International congress delegates made up of diabetologists and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) who treat type 2 diabetes attending American Diabetes Association (ADA), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) congresses.

FORXIGA®, XIGDUO®, BYDUREON®, BYETTA®, ONGLYZA® and KOMBOGLYZE® are prescription drugs that can only be promoted to healthcare professionals. They are marketed by AstraZeneca, who have UK headquarters so the company must follow the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Code of Practice, which requires information to be clear and unbiased.

Sixteen patient cases were researched and developed each with a different set of challenges, needs and preferences for physicians to consider when choosing a treatment. These patient cases were materialised as digital renders and 3D printed figurines, “bringing them to life” as characters that physicians would recognise from everyday clinical practice. Delegates could pick up a patient and place it on a touchtable to trigger an interactive pathway through that patient’s profile. Working through the content, delegates reviewed medical needs and patient preferences to match a patient to an optimal treatment choice. The touchtable technology allowed multiple users to access the tool simultaneously giving delegates the opportunity to use the tool together and to compare cases side-by-side.

The Patient Profiler Touchtable was the centrepiece of the AZ exhibition area surrounded by the areas dedicated to each individual AZ brand. It was first used at the ADA congress in June 2015, then subsequently at EASD (September 2015) and IDF (December 2015). It proved to be the ‘star attraction’ of the AZ stands at all these congresses with interactions ranging from 500–1200 people.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Delegates found it an interesting way to learn about AZ’s products, with many remarking on the different, futuristic interface and that unlike many other interactive experiences, the Patient Profiler Touchtable was not a ‘gimmick’ but actually delivered interesting and educational content that helped them.

For AZ, the Patient Profiler Touchtable received reviews from the AZ global team and from the independent congress organisers. We have also received requests for localisation from AZ teams in Latin America, Turkey, Russia, Greece, Germany and Australia.

“The Patient Profiler was really popular at congress. It gave both sales representatives and delegates a novel and innovative way of exploring our range of products. We not only plan on re-using the Patient Profiler Touchtable but have had a number of local market enquiries, who hope to adapt into a new education tool. ” AZ Diabetes Global Marketing, EASD 2015

Individualised treatment has been recommended in the ADA and EASD guidelines. The AZ portfolio offers choice and a personalised approach to meet individual patient needs. We felt physicians needed to know more about their patients to make the right treatment choice. We therefore gathered insights not only on medical needs but lifestyles, preferences and perceptions to create our patient cases. We then set a treatment challenge to delegates that tasked them with matching these factors to the optimal treatment from the AZ portfolio.

Most congress stands rely on innovative digital technology to ‘wow’ and attract delegates, we wanted to ensure that our tactic delivered real educational value underpinned by the science of our client’s products.

AstraZeneca (AZ) market six products for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, enabling them to provide individualised treatment options for patients – an approach recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). These are two of the world’s leading organisations in diabetes. ADA hosts the world’s largest congresses on diabetes each year and the EASD congress is the leading diabetes meeting in Europe.

AZ needed to stand out in the crowded exhibition area and attract busy delegates to their stand, engage their interest and then help them to see the benefits of the products in the AZ portfolio for different patients.