Medical Press Release
Service Category: Editorial Services / Press Release Writing
Press Release on the Outcomes of a Study on Indian Patients Who Undergo Chemotherapy
Writing a press release on a medical subject involves a lot of reading, interviewing, and understanding. Recently, I wrote a press release for Dr Anita Ramesh, Senior Oncologist, who is based out of Chennai.
From her client, I received a PDF document of her article. It was about a study she did on a new medication for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The article was published in the Journal of Oncology. The first few paragraphs read like the following:
“Control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting is a crucial factor in ensuring patient’s compliance and adherence to cancer chemotherapy cycle. Fosaprepitant is a water-soluble N-phosphoryl derivative of aprepitant, which is often administered along with 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 antagonist and a steroid in patients with highly emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) or moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC).”
You could download the full article here:
Journal of Oncology.pdfMedical News Without Medical Terms
I need to understand every medical term that was used. And how everything is connected to everything else - say, what are peptides (or neuropeptides), what are receptor antagonists, and what do they do to peptides. I would have spent at least three days for reading, writing, re-writing.
My challenge with the press release was to present the news without using any medical term, unless it was absolutely necessary. At the same time, I should not misinform the readers. Here are the first few paragraphs of the final press release.
A first-ever clinical study conducted in India proves that fosaprepitant, a globally-accepted new class of drug, is highly effective in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) among Indian patients. The study reported that none of the 300-odd patients, who were given fosaprepitant as per guidelines, had these two dreaded side-effects of chemotherapy, during the 5-month study period of October 2016 - March, 2017.
The one-page press release issued to the publications:
Oncology Press Release.pdfAnd, the coverage...
Following are some of the clippings of the coverage the press release got in popular newspapers and magazines in Tamil Nadu:
