The rise and rise of Medical Education

While the rest of the PR industry searches ever more stringently for some signs of economic recovery, Healthcare PR and Medical Education continue to show seemingly sustainable revenue growth. So why is Healthcare and particularly Medical Education such a beacon of success, and are there any lessons that the rest of the PR sector could learn? The role of the General Medical Council, and the fact that pharma companies by law are not allowed to market their drugs using traditional advertising methods, has undoubtedly opened the door for Med Ed to play a key role in the promotion of new drugs to the medical fraternity. That said it seems that they are pushing at an open door. The nature of the pharma market means that there is a requirement for continued learning (in the trade they call this Continued Professional Development) for doctors. As the NHS has to spend its resources on drugs and wages, there is a training vacuum that the pharma industry has been only to keen to fill. However, it seems to work as the pharma industry, and the PR firms that they employ, plays a critical role in the transfer of cutting edge knowledge about the latest drugs to doctors. While doctors don’t like being sold to, they do like to be trained and it is this balance that seems to be so vital for the continued success of Medical Education. Does this highlight any lessons for the rest of PR? Well, the circumstances of the pharma sector are unique but the emphasis on training, knowledge transfer and continued development are themes that could be used more in other areas of B2B PR.