Lucid launches rare and specialist disease agency

UK-based Lucid Group, has opened Vivid Medcomms, a new agency that will focus on rare diseases and be based in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Vivid will be headed up by managing director Alison Cantle, who was previously a business unit director at Lucid and has over 20 years’ medical communications experience.

She said: “Our business in rare diseases has increased threefold over the last year and making the decision to create a new stand-alone company focused on this area is an obvious choice.”

According to analysts at Evaluate Pharma sales of orphan drugs are set to account for 20% of all prescription drug sales by 2020.

The move mirrors an “industry-wide shift” towards focusing on rare and specialist disease, with revenues from orphan drugs ‘outpacing’ sales of mainstream drugs for the last decade, explained Lucid.

Cantle added: “We have developed a dedicated and talented team of account handlers and medical writers brimming with a specific skills and experience related to developing excellent comms programmes in rare diseases.

“The team are excited by the challenge and looking forward to transforming the lives of both clients and teams in this space.”