How ExtendMed Helped Mediar Therapeutics Achieve Rapid, Cost-Effective Insights to Advance Fibrosis Treatment

The challenge

Drawing on prior experience at Gilead and Biogen, Dr. Bornstein recognized the need for a more agile and budget-friendly advisory board approach at Mediar. The previous platform he had used required a minimum 12-month contract and offered limited strategic support—unsuitable for Mediar's single, high-impact project.

Mediar needed a platform that could quickly convene diverse specialists with limited time, facilitating deep engagement with prestigious experts who could participate at their convenience. They also required white-glove service with customization capabilities and comprehensive logistical support to handle scheduling, communication and data management.

We needed a more involved approach with flexible contract terms and a team to augment our in-house resources.”

ExtendMed’s solution

While Dr. Bornstein initially envisioned an asynchronous-only approach segmented by specialty, ExtendMed proposed a more interactive multidisciplinary strategy. ExtendMed strategically restructured the engagement to build trust among unfamiliar advisory board members and facilitate collaboration across different fields through their Health Expert Connect™ platform.

The solution used a “bookend” approach with introductory and closing synchronous meetings framing a three-week asynchronous discussion. This allowed advisors to participate at their convenience while maintaining engagement through surveys for scheduling, resource centers for materials and discussion boards with targeted questions.

When Dr. Bornstein required new functionality during the engagement, ExtendMed developed and implemented targeted question features in less than a week, demonstrating their rapid response capabilities and white-glove service approach.

The results

The advisory board engagement yielded strong participation from diverse specialists, who contributed an average of 5 hours each, with some providing over 25 individual insights. This multidisciplinary approach led to comprehensive exploration and richer results than traditional formats.

The engagement significantly advanced Mediar’s understanding of their clinical development next steps through thoughtful prioritization and creative ideation. The structured yet flexible process also strengthened relationships with thought leaders across different institutions and countries, establishing a foundation for future collaborations.

I appreciated both how service-oriented ExtendMed was and how quickly they were able to add features and functionality to the platform to accommodate my needs.”