Helping transform medical discovery and innovation into viable solutions that can impact the world

OCTOBER 30, 2023—SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The MUSE Creative Awards, which honor creative and design professionals, announced their 2023 winners on October 13^th, and despite more than 10,000 entries worldwide, the jury panel comprised of more than 60 industry professionals, from agencies including McCann NY and Ogilvy NY, honored Halteres Associates with nine awards across three animated videos they produced over the past year.

“These videos help us continue our mission to educate the public (including policymakers, funders, governments, and industry participants) while also supporting and elevating the companies and discoveries that enable continued innovations in diagnostics.”

“We are honored to be recognized by the MUSE Creative Awards for some of the work we’ve produced for ourselves and our clients over the last year,” stated Managing Partner Rich Thayer. “These videos help us continue our mission to educate the public (including policymakers, funders, governments, and industry participants) while also supporting and elevating the companies and discoveries that enable continued innovations in diagnostics.”

Creative Director Vinnie Urdea accepted the awards on behalf of the media production team at Halteres Associates, a leading bioscience consultancy that provides strategic and tactical services in the areas of diagnostics, medical devices, and life science research to clients of all sizes. Awarded videos include “The Power of Knowing” (4x Platinum in the categories Public Service & Activism, Medical, Animation, and Technology/Science) produced for the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA), “NULISA: Unlocking The Proteome” (3x Gold in the categories Medical and Animation, and 1x Silver for Technology/Science) produced for Alamar Biosciences, and “Answering Life’s Most Important Questions” (2x Gold in the categories Consulting and Animation) from their own It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics awareness campaign.

“It was a pleasure to work with Halteres Associates on this animation for our NULISA proteomics platform,” remarked Yuling Luo, CEO of Alamar Biosciences. “It had been difficult to quickly communicate some of the most detailed advantages of our technology, but Halteres helped us to tell our story visually and succinctly, with great care to get the scientific details correct. Having Vinnie (Urdea) and the associates at Halteres on our team gave us exactly the video we were looking for, and it’s been a very effective and useful tool for conveying the value of our technology.”

On October 24^th, Halteres Associates was also recognized with a silver Davey Award - which honors work from the best boutique creative agencies, in-house brand teams, small production companies, and independent creators – for “Best Health & Wellness Podcast” for Halteres Presents, their brand-agnostic interview podcast that seeks to provide an impartial perspective on the latest developments impacting medical diagnostics. The podcast, which has featured esteemed guests such as former Minister of Health of Peru Dr. Patty García and renowned science author David Quammen, recently concluded its second season, with Season 3 already in the works.

“We are so pleased to know that our podcast is resonating not only with our dedicated listeners, but with the Davey Award judges as well,” exulted Creative Director Vinnie Urdea, who also accepted the Davey Award on behalf of Halteres Associates. “I am very proud of our team for the recognition they are getting for our video production work as well as for our podcast. We can’t wait to share what else we have in store.”

» Read the entire press release

Celebrating 20 Years of Halteres Associates: A Celebration, A Retrospective, and What’s Next

 
At Halteres Associates, we are celebrating our 20th Anniversary, and we want to acknowledge and thank our many constituents around the world for their support and allowing us to assist them with their innovations. When we started Halteres Associates, we had no idea where it would take us, and the last twenty years have been an exciting and fulfilling journey.

We would like to take some time now to reflect on where we have been as a company, the changes we have seen in the global healthcare community, and where we believe things are headed for diagnostics and devices. There has been quite a bit of change in our industry in the last twenty years, especially regarding the level of sophistication used to define and evaluate the entire diagnostic ecosystem, including how new technologies may best address market and product needs and opportunities. We have seen these changes develop across the board with our industry and academic partners, NGOs and global health partners (including with funding and policymakers), ministries of health, and other key stakeholders. While arguments can always be made to develop new technologies, it is now more widely understood that it is equally important to demonstrate and deliver positive impacts. We believe that this is a good time to take stock of what we have learned and how we can use that knowledge to anticipate what’s ahead. We look forward to what the next 20 years will bring, and to making new connections in this ever-evolving global health industry.

