APOTHECOM EUROPE APPOINTS DAVID BARRATT AS MANAGING DIRECTOR
London, UK — September 8, 2003 — ApotheCom Europe, the European office of ApotheCom Associates LLC, today announced the appointment of David Barratt as managing director. David joins ApotheCom from Adis International, where he was general manager for UK, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. David brings more than 25 years of healthcare marketing and advertising experience to ApotheCom, including founding and running his own healthcare communications agency, Prima Communications, for 12 years and being UK head of marketing for Professor von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition.
"Joining an agency with a track record of success like ApotheCom's is a rare opportunity," said David Barratt. "I look forward to continuing the development of ApotheCom Europe as a valued partner to clients looking for best-in-class strategic solutions," he added.
"Our European office is an integral part of our global support network enabling us to offer our clients a global team with resources located in the United States and Europe," said Neil Matheson, president and CEO of ApotheCom Associates LLC. "We place a lot of emphasis on teamwork at ApotheCom. David shares our vision and will implement our team culture in the rapidly growing ApotheCom Europe office," commented Matheson.
About ApotheCom Associates LLC
ApotheCom Associates LLC is a member of the AXIS Healthcare Communications LLC group of companies. ApotheCom is a global medical communications company that provides strategic communications planning, advocacy development, publication planning and implementation, and medical education services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries through its network of offices in Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and London.
"ApotheCom was founded on the principle that a medical communications agency must bring high quality scientific and clinical expertise as well as strategic marketing skills to all client relationships," states Matheson who is also CEO of AXIS Healthcare Communications. "Medicine is a rapidly evolving science and new products are increasingly complex in terms of their mechanisms of action, dosage and administration, and variability of action across a diverse patient population. Companies therefore require partners that can work with them to effectively communicate data that will ensure appropriate use of their new product," he added.
About AXIS Healthcare Communications LLC
AXIS Healthcare Communications provides a full spectrum of healthcare communications services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries through its strategic consulting, medical communications, medical education, and healthcare advertising agencies. AXIS employs more than 210 people worldwide.
Originally founded by Neil Matheson and Lawrence J. Lesser as ApotheCom Associates LLC in 1999, AXIS Healthcare Communications was established as the parent holding company at the beginning of 2002. AXIS Healthcare Communications is part of the Omnicom Group of companies.
"The vision is to offer a full range of services through centers of excellence that employ the very best people with specific skills to meet client needs," commented Matheson. "The agencies in the AXIS group can work together to provide integrated services when a particular situation would benefit from an integrated approach, or they can work as individual agencies," added Matheson.
About Neil Matheson
Neil Matheson is a New Zealander that started his pharmaceutical industry career as a sales representative for CibaGeigy Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis). He moved to the United States in 1989 to manage the US operations of the medical publishing company Adis International. In 1994 Matheson established OCC North America Inc., the US office of the UK-based OCC Group. Matheson became president and COO of OCC Group before leaving in 1999 to establish ApotheCom.
In typical New Zealand fashion, Matheson is a passionately competitive individual with a history of involvement in team sports. He therefore places heavy emphasis on teamwork, sticking to the game plan, and respects the contributions of all team members. "We work in a people-oriented business and our people are our most important assets," said Matheson. "Testament to this belief is the fact that our human resources department is called the Valuable Assets department. Our success is directly related to our belief in the quality, experience, and expertise of our talented team of people," added Matheson.
Omnicom Group Inc.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
Contacts:
Neil W. Matheson
President & CEO
ApotheCom Associates LLC
Phone: (215) 550-8302
neil.matheson@apothecom.com
www.apothecom.com
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