For the greater good…Can agency competitors cooperate to advance medical publication practices?

Abstract

The business of medical writing is competitive, but can it be cooperative? Is it time for agencies, which provide professional and ethical publication support to authors, to cooperate for the greater good of the medical publication profession? Formal collaborations have occurred among competitors in the biopharmaceutical and the contract research organisation sectors but rarely among competitors in the medical communications sector. In holding the inaugural Agency Executive Forum, sponsored by the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), representatives of nine large international agencies met to rectify this situation. We identified a number of areas where we might cooperate, including proposing best-practices for working with freelance medical writers and for responding to procurement-driven requests for information. We are actively looking to cooperate with other groups, such as EMWA, to help ensure outputs that are valuable to the relevant stakeholders.

Keywords:

• Medical writing
• Medical communication agency
• Freelance
• Compliance
• Training
• Procurement

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen L. Woolley

Karen L. Woolley leads ProScribe, part of the international Envision Pharma Group. She is an ISMPP Trustee and Chair of its Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee, a Professor (University of Queensland, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia), and a government-appointed director of a large tertiary hospital and health service (5000 healthcare employees).

Sarah Feeny

Sarah L. Feeny is Head of Scientific Direction at Complete Medical Communication. She is a charter member of ISMPP and served on the ISMPP Board of Trustees (2011–2014).

Julia Ralston

Julia Ralston is founder and head of MedErgy HealthGroup, a group of medical communications agencies with a strong competency in publication planning. She is a former member of the ISMPP Board of Trustees, and was Chair in 2010–2011.

Jackie Marchington

Jackie Marchington is Director of Operations and General Manager (UK) of Caudex. She is co-Chair of the ISMPP Advocacy and Outreach Committee and a member of the Global Alliance of Publication Professionals (GAPP).

Steven M. Palmisano

Steven M. Palmisano leads MedThink SciCom, a member of the MedThink Inc. family of agencies. Steve is CMPP certified and currently serves as Chair of the ISMPP Certification Board. His 34-year career is divided equally as a pharmaceutical industry professional and a medical communications agency leader.

Bryce McMurray

Bryce McMurray leads inScience Communications part of Springer Healthcare. He has been working in medical communications for 20 years in a variety of roles in both the UK and US.