Hochviral

Digital transformation is a popular topic, but it manifests itself differently, depending on the industry and sector. Thilo Kölzer sees opportunities to extend or to transform marketing with technologies such as the Internet-of-Things, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. more

Market access of pharmaceutical products in Germany is associated with numerous challenges, particularly around regulatory discussions. When the so-called Arzneimittelmarkt-Neuordnungsgesetz (AMNOG) was introduced in 2011, a significantly more rigorous benefit evaluation procedure was put into place. Since then it is more important than ever for pharmaceutical companies to strategically plan their market access communications and focus on stakeholder needs. more

At this year’s eye4pharma, one conclusion in particular was clear – multichannel is more relevant than ever. The call was heard repeatedly in the forum that future campaign planning should be much less driven by “channel thinking” and more by “customer relevance”. It is this need that the new multipipe approach addresses. Taking the “customer journey” as a basis, the approach breaks this down using the 4C principle – Catch, Connect, Close and Continue. But how is that done? And what advantages does this offer? more

Why have sports world records been broken several times over recent decades? Did athletes really get faster and what are they doing to improve? Records in classical disciplines like sprinting, marathon or freestyle swimming, displayed strong increases from the 40ies to the 70ies and are still rising until now. A major part of this improvement of athletes’ performance can be attributed to better equipment, technological progress and advances in sports science: Elastic floor coverings, better running shoes and knowledge of muscle physiology enabled athletes to train more efficient and run faster. Beyond that, today’s athletes follow specific diets, get mental coaching and have physiotherapists to function perfectly. However, they are always hunting for novel ways to pimp their skills. Training the brain with electric stimulation recently showed up as potential – still legal – approach to improve performance and has been used by several athletes during their preparation for the current Olympic Games 2016 in Rio, Brazil. more

According to the World Health Organization, around 40% of all adults are overweight, and around a third of those are obese. Alarmingly, overweight/ obesity is the fifth leading cause of death and considerably increases the risk of getting other diseases, such as diabetes. Unfortunately, curing obesity is not that simple. Since it is a multifactorial disease, lifestyle interventions including exercise and diet are not always sufficient to achieve weight loss. Hence, there is a high interest in the development of safe anti-obesity drugs. In 2009, brown adipose tissue emerged as attractive drug target and the application of targeted nanoparticles could be a novel solution to deliver drugs selectively into adipose tissue in order to avoid side effects. more

It is likely that most communications agencies claim to be creative and innovative. However, not many agencies really live and breathe these two words every day, constantly challenging themselves and their clients to achieve new things. The Cologne-based digital and communications experts at antwerpes do just this – and have done so for 26 years. The mission of the antwerpes team: to develop new and surprising concepts for the client and implement these ideas as high quality communications solutions. more

Since the discovery of penicillin in the early 20th century the image of bacterial infections has changed dramatically. Numerous diseases that have been a death warrant before do no longer pose a thread to modern medicine. But, soon after Fleming’s famous discovery a resistant strain of Staphylococcus was found that urged the need for new antibiotics. And thus, up to date, a plethora of different antibiotics have been developed. However, 100 years after the discovery of penicillin, the world is now facing another bacterial threat, this time caused by the cure itself. In their global report on surveillance, the WHO alerts that without urgent action we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill. This crisis is not only attributed to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, but also to the lack of new innovative drugs. more