The client

Vericel manufactures advanced cell therapies for the sports medicine and severe burn care markets. The goal of Vericel’s therapies is to repair or restore a patient’s damaged tissues or organs using their own cells. Vericel markets two cell therapy products in the U.S.: MACI®, an autologous cellularized scaffold product indicated for the repair of symptomatic, single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee with or without bone involvement in adults, and Epicel®, a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep dermal or full-thickness burns greater than or equal to 30% of total body surface area. The company is based in Cambridge, MA.

Background

Like many pharmaceutical manufacturers, Vericel wanted to automate important aspects of their patient and physician communications and marketing strategies. Specifically, the company wanted to use automation to empower patient care teams, while also educating and empowering physicians. What wasn’t immediately clear, however, was how Vericel was going to implement technology to achieve their goals.  

The company wanted a way to engage dual audiences (physicians and patients) across its many business units for MACI.
 

Why Mautic?

Vericel turned to technology transformation firm Korcomptenz to lead the charge in addressing its challenges with the pharmaceutical industry’s complex legal and regulatory environment, along with Vericel’s unique combination of technical and content needs. Korcomptenz knew that marketing automation could improve Vericel’s efficiencies by standardizing communications with compliant templates and providing consistent messaging without manual intervention. Korcomptenz chose Acquia Campaign Studio because its ability to connect via API to Vericel’s CRM and other data sources (like the product website) made interactions virtually seamless. 

Using Acquia Campaign Studio, Vericel was able to regularly communicate with both patient and physician audiences, track campaign interactions and trigger staff follow-up notifications, allowing Vericel to provide white-glove service while utilizing the campaign’s automated aspects.

Outcomes

Working with Korcomptenz, Vericel distributed its first Acquia Campaign Studio campaigns in a mere six weeks. The results have been impressive:

• Read and clickthrough rates were consistently above the industry averages for physician and patient audiences, indicating a high level of interest in content and services
• Measurable increase in physician-driven activations via automated report without the need for training