Healthcare marketing firm Real Chemistry has bought out small, independent life sciences agency Avant Healthcare to boost its healthcare professional messaging.
The deal, financials of which were not shared, sees Carmel, Indiana-based Avant become subsumed into Real Chemistry’s medical group.
The newly expanded agency will have about 450 experts in medical communications, medical education, medical affairs and scientific visualization working together.
As part of the merger, Avant’s exec team stays within the firm, with Trina Stonner, Avant’s chief customer officer and president, co-leading Real Chemistry’s medical group with Suzanne Jacobs, who leads Real Chemistry’s current medical team and is based in London.
“Our clients are asking for more personalized, engaging, and timely medical communications that together, Avant and Real Chemistry will create,” said Shankar Narayanan, CEO of Real Chemistry, in a press release.
Narayanan added that as new, more complex drugs hit the market, these new therapies “require significant HCP education and engagement to reach and benefit the patients who need them. At the same time, demographic changes happening with HCPs are having a profound effect on how companies need to effectively engage with them.”
That’s why adding Avant to the business “brings us even greater scientific expertise, strength, and creativity to partner with our clients to fully leverage the next generation of product breakthroughs in the next few years.”
Real Chemistry has had a busy few years. Just three months ago, the agency opened a new U.K. office and added four new leaders as it looked to boost its geographic reach. Back in August, it teamed up with WhizAI to map the path patients take from diagnosis to treatment.
It also late last year partnered with the American Cancer Society for an AI-powered and interactive digital experience aimed at cancer patients for the 2023 festive season.
Real Chemistry has a history of snapping up small companies like Avant and has, over the last few years, expanded its workforce with hundreds of new hires, including the staff of New York creative company 21GRAMS, which was added to its portfolio back in 2020.
Formerly W2O, the pharma and healthcare marketing communications agency underwent a transformation, adopting the new name Real Chemistry through a rebrand in March 2020. A year later, in 2021, the company further solidified its changes by appointing Narayanan as its new CEO.