Chandler Chicco Agency

Chandler Chicco Agency is a PR company that specialises in healthcare PR. It is headquartered in New York and has offices in London, Washington D.C and Los Angeles, as well as a global network of affiliates. Its website boasts, "Chandler Chicco worked on two of the most successful drug launches in history - Viagra and Celebrex."[1] These have propelled it into the top 25 agencies in the Global PR industry, by 2001.

Chandler Chicco established CCA Advertising in 1999 for direct-to-consumer ads, "professional advertising and collateral, public education campaigns, as well as corporate and issues work." In 2002, it founded Biosector 2 to focus "on the unique needs of specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies, as well as emerging firms specializing in drug discovery, medical devices, health services and drug delivery."[2]

Big Pharma and Politics

Agency principals Robert Chandler and Gianfranco Chicco wrote an October 2004 op/ed for PR Week in which they gauged the pharmaceutical agency's likely response to the 2004 U.S. presidential election: [3]

Sources tell us that if President Bush is re-elected and Republicans maintain control of the Senate, Big Pharma is going to launch a major initiative, perhaps offering to establish a multibillion-dollar fund for patients harmed by FDA-approved drugs in return for a bulletproof shield from state lawsuits. And there seems little doubt that if Kerry is elected, a push for universal access to healthcare will dominate the health policy discussion early - as it dominated the first term of the Clinton Administration...

The industry's natural reaction to a Kerry election would be to dig in for a four- or eight-year holding action. Just as the natural reaction to a Bush victory would be for the industry to call in its substantial chits in order to make whatever gains it can quickly, solidifying its current positions.

Clients

According to the firm's website, its clients include:

• Allergan
• American Society of Microbiology
• Amgen
• AstraZeneca
• Bayer Diagnostics
• Global Alliance for TB Drug Development [4]
• Novartis
• Pfizer
• Roche
• Schering-Plough

Case Studies

• Chandler Chicco fills the news hole

Contact Information

Chandler Chicco Agency
450 West 15th Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Tel 212 229 8400
Web: http://www.ccapr.com

SourceWatch Resources

• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
• Public relations firms

External Links

• Robert Chandler and Gianfranco Chicco, "OP-ED: Election a crossroads for Big Pharma" PR Week, October 25, 2004. (Sub req'd).
• Ian Hall, "CCA scoops Merck’s Erbitux job from B-M", PR Week, February 9, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Beth Herskovits, "Pfizer throws 'blockbuster' account to Chandler Chicco", PR Week, February 14, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• "Botox Study Shows Power of PR to Shift Perceptions", Holmes Report, March 21, 2005. (This is a report on a study commissioned by CCA and done by Ohio University researching the impact of PR campaign promoting Allergan’s Botox treatment in Kansas City. "This work reinforces our belief that public relations can serve to persuasively educate, which in turn can change or neutralize attitudes and motivate behavior," CCA founder Robert Chandler states.
• Beth Herskovits, "PROFILE: Chandler and Chicco thrive on their differences", PR Week, July 11, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Beth Herskovits, "Tuberculosis pharma company hires Chandler Chicco", PR Week, September 7, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Beth Herskovits and Ian Hall, "CCA to lift profile of TB treatment", PR Week, September 16 2005. (Sub req'd).