PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maxwell Group, the world's largest provider of live, direct-to-physician web conferences, today introduced the industry's first integrated web conferencing platform and service package designed specifically to meet the exacting demands of the pharmaceutical industry. MedConferenceLive allows drug marketers, brand managers and medical education agencies to sponsor, manage and execute live, online web conferences easily using the Internet. The service allows physicians to log onto medical web conferences and attend live events without downloading or installing any additional software or applications.
"In essence, MedConferenceLive overcomes distance and time challenges to deliver live, relevant and important medical information directly to physicians anywhere, anytime they're at a personal computer," says Bob Maiden, president of The Maxwell Group. "Pharmaceutical companies are facing new pressure to streamline the direct-to-physician drug marketing and education process. MedConferenceLive provides an environment specifically built for how physicians learn, in a live, interactive format that allows for questions and answers, online polling, live video, physician chat and discussion."
Nationally, direct-to-physician web conferencing is experiencing tremendous growth, as the medical industry shifts its marketing paradigm to a new breed of more efficient, less time-consuming and more education-focused sales practices. The Maxwell Group, for instance, will manage more than 3,500 live web events in 2004 with more than 200,000 attendees. This compares to just 70 live events the company managed in 2001.
In a recent online poll of physicians attending leading pharmaceutical company web conferences, 69% percent reported they were likely to attend a future web event; and zero physicians said they would definitely not participate in a future event. In addition, when asked about their future prescribing behaviors, 65% of physicians reported that they plan to significantly increase prescriptions for the respective drug brands, while 35% reported that they intend to slightly increase the number of scripts (for charts, visit http://www.medconferencelive.com/chart1104 ).
"Industry response to direct-to-physician web conferencing has been nothing short of phenomenal due to technology advances, compliance requirements, plus the pressure to streamline the direct sales process," says Maiden. "Doctors need and want information directly from key opinion leaders regarding new drug therapies and findings. MedConferenceLive provides an easy-to-use solution for physicians to learn, and for pharmaceutical companies to directly deliver their message to the very people who make the prescribing decisions."
MedConferenceLive is a turnkey technology and service package that offers drug marketers a comprehensive solution to manage the entire direct-to- physician web conferencing process that includes:
-- Physician recruitment. A series of tested e-recruitment tactics to
help market events and assure attendance.
-- Sales rep training and integration. With MedConferenceLive, sales
reps are taught how to market, facilitate and follow-up on physician
web conferences to assure optimal results.
-- Speaker training. MedConferenceLive includes speaker training in the
unique online web conference format, keeping them on-topic and in
compliance.
-- Branded interface. MedConferenceLive events are branded specifically
to the company, drug or talk title. Physicians see and hear
presentations within the context of the drug brand.
-- Data collection capability with complete ROI tracking and reporting.
MedConferenceLive collects key data allowing drug companies to analyze
physician behavior in relation to post-event prescribing activity.
-- Live, human monitoring by trained experts in medical conferencing.
MedConferenceLive events are monitored by the most experienced
professionals in the industry who will conduct more than 3,500 live
medical web conferencing events this year.
-- Complete technical support. A technical staff is standing by via a
toll-free 800 number to support unique technology demands of physician
offices, hospitals and medical training facilities.
-- No additional software or downloads required. MedConferenceLive is
built on popular Macromedia technologies, already available on 98% of
all PCs.
For more information about MedConferenceLive or The Maxwell Group, visit http://www.medconferencelive.com/.
About The Maxwell Group
The Maxwell Group is the leading provider of live web conferencing solutions to Fortune 1,000 companies. Founded in 1989, The Maxwell Group is a pioneer in the field of online events, eLearning and web conferencing, offering a comprehensive menu of pre-event, live-event and post-event services.
The Maxwell Group manages more live, direct-to-physician, web conferencing events than any other company in the world. This year, the company will conduct more than 3,500 events, reaching some 200,000 physicians around the world. Through MedConferenceLive, the company's proprietary web conferencing platform, The Maxwell Group offers the only fully-integrated web conferencing technology and support service package specifically designed to assist pharmaceutical companies in brand promotion, speaker training, advisory board meetings, clinical investigator training and more. MedConferenceLive improves physician access and time to market in a convenient and flexible format providing pharmaceutical companies a distinct competitive edge.
The Maxwell Group, Inc.CONTACT: Renee Rozniatoski, Associate Vice President, Gregory FCACommunications, Inc., +1-610-642-8253, Email: Renee@gregoryfca.com, for TheMaxwell Group, Inc.; or Bob Maiden, President, The Maxwell Group, Inc.,+1-800-292-0450 x1233, Email: Bob_Maiden@MaxwellTrain.com