Thank you for your support, and we hope you enjoy this reflection on the first 20 years of Halteres Associates.

Exclusive Interviews with Experts in the Diagnostics Field to Bolster the Global Dialogue on Diagnostic & Life Science Matters

MARCH 7, 2023—SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Halteres Associates, a leading bioscience consultancy that provides strategic and tactical services in the areas of diagnostics, medical devices, and life science research to clients of all sizes, today has launched season one of their new podcast series, Halteres Presents. The series, co-hosted by Halteres Associates partners Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea, is described as a brand-agnostic interview podcast that seeks to provide an impartial perspective on the latest developments in medical diagnostics.

“As the Roman saying goes: ‘A wise man learns from the mistakes of others; a fool learns from his own.’”

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Selections from the upcoming season of Halteres Presents include:

• A three-episode series premiere focusing on tuberculosis diagnostics worldwide, featuring perspectives from Dr. Morten Ruhwald, Dr. Peter Small, and Dr. Shibu Vijayan, who are all prominent tuberculosis experts and experienced practitioners in the field;
• A chat with Dr. Paul Keim, known for his work assisting the FBI's manhunt in response to the 2001 anthrax letters, and featured in the recent noteworthy Netflix documentary "The Anthrax Attacks", to discuss his essential and pivotal scientific research used in the investigation;
• A discussion with Jen Leib, an experienced government affairs official from iPolicy Solutions, dissecting several key pieces of legislation related to the diagnostics industry and where they stand today;
• An interview with Dr. Nancy Gagliano, Deployment Lead for the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative to speed innovation in COVID-19 diagnostics;
• And a sit down with Mike Richey, Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of The National AIDS Memorial, to cover the obstacles to healthcare access for patients from all parts of the globe and all socio-economic backgrounds.

“We noticed a lack of opportunities within the diagnostics media landscape for prominent individuals to exchange knowledge directly with their colleagues, beyond traditional journals and conferences, or for other listeners to enrich their understanding of key issues influencing the availability of new testing solutions,” stated Halteres managing partner Rich Thayer. “We wanted to create our own sandbox where experts could come share their insights, experiences, forecasts, and observations beyond simply a high-level overview.”

Founding partner Mickey Urdea added that the aim of the podcast is to provide a platform for guests to share their extensive experience and insights, with the ultimate goal of driving the conversation around diagnostics forward for both experts and novices. “By codifying these lessons learned, we’re helping others to avoid the same pitfalls in their own journeys,” said Urdea. “As the Roman saying goes: ‘A wise man learns from the mistakes of others; a fool learns from his own.’”

New episodes of season one of Halteres Presents will be released weekly on Apple and Spotify. Season two is already in the works and is set to be released later in 2023.

Apple Podcasts Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/halteres-presents/id1675559229

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/436uwcDjTxAlOIiVXsGUDJ?si=6f71d5d23e0b4fd4

About Halteres Associates

Founded in 2002, San Ramon-based Halteres Associates, LLC, provides strategic and tactical consulting services to organizations in the areas of diagnostics, global health, medical devices, and life science research. With decades of combined experience and leveraging a robust network of industry professionals across multiple disciplines, Halteres Associates assists organizations with technology creation and applications, product and market development, opportunity and economic analyses, business modeling, and more. Their clients include large multinational companies, global nongovernmental organizations, and emerging industry innovators.

Contacts

Sharon Noot
714-600-9022

Mickey Urdea is pleased to be delivering an in-person keynote presentation at the ASU Diagnostics Summit next week on Thursday, October 27^th at the ASU Health Futures Center in Phoenix, Arizona (and on Zoom). The summit brings together leaders from academia, industry, and government to discuss, debate, and decide the issues most relevant to diagnostics. The meeting will explore the following topics in the field of diagnostics:

• How does diagnostic regulation and reimbursement change for at-home testing?
• Where does intellectual property for diagnostics go in the future?
• Living in a post-COVID-19 world: What role does diagnostics play?

Register HERE to attend via Zoom or in-person!

