CLIENT PARTNERS > Case Studies
CASE STUDIES
Some of our clients have allowed us to brag about our work a bit. Check out the case studies below for examples of our successful programs.
Widespread Coverage of a Biotechnology Tool
CLIENT: Life Technologies
When trade and general reporters are barraged by new product announcements every day, it is challenging to make a product stand out from the pack. The team at Canale Communications partnered with Invitrogen, now Life Technologies, to launch its innovative ProtoArray Protein Microarray into the market.The key to the successful media program was communicating ProtoArray’s importance and potential applications, including biomarker discovery, identification of drug targets and the determination of gene function. The team also uncovered new opportunities to highlight the product and its wide range of applications to targeted customers.
Canale Communications conducted a media outreach campaign to trade media and leveraged editorial calendars to pitch ProtoArray for inclusion in applicable product round-ups. We also identified and secured award opportunities to position ProtoArray in consumer media as a highly innovative technology, which required that we translate the highly technical story behind the ProtoArray into language and concepts that clearly demonstrated the “so what” of the technology. Our efforts resulted in more than 60 mentions of ProtoArray in trade and consumer media, including recognition for the ProtoArray in The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.
Growing Thought Leadership in a Nascent Industry
CLIENT: Life Technologies
Invitrogen, now Life Technologies, has a market-leading product line to advance stem cell research and has been actively involved in developing new products since before the landmark passage of California’s Proposition 71 in 2004. Following the passage of Prop. 71, Invitrogen wanted to stake a claim as a thought leader among scientists and business media with respect to stem cell science, policy and intellectual property.
Canale Communications coordinated with Life Technologies to conduct news-based and proactive media campaigns to cement its stem cell leaders as go-to sources for both trade and business reporters. We secured feature stories in a wide range of business and trade outlets for Life Technologies and its stem cell experts, and when industry-changing news broke about the revocation of key stem cell patents, reporters from outlets such as The New York Times and Los Angeles Times proactively called Life Technologies for comment.
Launching One of 2009's Biggest Biotech Stock Stories
CLIENT: OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals
When OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals sought attention from Wall Street in 2009, the biotech had no analyst coverage. OncoGenex’s comprehensive data from multiple mid-stage clinical trials in oncology rivaled any Phase 2 data published in prostate cancer to date. Despite the robust data, the Company’s story was met with skepticism and its pipeline of product candidates was deeply undervalued.
The team at Canale Communications successfully identified the issues impacting OncoGenex’ corporate reputation — the issues inhibiting awareness of quality of data and impeding a fair valuation of their clinical programs. The team organized a year-long investor relations program that included an Investor Reception at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference. The campaign launched one of the biggest biotech stock runs in 2009 including a stock price increase of approximately 930% from Q1 to Q3 2009 and communications programming that resulted in six new analysts initiating positive coverage of OGXI. According to the Burrill Report, OGXI saw the second largest gain in share price in the biotech industry for the full year 2009.
A BIO Success Story
CLIENT: BrainCells, Inc.
Neurogenesis, or the growth of new brain cells, is a field of research that started only ten years ago and since that time has burgeoned. BrainCells, Inc. is translating the groundbreaking science of neurogenesis into clinical practice. As a way to unveil the exciting research and clinical studies underway, the team at Canale Communications coordinated the first neurogenesis-focused panel at the BIO International Conference in 2009 featuring BrainCells.
Clive Cookson, in an article in the Financial Times, referred to it as “the most fascinating scientific session I have attended here.” In the months since, we continued to build visibility of BrainCells and the neurogenesis space. The company announced positive data from one of its compounds for depression, and its other drug candidate was recognized by Windhover as one of the top 10 most interesting unpartnered neuroscience projects to watch – a repeat of a similar Windhover accolade in 2008. When BIO 2010 rolled around, we coordinated a follow-on panel to discuss progress in the field as well as growing interest from pharma and clinicians. Cookson attended once again, and directly afterward solicited BrainCells’ Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Dr. Carrolee Barlow to participate in a neurogenesis round-up podcast that reaches 1.9 million listeners every day. BioWorld Today reporter Nuala Moran also covered the session in a feature article targeted at an industry audience of 13,000.
Thought Leadership and Corporate Reputation are Important for VCs Too
CLIENT: Canaan Partners
By 2008, Canaan Partners had raised eight funds with $3 billion under management between healthcare and technology. The healthcare team drove nine successful exits in the three years prior across biopharmaceutical, device and diagnostics. The sale of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals to Johnson & Johnson in 2005 and Cerexa to Forest Laboratories in 2007 were two of the most lucrative deals in the industry at that time. Despite its successes, the firm kept a low profile in the media.
The team at Canale Communications elevated Canaan Partners’ presence as a major player in healthcare venture capital. Leveraging each partner’s sector expertise and portfolio investments, our campaign included a steady pace of media outreach over the year that established the relationships with top tier reporters who continue to contact the partners for industry perspective. More than one dozen articles were secured for news about investments, portfolio milestones, and investing and economic trends, in outlets including Dow Jones VentureWire, Forbes, In Vivo and BioWorld Today. We also secured four speaking engagements at key industry conferences, providing the partners not only visibility but networking opportunities. In addition, we tapped our reporter contacts and industry executives to augment the guest list for the Canaan Cocktail Reception at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, which has become the must-attend event of the conference for three years running.
MEDIA SUCCESSES
