2018 European Meeting of ISMPP Sets New Record with Broad Attendance

The European Meeting of ISMPP, January 23-24, 2018, in London, UK, proved to be an exciting and highly-valued conference by attendees from pharmaceutical companies, communication agencies, publishers, and other sectors. The 2018 European Meeting saw 303 attendees – a new record – and a striking increase of nearly 20% from 2017’s record attendance.

Growing participation from pharma companies has been evident over the past couple of years. In 2018, 28% of attendees were from pharma, while that percentage was 23% in 2017 and 18% in 2016. The meeting retained a steady presence from communication agencies, publishers, biotech and medical device companies, and technology providers. See Figure 1 below for the 2018 breakdown by sector.

Figure 1. Attendees by Industry Sector for 2018 European Meeting of ISMPP

Participants from 17 countries attended the 2018 European Meeting, an increase from 13 countries last year. Attendees from the UK remained the most prominent at 207 registrants, while Switzerland had a higher number at 25 attendees. Other European countries with representation at the meeting were Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. Attendance from outside Europe included Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.

Meeting Program Drives Broad Attendance

Driving the broadening meeting attendance was a topical and engaging program. The 2018 European Meeting focused on the ever-increasing complexity of medical publications, with sessions complementing the meeting theme, Advancing Medical Publications in a Complex Evidence Ecosystem. Key meeting highlights will be presented at the upcoming ISMPP U webinar on March 21, 2018.

ISMPP U Webinar
Highlights of ISMPP’s 2018 European Meeting
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
11 am EST, 4 pm GMT

Two thought-provoking keynote addresses at the European Meeting explored the impact of Brexit and the health care technology offered by Patients Know Best.

Andrew Powrie-Smith, Executive Director, Communications & Partnerships, at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), presented the latest updates and various insights on the UK’s impending withdrawal from the European Union (EU), including its effect on the UK health care system and pharmaceutical industry.
Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, Founder and CEO of Patients Know Best, provided information about the innovative technology used by Patients Know Best, and discussed the technology’s impact on connecting patients and their health care providers with the aim of improving health care delivery.

The meeting’s plenary sessions addressed current medical publication trends and issues.

An Industry Panel session included leaders from various pharma companies sharing their experiences on how to ensure compliance, efficiency, and effectiveness for publication and data disclosure teams. The industry experts discussed the evolving guidance on data transparency and addressed its impact on publication and data disclosure practices at pharma companies.
A multi-disciplinary panel with representatives from medical journals, patient advocacy organizations, EFPIA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and the pharma industry elaborated on evolving transparency requirements and discussed which measures matter most in their specific sectors.
The “Time to Embrace Change in Medical Publishing?” session described new communication models, such as open access and preprints, that aim to accelerate the dissemination of medical research. Presenters discussed how the new models have been instituted by such organizations as Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and how they may also be implemented by the pharma industry. Chris Rains, Head of the Global Medical Affairs – Medical Shared Services group at Shire, announced Shire’s new Open Access Policy during the session.
A debate session delved into how the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into automated work processes might impact health care and medical publication professionals. Examples of AI’s current and potential influence on health care, publishers, and medical publications were shared.

Parallel session topics examined patient involvement in research and communications; the growing importance of real-world evidence (RWE); and challenges with publishing unfavorable, negative, equivalence, or non-confirmatory data. For the second year, The Learning Room was held during the parallel sessions, and presented helpful information for newer professionals in an informal, compressed teaching environment.

The Roundtables session included seven new topics: benefits and cost of open access options, offshoring in medical publications, medical journalism, metrics/evaluation of publications, publications and expanded access programs, social media and congresses, and CMPP/how to get involved with ISMPP. Other popular topics included authorship, HEOR, and industry-agency partnerships.

A record 27 posters were presented at the 2018 European Meeting. Member research was on display during the Member Poster Session and Networking Reception, sponsored by Shire.

The following presentations were spotlighted during two Speed Research sessions:

Does ‘open access’ affect the amount of attention an article receives online? Charlotte Bell, Kirstie Park, Amy MacLucas, Anisha Mehra, Jason McDonough
Can the social-media footprint of published articles predict long-term impact? Jürgen Wiehn, David Gothard, Eric Southam
Do authors fully utilize opportunities to share supplementary information at conferences? Neil Venn, Susanne Ulm, Talya Underwood, Valerie Moss
Reporting of Delphi methods to achieve consensus on guidelines in rare diseases. Henrike K. Resemann, Sarah Clements, Annabel Griffiths, Danielle Sheard
Should we consider patients in communication plans? Anna Georgieva, Akvile Lukose, Niina Nuottamo, Nikki Moreland, Michelle McNamara, Saskia Bijvank
Patient involvement…or not? Analysis of “Patient Involvement” statements in clinical trial publications in The BMJ. Anne-Clare Wadsworth, Lauri Arnstein, Rachel Jones, Karen L. Woolley

The following posters received awards at the meeting:

Best Original Research: Survey evidence to advance advocacy: awareness of publication professional initiatives at the Peer Review Congress. Karen L. Woolley, Slavka Baronikova, Alice Choi, Anna Geraci, Mieko Hamana, Jackie Marchington, Elizabeth A. Whann, Chris C. Winchester, Fran Young
Most Reflective of Meeting Theme: Ongoing ORCID implementation within pharmaceutical industry: an Open Pharma and GSK Vaccines initiative. Santosh Mysore, Paul Farrow, Laura Paglione, Laura Schmidt, Christine Vanderlinden

Several opportunities are available to gain awareness of the 2018 European Meeting’s sessions and activities, beyond the ISMPP U webinar on March 21, 2018.

2018 European Meeting Archive is available in the Member Center on ISMPP’s website, which contains session slides and member posters for personal, non-commercial use.
The Publication Plan posted article summaries of Day 1 and Day 2 of the European Meeting on its website.
A MedComms Networking Brunch Club event held on February 7, 2018, featured presentations summarizing Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, as well as posters, at the European Meeting, which can be viewed on YouTube. The presentation videos from the Brunch Club are also posted on the MedComms Networking website.