Merck Pharmaceuticals has engaged Medicom to improve compliance in diabetic patients as part of the communications strategy for its type II diabetes treatment Glucophage SR.

The agency will run a PR and education campaign targeting primary care practice, and practice and diabetic nurses in particular, and provide them with tools and training to improve compliance.

Medicom's managing director and chairman Martin Ellis said: "From a programme strategy point of view we're looking at identifying ways to help the medical profession improve compliance in diabetes therapy."

The campaign will be launched in January and will then run for a least a year, during which time it will aim to improve healthcare professional's understanding of why some diabetic patients don't take their treatment as prescribed.

To this end there will be materials to help them communicate better with those patients as well as information to give to the patients themselves.

Launched in the UK in January 2005, Merck's Glucophage SR is a slow release version of the company's older and now off-patent Glucophage (metformin), a standard treatment for type II diabetes.

Medicom's associate director Nicola Brett will lead the five-strong team that will work on the account for Merck.

"It's a great win and our second account win with Merck," said Ellis.

Medicom is also Merck's retained agency for its cholesterol treatment Niaspan, which was launched in the UK in November 2003.

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pharmafocus@wiley.co.uk