M&A firm advises leading market access agency in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in its sale to the health behavior experts of Ogilvy & Mather
NEW YORK – M&A advisory firm AdMedia Partners, Inc. is pleased to announce that it acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Element Marketing Group, a leading market access agency in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, in its acquisition by Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, the health behavior experts of Ogilvy & Mather and a WPP company.
“In addition to furthering our leadership position in this rapidly growing space, Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access will afford us the ability to equip clients and sales representatives like never before with up-to-the-moment local cost and reimbursement information for their brands, helping doctors to make better-informed decisions for their patients.”
As Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide’s (OCHWW) newest entity, Element Marketing Group (EMG) will fall under the organization’s corporate umbrella and moving forward will now be known as Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access. The new entity will continue to help clients maximize the reimbursement and market share of their brands through smart, focused access solutions that span strategy development, market research, marketing programs and digital solutions. Additionally, the group brings to the OCHWW network a first-in-the-industry, proprietary pull-through tool designed specifically to allow sales representatives to communicate formulary coverage to physicians and overcome reimbursement objections at the point of detail. The digital reimbursement tool is designed to run on a sales representative’s tablet or iPad, in parallel with brand sales aids.
Seth Alpert, Managing Director at AdMedia Partners, said, “EMG’s unique pull-through tools provide important differentiation for OCHWW, and the two companies are a great cultural fit.”
Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access will be led by Michael Navin, former EMG CEO, who will report directly to Matt Giegerich, Chairman & CEO, OCHWW. From an operational perspective, the agency will report to Shaun Urban, a Managing Partner at OCHWW, to ensure integration with the organization’s existing payer marketing agencies.
“OCHWW is all about leadership in the fields of health, healthcare, and wellness. This acquisition was an ideal fit for us because EMG–now Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access–had expertise and a suite of digital pull-through tools that proved a perfect complement to our existing client relationships and offerings in the payer arena,” said Mr. Giegerich.
According to Mr. Urban, “In addition to furthering our leadership position in this rapidly growing space, Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access will afford us the ability to equip clients and sales representatives like never before with up-to-the-moment local cost and reimbursement information for their brands, helping doctors to make better-informed decisions for their patients.” Mr. Navin added, “As a smaller firm, one of my goals for EMG was to bring our proprietary solutions to a wider client base. OCHWW provided the best opportunity to do that, through both its presence in the pharmaceutical marketplace and the agency’s attachment to Ogilvy and to WPP. The depth and breadth of these two companies, along with the alignment of our respective operating philosophies, are ultimately what helped us make our decision to join the OCHWW network.”
Ogilvy CommonHealth Market Access will be based in Newtown, CT, with a satellite office in Irvine, CA.
About Element Marketing Group
Element Marketing Group (www.emgcom.com) is a full-service managed markets healthcare agency that specializes in commercialization strategies and solutions for small molecule, biologic and medical device products across the full product lifecycle from pre-commercialization to patent expiration and retirement. The company’s services include market research, strategy development, and integrated marketing programs. In addition, the company has developed a proprietary tool for clients’ salesforces that integrates prescription, formulary and co-pay data to create region- and physician-specific data, allowing sales representatives to quickly and accurately address reimbursement questions and issues raised by physicians.
About Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide (www.ochww.com)–the health behavior experts of Ogilvy & Mather (www.ogilvy.com)–committed to creativity and effectiveness in healthcare communications, everywhere. With 58 offices across 32 markets, Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide provides marketing services including brand identity and development, clinical trial recruitment, digital/interactive services, direct-to-consumer, direct-to-patient, global integration, managed care marketing, market research and analytics, media planning and buying, medical advertising and promotion, medical education, public affairs and relations, relationship marketing, and strategic consulting. The network also offers scientific communications and publications services through a wholly owned separate legal entity.
About AdMedia Partners
Founded in 1990, AdMedia is a leading M&A advisory firm serving the marketing services, advertising, marketing technology, media and information sectors. AdMedia has completed over 180 transactions for clients valued in excess of $8 billion since 1999. For more information, visit www.admediapartners.com.
