As in previous years, MDC Group continued to redefine itself in 2007 with respect to the various types of clients and businesses that it handled. The past year saw MDC achieve a nice mix of both retainer and project-based assignments that allowed the agency to strengthen its relationships with ongoing clients, and to explore new opportunities, as well. Likewise, the work focused not only on strategic and tactical development for its portfolio of branded products, but on an array of products in various stages of pre-commercialization, too.

MDC continued its longstanding partnership in 2007 with Mission Pharmacal Company, for whom MDC has been agency of record for prescription brands since 1994. In fact, Mission afforded the agency its most exciting opportunity in 2007 with the approval and launch of Tindamax^® (tinidazole tablets) for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis—the first new oral treatment approved in a decade, and the only product approved for the treatment of both bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis. The agency created the entire launch program for the brand, including sales materials, journal advertising, direct mail promotion, trade announcements, medical meeting materials, etc. In addition, MDC continued to work on the Mission line of prescription prenatal vitamins, and was instrumental in the re-branding of the line during the second half of the year as CitraNatal^™ Rx Prenatal Vitamins. And the agency continued its efforts on behalf of the Mission line of urological products, including Urocit^®-K, Lithostat^® and Thiola^®.

In 2007, the agency further strengthened its relationship with client Johnson & Johnson, with whom MDC partners in the development and production of patient and investigator site support materials for some of the many clinical trials being conducted by the various companies within the J&J family. As such, MDC works very closely with client project directors to design, print and disseminate packages of materials for multiple clinical studies, often in as many as twenty different languages for distribution around the world.

The clinical trial area became even more important to the agency in mid-2007 with the signing of new client Arena Pharmaceuticals. MDC negotiated a long-term contract with Arena to produce and manage the patient support programs for two separate, nationally-based clinical trials. MDC activities run the gamut from development, production and fulfillment of program materials, to program training at Investigators’ Meetings and ongoing training of local sites via the internet.

The past year also saw the continuation of a relationship that was begun in 2006, when MDC Group was named agency of record for INO Therapeutics, a company that, until midyear, was primarily known for its commitment to research and commercialization of products in the area of respiratory care, via its flagship product INOmax^®. In the latter half of 2007, MDC was presented with another exciting opportunity, as it helped with the development of new corporate materials reflecting the merger of INO with Ikaria^™, a new entity dedicated to identifying, researching and developing new therapies in areas essential to critical care medicine.

MDC also continued to develop health care professional advertising and promotion for Amerifit Brands, a relationship that was begun in mid-2006. As such, the agency created and produced in-office patient starter kits, advertising and promotion for the probiotic Culturelle^® , as well as Estroven^® for the symptoms of menopause, and the AZO line of products for relief of the symptoms of urinary tract infections.

Last year also saw MDC engaged in the execution of a variety of projects, including an assignment from Schering-Plough to develop, produce and disseminate a multi-wave dimensional direct mail campaign for Clarinex^®, and the development of trade advertising for the product Cold-FX^™ for Canadian client CV Technologies.

It is worth noting that the agency was saddened by the departure of one of its more visible clients, Allendale Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of the Today^® Sponge. At the end of 2006, Allendale was merged into another pharmaceutical company, Synova, and the opportunity for MDC to continue its three year run with this unique brand came to an end.

MDC Group remained very stable in 2007 in terms of senior management and personnel. Eric Malter continued as agency CEO, working closely with Managing Partners and Co-Creative Directors Maryanna Zamiska and Sam Bromberg. The agency also remained firmly invested in its Midtown Manhattan location by renewing its lease and completing the renovation of its offices on Fifth Avenue.

The vision of this team is to continue to focus in the areas of its core competences, namely health care professional advertising and promotion for both ethical and proprietary brands, as well as the development of patient and investigator education and support materials in the clinical trial field. MDC Group looks forward to 2008 with a great deal of optimism and excitement with regard to its existing clients, brand assignments and project work, as well as new challenges and opportunities to come.