Halteres Associates will be represented at the “28^th AACC International CPOCT Symposium: Meeting Evolving Patient Needs Using Point-of-Care Testing” in Montreal, Canada, from September 21^st – 23^rd! The symposium promises to deliver stimulating discussions on the latest science and cutting-edge technological advances through a keynote lecture, scientific sessions, panel discussions, and interactive poster receptions. Register to join us here: https://www.aacc.org/meetings-and-events/international-cpoct-symposium

Diagnostics Demystified By New “It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics” Campaign

Halteres Associates marks their 20^th anniversary by launching a new website to educate the public about diagnostic testing through advancing industry innovation

SAN RAMON, Calif. – July 21, 2022 – Halteres Associates today announced the launch of their new “It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics” website, a resource developed by the firm to advocate for the diagnostics and clinical laboratory industries and raise awareness about the important role diagnostic testing plays (alongside therapeutics and vaccines) in a fully advantaged healthcare system. The website is a first-of-its-kind resource center for tools and educational content related to the diagnostics industry gleaned from decades of combined experience.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant new attention to the diagnostics industry and the public has become exponentially more familiar with the important role this industry plays in our lives every day,” said Halteres Associates’ managing partner Rich Thayer. “As champions of the diagnostics field, our mission is to continue to educate the public (including policymakers, funders, governments, industry participants, developers, and manufacturers) while also supporting and elevating the companies and processes that enable us all to continue to innovate. Without diagnostics, advances in healthcare would stand still.”

According to the CDC, 70% of today’s medical decisions depend on laboratory test results and 14 billion laboratory tests are ordered annually in the U.S. alone.

As a preeminent advisory company to the industry, Halteres Associates is hired by and collaborates with global health partners, investors, and bioscience companies all stages of their business lifecycle, providing strategic and tactical services in the areas of diagnostics, medical devices, and life science research.

In addition to educational video content, the “It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics” website is making available a set of tools for identifying and designing tests for SARS-CoV-2, including storyboards and use cases.  Developed by the experienced team at Halteres Associates to help solve some of the bottlenecks encountered during the rollout of effective testing for the COVID-19 pandemic, the tools could be adapted for use in the next pandemic and potentially all infectious diseases.

“Over the last several years, we’ve been able to recognize the common factors in successful products that are developed to meet diagnostics needs,” said Halteres Associates’ founding partner Mickey Urdea. “The tools we’ve made available are free-to-use and will enable companies to better understand unmet market needs and to design diagnostic products that meet those needs.”

The “It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics” website also features the premiere of an ongoing video series of the same name. The first animated video, “Answering Life’s Most Important Questions,” examines the ubiquity and vital importance of diagnostics in our everyday lives. Future topics aim to highlight the requisite foundational knowledge behind diagnostic testing and to illustrate how much the industry continues to evolve.

About Halteres Associates

Founded in 2002, San Ramon-based Halteres Associates, LLC, provides strategic and tactical consulting services to organizations in the areas of diagnostics, global health, medical devices, and life science research. With decades of combined experience and leveraging a robust network of industry professionals across multiple disciplines, Halteres Associates assists organizations with technology and product mapping, opportunity and economic analyses, business modeling, and more.  Their clients include large multinational companies, global nongovernmental organizations, and emerging industry innovators.

About It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics

Launched in 2022, “It’s Not Magic, It’s Diagnostics” is an industry-serving website and platform for educating and supporting both the general public and innovators in the diagnostics sector. The website, developed and maintained by Halteres Associates, is a resource center providing tools related to the diagnostics industry, and sharing the latest advances in diagnostic technology. The mission of the website is to promote positive outcomes for the diagnostics industry as a whole.

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Read the report here. 

Halteres Associates has published a new article blending Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” with video production in biotech - “Pivot to Video: On The Origin of Views by Means of Video, or the Preservation of Favoured Companies in the Struggle for Engagement - and What That Means for the Diagnostics Industry”.  Click here to read the article

The Halteres Associates video production team has wrapped another video production project! Many clients have asked what exactly goes into a day on set, so here is a peek behind the scenes!   learn more

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