Sarum Life Sciences
An Expert in Life Sciences PR & Marketing

In the continuously transforming Life Sciences industry, the need for agility, creativity and topical thought leadership is essential. That’s if brands and their service partners are to rise above the market noise.

This is an industry facing unprecedented new opportunities and challenges, not least in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when speed to market with the latest vaccines, therapies and treatments was paramount and the Regulatory environment adapted to enable it. This is a volatile market, too, characterised by merger and acquisition activity right along the supply chain. That’s on top of the continuous entry of new biotechs, medtech innovators, industry disruptors from adjacent markets, and other ambitious startups, many from very different backgrounds.

With 25+ experience of tracking and proactively guiding companies through their public responses to the industry’s evolution and disruption, and building on long-established relationships with the Life Sciences press globally, Sarum Life Sciences has helped differentiate and give new voice to some of the most important and exciting industry brands, old and new.

Engaged by major consultants and industry watchers including Deloitte, Gens & Associates and Biopharma Excellence, as well as Life Sciences tech and service specialists such as Generis, Amplexor, Rephine and fme, Sarum Life Sciences delivers both comprehensive creative B2B marketing and PR campaigns, plus provocative thought leadership content which reliably gains rapid and viral traction globally.

From cross-industry debates on the hottest topical issues, including Biopharma Excellence’s prestigious Science Huddle thinktanks (see below), to research-led papers on the latest regulatory investments companies are making, Sarum Life Sciences specialises in stimulating and advancing the conversation.

Sarum engages some of the UK’s best-known and respected pharma and business journalists. It has also cultivated 20+ years of ongoing relationships with Life Science publication and web content editors worldwide – who proactively approach Sarum for new content ideas, based on its reputation of leading from the front with emerging, highly topical and infinitely thought-provoking article themes.

“We’re continuously monitoring the market and, because we’re intimately tracking the latest emerging trends, challenges and opportunities, we’re able to propose new and thought-provoking rather than well-worn themes to our clients and editors,” says Carina Birt, founder and lead strategist at Sarum Life Sciences. “The freshness of our ideas, and our deep familiarity with the industry, its concerns and its language, mean we can hit the ground running with any new opportunity – and the doors just open.”

This familiarity and subject matter confidence also means that Sarum doesn’t shy away from challenging its clients. “If there is a meatier topic, a new angle, we’ll know it or find it and propose it. Proactive market analysis and regular brainstorming, added to our experienced journalists’ everyday contact with leaders across the market, means we never miss a trick,” Carina notes.

For clients with high-level messaging needs, Sarum refreshes those companies’ marketing language, to produce lighter, sharper, clearer, and more accessible brand stories that resonate with their target audience - so that they understand the value of their market proposition in a context they understand.

Where traditional PR or marketing agencies might take a client’s proposition and promote it to the market relying on press releases and advertising, Sarum prioritises earned media to better express a thought leader’s expertise within today’s complex Life Sciences environment.

The freshness of our ideas, and our deep familiarity with the industry, its concerns and its language, mean we can hit the ground running with any new opportunity – and the doors just open.

Since the pandemic catapulted the entire Life Sciences industry into the spotlight, clients have had to work harder than ever to differentiate their stories from those of rivals offering similar solutions. For clients with regulatory, pharmacovigilance, quality, or safety-related offerings, Sarum leverages deep industry insights to convey a brand and product story that attracts the attention of purchase influencers and potential customers. Digital and data-centric process transformation has become a high-profile theme across the industry too, and again Sarum has helped each client finds its own unique take on the subject, leading to fresh content and meaningful industry conversations.

Driven by these competencies, Sarum Life Sciences has been pivotal to the success of many Life Sciences-oriented marcomms strategies. Again, Biopharma Excellence, provides an excellent example here. The company offers a comprehensive range of strategic services to help emerging and repositioned biotech brands bring important new products to market. In 2021, Sarum helped launch Biopharma Excellence as a distinct brand from its parent group, along with a targeted website and core messaging, garnering strong audience engagement and leading to significant early and sustained market growth.

The conception and execution of Biopharma Excellence’s Science Huddle debates, described above, was critical in propelling the brand straight to the forefront of the industry. The quarterly thought leadership panel focuses on complex industry challenges and introduces critical, cutting-edge treatments to stakeholders across the life science ecosystems. The company has already hosted two forums backed by a fully integrated marketing and earned media campaign, delivering considerable lead generation and brand awareness. Currently, Sarum is in the planning phase for a third Science Huddle.

A female-founded and independently-owned company, Sarum continues to look for new and fresh ways to build on its already-strong Life Sciences content and PR credentials to help clients capitalise on burgeoning market opportunities.