Health and wellness communications agency Havas Lynx has launched a new kind of agency, Havas Lynx Faze.
Led by Mark Evans (pictured above), the new offering will address the growing trial patient recruitment challenge, whereby 80% of studies fail to recruit on time according to the agency.
Faze will provide a new solution focused on helping clients design a better patient trial experience, ensuring that patients aren’t delayed from getting the medicines they need.
With Evans at helm, who spent the last six years on Publicis Health’s agency Langland as its innovation director setting up a dedicated clinical trial media team, the agency aims to change the conversation between healthcare and trial patients.
He said: “The plan for Faze is to change the way our sector communicates with trial patients. It’s a sector that has been driven by the needs of sites and has missed the fact that patients are not only the main participant, they now also have more studies then ever competing for their attention. We want to work with clients to put the patient at the center of the trial experience and to design recruitment and retention solutions that provide support every step of the way.”
At Langland, Evans was involved in many industry firsts, including the AIIR game, thought to be the first example of using gaming—integrated into ePRO—to motivate young clinical study participants.
He was also involved in recruiting patients through Facebook in one of the first ever fully remote clinical studies, VERKKO, in collaboration with eClinicalHealth and Sanofi.
Havas Lynx chief David Hunt, said: “Faze is aiming to combine creativity and technology to create patient-focused solutions in a market dominated by off-the-shelf solutions that aren’t getting the results clients and patients need.
“We’re investing heavily in setting up a team that will really drive change for patients looking for clinical studies, and we are delighted to welcome Mark to the Havas family.”
Faze will initially be based at Havas Village’s Kings Cross offices, with creative and production run out of its Manchester head office.
The new offering adds to the Havas Health & You companies, which unites Havas Life, Health4Brands, Lynx, Havas Life PR and Havas Health Plus.