67 rare disease brands across a range of therapeutic areas. Formalizing the framework applied to those brands, CMI has launched a Rare Disease Center of Excellence (COE) to address a perceived gap in the services available to developers of orphan medicines.
“Clients shouldn’t have to choose between a high-touch boutique agency that understands their therapeutic nuances and a large network with buying power and advanced data infrastructure,” Susan Dorfman, president and CEO of CMI, said in a statement. “Our Rare Disease COE brings the best of both worlds to lower time-to-diagnosis and drive meaningful outcomes for patients.”
Rare diseases require a shift in strategic planning, Dorfman said, with the focus pivoting from the mass scale needed in many markets to “finding ‘needles in a haystack.’” Dorfman’s comments reflect the small numbers of patients served by each rare disease drug.
CMI’s framework for reaching rare disease patients is built on “micro-precision targeting” and healthcare professional reclassification. The agency uses claims data, procedure codes, specialty pharmacy data, diagnostic test orders and custom research to map referral pathways and distinguish prescribers from referrers.
Input from key opinion leaders, medical societies and advocacy groups is another part of the framework. Using those insights, CMI aims to overcome symptom under-recognition and payer hurdles to reduce the time it takes patients to get diagnosed and start treatment.
A significant amount of business is available to agencies capable of supporting successful rare disease launches. Last year, half of the new medicines approved by the FDA had orphan drug status, indicating that they targeted diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S.
CMI’s ability to capture the business will influence healthcare and pharma revenues at WPP. The industry was a rare bright spot for WPP in the second quarter, delivering (PDF) the fastest growth—6.5%—of the 10 sectors served by the company.