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Page 1: Aspire Scientific - who we are and how we can help

ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 1

Aspire Scientific:

Who we are, how we can help

Welcome to Aspire! On behalf of the team at Aspire

Scientific, we’d like to welcome you

to our first ever newsletter! We hope

you find it useful, informative and

enjoyable reading.

The Aspire leadership team

In this first issue, we’d like to

introduce you to the Aspire

leadership team. You may well have

worked with Ryan or Rick, but may

not yet have had the chance to

“meet” Philippa and Jane. Now is

your chance!

Introduction to our academic team

We also wanted to tell you a little bit

about our academic team, who they

are, and how we work with them. We

are very lucky to be able to draw upon

some genuine scientific experts in

their respective therapeutic fields –

and would like to tell you about the

benefits that these scientists can

bring to you and your writing

projects.

Working with us

This section of the newsletter

provides an overview of how to get

the best out of working with us. One

of the greatest benefits arising from

the way we work is that we can

invariably take on large writing

xxxxxx

projects with little or no notice. We

believe it is this point that sets us

apart from almost any other high-

quality freelance medical writing

service.

Examples of projects and overview

of therapy area expertise

We are often asked whether we

have expertise in delivering certain

project types, and if we have good

knowledge of specific therapy

areas. Our article on this topic will

hopefully help to answer these

questions for you.

Quality and good service matters

We are thrilled to have had the

chance to work with so many good

clients over the past few years.

Without breaching client confide-

entiality, we finish the newsletter

by providing an overview of our

growing client base. We are

particularly pleased that we still

regularly work with clients who

began working with us when we first

launched Aspire. We must be doing

something right! This is mirrored by

the many good testimonials we have

received, some of which can be

found on the last page of this

newsletter

How to get in touch Macclesfield Office

Ryan Woodrow Aspire Scientific Ltd, Adelphi Mill, Bollington, Cheshire, SK10 5JB, UK

ryan.woodrow@aspire‐scientific.com +44 (0)1625 575101

Oxford Office

Rick Flemming Aspire Scientific Ltd, Faringdon Business Centre, Volunteer Way, Faringdon, Oxfordshire,

SN7 7YR, UK rick.flemming@aspire‐scientific.com

+44 (0)1367 246019

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ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 2

Aspire Scientific was started in January 2012 by Ryan Woodrow, Rick Flemming, Jane Woodrow and

Philippa Flemming. A brief description of each of the team members is provided below.

Rick Flemming

Rick is a MSc and PhD‐educated scientist who has spent the past

decade working in, or for, international medical communic-ations agencies. During this time, Rick has helped deliver publications and medical education initiatives across a diverse range of therapy areas. His commitment to editorial excellence and publications best practice is absolute, and he takes

great pride in ensuring all members of our writing team also achieve these high standards. When not medical writing or refereeing between his children, Rick enjoys jamming with his guitar and watching rugby league, often at the same time.

Ryan Woodrow

Ryan brings over 15 years of experience of working within pharmaceutical companies and medical communications agencies. During this time, Ryan has developed excellent medical writing skills, a good knowledge of a number of

therapeutic areas, and extensive experience of delivering medical education and writing projects. Ryan serves on the European Committee for the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), is a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) and helps to organise educational,

careers

Meet the Aspire

Leadership Team

careers and networking events for the European medical communic-ations community. When not medical writing, Ryan enjoys hiking and also tries to enjoy watching Manchester United (not that easy this season!).

Philippa Flemming

Philippa has been a medical writer for 3 years. She received her PhD in molecular physiology from the University of Leeds and previously worked as an Innovation and Technology Manager for the UK National Health Service. Philippa uses the scientific skills and knowledge she developed in academia to add real value to many of our deliverables. Philippa recently co‐authored a peer‐reviewed paper summarising the proceedings from the fifth annual meeting of the European CME Forum, and she also attended the 2013 meeting. Philippa’s hobbies include walking her labrador puppy and playing for a local brass band.

