Brand-New Location, Same Great Communications:
Rete Com Relocating to Expanded Offices
MAY 29, 2008 (RIDGEWOOD, NJ)—Effective June 2, 2008, Rete Biomedical Communications (also doing business as “Rete Com”) will occupy expanded offices in northwest Bergen County, NJ. The move comes after approximately seven years (in the Ridgewood office) of successful consultation with medical opinion leaders and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry to prepare a wide range of manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
The new contact information is:
Rete Biomedical Communications Corp.
The Grace Building
191 Godwin Ave. Suite 1
Wyckoff, NJ 07481-2017
Tel: 201 891 8205
Fax: 201 891 8206
The e-mail address will remain rete@retebiomed.com.
The offices were the former headquarters of State Senator Hank McNamara (R-Bergen), who recently announced his retirement after decades as a New Jersey public servant.
Within the past 2 years, Rete Com has sustained strong revenue and earnings growth, adding new clients and accounts to its active roster.
New clients include BioBehavioral Diagnostics, Cambridge, MA (www.biobdx.com), which develops diagnostic systems to facilitate objective assessments of behavioral and neurobiological disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The company’s MMAT/ADHD™ System represents the first test approved by the Food and Drug Administration to enable precise and objective assessments of the three core symptoms of ADHD (inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity) in an office setting.
Within the past 6 months, Rete Com has also been awarded editorial projects related to the following treatments manufactured and/or marketed by Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN (www.lilly.com), and/or its affiliates (e.g. Eli Lilly-Canada): duloxetine HCl (Cymbalta®; www.cymbalta.com) for the management of major depressive disorder; drotrecogin alfa [activated]; Xigris®; www.xigris.com) for the management of adult high-risk severe sepsis; and olanzapine (Zyprexa®; www.zyprexa.com) for the management of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
In 2007 and 2008, Rete Com has been providing editorial support in developing publications concerning the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus, including exenatide injection (Byetta®; www.byetta.com) and the HumaPen® Memoir™ insulin-injection device (www.humalog.com/patient/humapen_memoir.jsp), both of which are marketed by Eli Lilly and Company. The latter work included researching the topic of insulin-injection devices (pens) and assisting in the preparation of a review of the subject that was published in Expert Review of Clinical Devices [Ignaut DA, Venekamp WJRR. HumaPen® Memoir®: a novel insulin-injecting pen with a dose-memory feature. 2007 Nov;4(6):4(6):793-802; doi:10.1586/17434440.4.6.793.]
The company has also assisted in preparing manuscripts concerning the incretin enhancer (DPP-IV inhibitor) sitagliptin (Januvia®; www.januvia.com) and the combination of this agent with the biguanide metformin HCl (Janumet™; www.janumet.com) for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Information on these topics formed the basis of a recently published supplement to the journal Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism (www.blackwellpublishing.com/dom). The supplement was supported by Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ (www.merck.com).
Rete Com has also provided editorial support concerning Merck treatments for the prevention of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease and is assisting in the development of a supplement to the European Heart Journal (www.eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org), which will be published later this year.
Over the past year, Rete Com has also provided editorial support for communications concerning the biological response modifier infliximab (Remicade®; www.remicade.com) and the fluoroquinolone antibiotic moxifloxacin (Avelox®; www.avelox.com), in collaboration with Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, Kenilworth, NJ (www.schering-plough.com).
Background on Rete Com
Rete Biomedical Communications Corp. is a full-service medical communications firm specializing in providing editorial support to academicians, clinicians, and other scientists (including representatives of the pharmaceutical industry) in preparing manuscripts for publication in top-tier peer-reviewed journals.
Rete Com President Lectures on Medical Writing
At Center for Business Intelligence (CBI)
DECEMBER 5, 2007 (PHILADELPHIA, PA)—Commenting that “`Business intelligence’ need not be an oxymoron,” Rete Com president Stephen W. Gutkin addressed participants in a preconference workshop on medical writing at the CBI. He was joined on the panel by
- Susan Glasser, PhD, Director of Scientific and Medical Publications, Pharmaceutical Research and Development US, Johnson & Johnson (www.jnj.com);
- Stan Heimberger, PhD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Publisher, Current Medical Research and Opinion (www.cmro.com); and
- Yvonne E. Yarker, Ph.D., Vice President of Medical Communications, Scientific Connexions (www.sciconnex.com).
The lecture commenced with a consideration of ethical considerations, including guidelines for disclosing intellectual and financial contributions, as promulgated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; www.icmje.org) and the International Journal of Clinical Practice (www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/ijcp), among other authorities. This segment of the lecture covered the importance of disclosure and transparency in an era of increased regulation and media scrutiny of industry-sponsored publications.
Lecturing on the essential components of high-quality scientific publications, Gutkin advised attendees to strive for “external and internal fidelity.” External fidelity, he noted, refers to the accuracy of data and their consistency with their original sources, including published references. Internal fidelity refers to the consistency of data presentation across different segments of a manuscript. Using a famous quote from the Russian author Anton Chekhov, that, “if a gun is hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last act,” Gutkin advised against any “unfired guns” in a scientific paper. In other words, any topic covered in the Methods section should also ideally be addressed in or relevant to the Results and Discussion sections. Conversely, the Results section should not present data obtained on endpoints or via measures that were not introduced in (“motivated by”) the Methods segment.
Several slides covered the concept of verbal economy. Ideally, the overall ”take-home message” should appear at the beginning of each paragraph, then be substantiated by particular examples as the paragraph unfolds. Papers composed in this manner allow busy readers to be able to read the first sentence of each paragraph and still come away with a strong impression of the paper’s findings and clinical significance. Several quotations from famous writers on the topic of the virtues of brevity were cited as Gutkin illustrated the point that sometimes it is more important what one doesn’t write rather than what one does write in a manuscript. He offered exercises in verbal economy, including examples of wordy and otherwise ineffective constructions and ways in which to avoid them.
Building on the topic of techniques to enhance the quality of medical communications, Gutkin concluded with a section on publication planning and optimizing the likelihood of manuscripts’ being accepted by peer-reviewed journals. This segment covered the importance of fair-balanced discussions of findings, including candid considerations of the potential limitations and other shortcomings of a study being reported. Including such materials in the discussions of manuscripts can help to “disarm the critics”—peer reviewers and other editors who are instrumental in deciding the fate of a scientific communication.
Finally, Gutkin stressed the importance of employing a “second set of eyes”—qualified editors (e.g. editors in the life sciences [ELS]) and other reviewers—in ensuring the quality of medical communications. Great medical writing rarely originates from one person alone but typically results from a sound collaboration among academic researchers; representatives of the pharmaceutical and device industries; external consultants, including writers, editors, statisticians, and physicians; journal editors and peer reviewers; and/or accrediting institutions. Rete Com has been promoting such collaborations since its inception in April 1992.