Simplifying Life Science and Accelerating Understanding: The When and Why of Animated MOAs
There are dozens of biotech companies across the river from us in Cambridge, MA., and dozens more near our office in San Francisco. They are taking new approaches to attacking disease and leveraging new discoveries and new science, and making great leaps forward. Explaining that science, and specifically explaining the biochemical interaction that makes a potential new therapeutic work in the body, can be challenging, but it is so important to attracting investors and partners, and in recruiting new scientists. This biochemical “mechanism of action” can be described in words and formulas, it can be illustrated, or it can be animated, to make the interaction and explanation clear.
Sample - Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation
Sample - Nabi NicVAX
Animated MOAs – they are easier to create and play now than ten years ago, or five years ago, thanks to advances in computer power and web technology. And a case can be made that they are more important now than ten years ago or five years ago, because of the increased competition for funding and the increased sophistication of science. The quicker you get that “aha” moment of “now I understand” the better for your idea, drug, company — and hopefully, if all goes well, your patients. Also, today, the potential throughput of animated MOAs on company websites and drug microsites make them more available and cost effective than in the past.
From our perspective, creating an animated MOA should be considered for any new therapeutic. They clearly facilitate communication and accelerate understanding. There are situations where they are more important to create than others. For example, a new class or type of therapy needs more explanation than a “me too” compound, obviously. If the biochemical interaction is particularly complex, an animated MOA can peel way the layers of complexity and lead viewers from the familiar to the new. Also, if there is a race to market for a particular type of drug, an animated MOA, done well, can set you apart from the competition, even in the early phases of clinical trials.
There are different approaches to animating MOAs, ranging from the simple to the complex, and there are execution variables of photography, illustration, 3-D modeling, voiceover, typography, video, Flash and more. Whatever the execution considerations the first step is the technical story, which is a very collaborative, intense process, typically involving a writer, scientist and designer working closely and iteratively to get the story right.
There are a number of examples of animated MOAs on this blog and on our site that show different types of execution. But there are two important points from a strategic communication point of view. First, animated MOAs can and do accelerate the understanding of complex biochemical interactions, and are particularly valuable for the more complex, the more revolutionary, and/or the more competitive the therapeutic. And second, the time investment in creating an MOA can be leveraged effectively across multiple channels – on the web, in investor presentations, in laptop presentations, at trade shows, and (in a sequence of images) in print.