Jane Woodrow Jane is our Company Secretary, Finance Director and HR Director rolled into one. She makes sure that we promptly complete our time-timesheets

sheets and that we submit our invoices when we should. Jane also manages our freelance academic team. Jane has more than 15 years’ experience of working in administrative roles for health-care-related industries. Prior to working for Aspire, Jane worked for AstraZeneca and SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). When not at work, Jane likes to unwind by listening to music and watching films – not always that easy with three young kids demanding attention!

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that we have an office in Macclesfield and an office in Oxford?

This should make it easy for one of our team to visit you if you are UK based and want to

meet up for a coffee or lunch to discuss how we might be able to help you. Just get in

touch! We would love to hear from you.

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ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 3

Our Academic Writing Team

Who are our writers? In general, our writers are post‐doctoral scientists working at leading academic institutions in the UK. We are fully transparent and are more than happy to provide the full details of the academic writer who will be working on your project. As a taster, here are some snippets about just a few of the academics who are currently working with us:

PhD-educated immunologist working at Public Health England.

Post‐doctoral Researcher in virology at the University of Oxford.

Post‐doctoral Research Assistant at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Metabolism and Endocrinology (OCDEM), University of Oxford.

Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Leeds specialising in Molecular Epidemiology.

Commissioning Editor for a neurology journal, with a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Oxford.

Post‐doctoral Research Fellow at Cancer Research UK.

Former Head of Molecular Biology at a biotech, with expertise in bacterial and

virological infection.

How do we attract writers of such high quality?

There is no doubt about it, we are extremely privileged to be working with people of such high quality. The

main reason for this is that we offer our academics a taste of what it is like to be a professional medical writer. We provide them with

extremely comprehensive briefs, and feedback on their work so that they can develop their writing skills.

We also provide them with valuable experience for their future careers. In addition to these benefits, we pay our academic writing team a good

rate for the services they provide. The following quote from a former member of our team, who is now

working for a medical communic-ations agency, says it all: "Working with Aspire alongside my academic role has been a fantastic experience. I have been involved in a range of oncology-based medical writing projects, which has given me a unique insight into the industry. I thoroughly enjoyed completing each assignment and really benefitted from the constructive feedback I received from Aspire. I am now leaving academia having been offered a position with a MedComms agency. My time with Aspire not only helped to confirm my career choice of medical writer, but I believe really helped with my interviews, allowing me to demonstrate a genuine interest in MedComms and my familiarity with

the industry."

Working with Aspire When we (Rick and Ryan) were sole freelance medical writers, it often frustrated us that we were continuously

turning down work. And that is the thing with good freelance medical writers – they are rarely available when you need them. The great thing about the way we work at Aspire is that:

We can invariably take on large writing projects with little or no notice.

You have the reassurance of knowing that the work sent to you has been thoroughly reviewed by either Rick or Ryan, and therefore it has been looked at by two sets of eyes before it even reaches your desk.

We believe it is these points that set us apart from any other high-quality freelance medical writing service.

Because of the way we work, we generally only take on larger writing projects of at least 3 days’ duration. This covers projects such as manuscript outlines and drafts, reports, monographs, slide decks and other larger writing

projects.

Additionally:

The way we work will not impact on your budget. We will not charge you more than the hours/budget you

provide in your brief (unless there is a strong reason, agreed with you in advance).

The way we work will have a minimal impact on your timelines. To complete a project, we may ask for up to

an additional 2 days at the most to brief and review.

We are supported by a team of rigorously selected, highly qualified academic specialists. Members of

our writing team are at the forefront of their fields (from acne to zoster) and are carefully

recruited from leading academic institutions across the UK. This means that we can provide cutting‐

edge expertise across a broad range of therapy areas. Peace of mind

Importantly, to ensure you have peace of mind:

Our writers are highly

qualified. All of our writers possess or are working towards a PhD or MD.

Confidentiality is assured. All of our writers sign confidentiality agreements.

Our writers are carefully checked. We take up two references for each and every

one of our writers.

All work is thoroughly

reviewed. All work delivered by our writers is rigorously reviewed by Ryan or Rick before it goes out, ensuring

high-quality and making your life easier.

We hold the best possible

insurance protection. We have comprehensive indemnity

insurance.

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ASPIRE SCIENTIFIC: WHO WE ARE, HOW WE CAN HELP 4

In addition to investing in software, we attend educational meetings to remain on top of the latest processes and guidelines affecting our field.

For example, both Rick and Ryan attended the European ISMPP meeting in January 2014, and Ryan

and Philippa attended the European CME Forum in November 2013. Our therapy area expertise

Our team of writers possesses comprehensive and up‐to‐date know-ledge of a range of therapy areas,

meaning that whatever your medical writing needs, we can invariably help you.

Current areas of expertise are shown below. We have worked on at least two projects in all of these therapy

areas over the past 12 months:

Infectious diseases (hepatitis C, HIV and malaria)

Medical devices and technology (diabetes devices, spinal devices, renal dialysis)

Metabolic disorders (diabetes and acromegaly)

Neurology (epilepsy and multiple

sclerosis)

Oncology (targeted therapies,

immunotherapies and chemotherapies for a range of cancers, including breast

cancer, colorectal cancer, GIST, NSCLC, and RCC)

Pharmacology (drug‐drug

interactions, food effect, pharmacokinetics, etc.)

Respiratory (asthma and COPD)

Women’s health (fertility)

However, it is worth noting that we

have therapeutic knowledge in other areas within our academic team. Additionally, Rick and Ryan have

worked in multiple other areas in the past 15 years. Get in touch with us if you want help in an area that is not listed – and we will tell you what we

know about that therapeutic field!

Quality and good service matters Quality and good service are integral to everything we do. We are passionate about quality and do our utmost to ensure that every-thing that goes out of our door is produced and written to the very highest standards. That is why all of the work produced by our team is meticulously reviewed, edited and data checked before you see it. It is also why we have invested in the best software and tools. We believe that our quality standards are the reason that clients come back to us time and time again. Over the past 2 years we have worked with around 20 medical communications agencies. In the first 6 weeks of this year alone, we saw repeat work from 7 of these agencies! Here is just a small selection of the feedback we have received from clients. We can provide many more testimonials on request: "A super thank‐you for the outstanding work undertaken and provided to us. I am now just finishing review of the provided collective presentations; the work and professionalism is exemplary. I do hope we can work together again in the future." Vice President, USA "Very nice work. I made essentially no peer review comments and it flew through editorial because it was so well written. I shared it with [the client] and they agreed that it was well written. Many thanks for this." Managing Director, USA "I did want to say a HUGE thank you for everything you have done for us this year. We have all enjoyed working with you and the team and hope to do so again next year" Account Director, UK "You are fantastic!!! Thank you so much, I really appreciate this. It’s really great working with you, so good to know that the work we get back will be high quality and that you’re so thorough."

Senior Medical Writer, UK

Examples of projects and overview of

therapy area expertise

Prepared 24th February 2014. © Aspire Scientific Ltd

We are often asked what experience we have in delivering particular types of projects. We are also frequently asked about the therapy

areas that we are most comfortable with. Hopefully we can answer some of these questions here.

Our project expertise Because of the way we work, we typically only take on larger writing

projects of at least 3 days’ duration. Writing projects that we regularly deliver for clients include:

Clinical study manuscripts

Narrative / systematic reviews

Advisory board reports

Scientific congress reports

Slide kits

Educational materials, including

product monographs

Therapy area and product‐related training documents

Market access materials, including clinical sections of value dossiers and clinical needs

assessments

Medical information projects,

such as thought‐leader identification exercises, and online audits / digital audits of websites.

To ensure that we deliver these projects to the highest possible

standards, we invest in the latest, market-leading software.

Software we subscribe to includes:

Office 2013 (including Word 2013 and PowerPoint 2013)

EndNote X7 reference management software (http://endnote.com/about/x7)

PerfectIt editing software Journal Selector and Conference

Authority (www.sylogent.com) Adobe Acrobat Pro

We also have outstanding skills in

searching PubMed, and have access

to other databases, e.g. EMBASE.


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