In case your time is short:
As someone who's spent over two decades in healthcare education, I've seen the landscape of life science and healthcare engagement platforms evolve dramatically.
Heading into 2025, choosing the right tool and partner is more crucial than ever. I'd like to share some insights that might help you navigate this decision, especially if you're considering alternatives to Within3.
Let me start by acknowledging the team at Within3. They've built a well-adopted tool that serves the most prominent players in pharma, focusing on global asynchronous engagement. But over the past year, we've noticed a trend that's impossible to ignore.
More and more current and former Within3 clients—particularly those with smaller teams and tighter budgets—have been reaching out to us. They're feeling overspent and underserved, looking for a more flexible and customizable solution. This trend has only accelerated in 2024 amid whispers of internal challenges.
What we're hearing from these teams is clear: Within3's one-size-fits-all SaaS model is often too rigid and expensive for their needs. They need a nimble and capable alternative that can adapt to their specific requirements without breaking the bank. This is exactly where ExtendMed delivers; we built our Health Expert Connect™ platform with these exact needs in mind.
Let me briefly explain why.
Before I jump in, while this overview gives you a high-level understanding of how we differ from Within3, I've found that teams get the most value from a one-on-one conversation.
It allows us to understand your specific context and challenges and show you if and exactly how ExtendMed can address them. If you're a current Within3 customer looking for an alternative or just starting to research engagement tools, we should talk.
Reach out to us, and let's schedule time to discuss how ExtendMed can help you achieve your engagement goals more effectively and efficiently.
When I founded ExtendMed, I drew on my 20+ years of experience simplifying medical education and training solutions for medical communications agencies, medical associations and pharmaceutical companies.
I intimately understood the challenges small to mid-size life science companies face—because I'd lived them myself.
I knew firsthand how difficult it could be for a small team with limited resources to effectively engage with KOLs and thought leaders, convene advisory boards, build medical education programs and develop speaker bureaus. That's why we designed ExtendMed to be different.
Our platform empowers medical affairs and commercial teams—and the communication agencies they work with—to think globally but act locally. Our clients can select and adapt the most relevant corporate assets to address local needs. The result: A platform that maximizes the frequency and value of interactions at a third of the cost of traditional approaches.
Typically, the organizations that see the most value from working with us:
While Within3 focuses primarily on asynchronous discussions, we've found that many teams need more flexibility. That's why ExtendMed specializes in multi-modal engagements. We offer surveys, synchronous meetings and discussions—all on one platform.
We find it's often not enough to offer just a synchronous or just an async approach. They're perfect complements to each other. Asynchronous gives participants flexibility in terms of when they want to provide feedback. Some people prefer engaging first thing in the morning. Others prefer to engage at midnight.
But there's also real value in getting people together synchronously in a virtual space and reacting to one another naturally, so it becomes a real-time conversation instead of a discussion happening on everyone's own time for the duration of an engagement.
Here’s a quick look at just a few of our engagement modalities:
Community pages enable stakeholders to learn about each other by sharing bios, patient cases, communications and more.
Integrated virtual and onsite meetings offer synchronous engagements. We help orchestrate and support the logistics of your planned events with the right balance of audience interactivity and content sharing.
We've heard from many former Within3 clients that they often found themselves needing a tactical solution like a virtual advisory board, only to be steered towards a more general "expert insights" approach. We believe in giving you the tools you need for the job, whether a quick survey, a live virtual meeting or an extended asynchronous discussion.
For example, we've found that discussion boards work really well when your team has something to review. Maybe it's a follow-up to a virtual meeting. There's an opportunity for everyone to review materials and comment back and forth with their colleagues or peers over a specific time window—maybe a week to three weeks.
Our clients have that discussion moderated by an expert who can probe deeper and get at some specific questions or share out a comment and look for further feedback from the advisors part of that discussion. It's the combination of these things and the way we offer them that's different from Within3. And we find that our clients find it valuable that way.
Another key difference is our approach to contracts and services. We don't believe in locking clients into long, rigid contracts, which we've learned is standard practice for Within3. Instead, we offer project-based engagements. This makes our platform more accessible to smaller biotech firms that need flexibility or want to start with a pilot project.
We also pride ourselves on our white-glove service because small and mid-size teams need it in a partner. We don't just provide a tool; we become an extension of your team.
Every client gets a dedicated program manager who provides strategic support and hands-on guidance. We've heard from some former Within3 clients that as that company grew rapidly, they experienced inconsistent service and less personalized attention. At ExtendMed, customized service isn't an add-on—it's core to who we are.
If you're feeling constrained by Within3's approach or just starting to explore engagement platforms, I encourage you to take a closer look at ExtendMed. We recently helped Mediar Therapeutics, a former Within3 customer, implement a more flexible, cost-effective solution for a virtual advisory board that combined both synchronous and asynchronous methods. You can read more about this in our case study.
Let’s dig a bit deeper to tease these differences out even more.
| Feature | ExtendMed | Within3 |
| Target Market | Small to mid-size life sciences companies | The largest pharmaceutical companies |
| Engagement Options | Full synchronous and asynchronous suite | Primarily asynchronous |
| Customization | Highly customizable | Standard SaaS model |
| Contract Terms | Flexible, short-term options available | Typically year-long minimum |
| Service Model | White-glove, dedicated program managers | More hands-off approach |
| Pricing | Starts at $20,000 - $25,000 for initial projects | Not publicly disclosed |
| Platform Focus | Comprehensive stakeholder engagement | Global asynchronous engagement |
1. Target market and company focus
2. Engagement options (one size doesn’t fit all)
Regarding the modalities for engaging stakeholders, Within3 has made its name with asynchronous engagement. They specialize in global sync discussions and time-shifted interactions. This approach works well if most of your engagements (perhaps 80%) are asynchronous and involve stakeholders across multiple time zones.
But in our experience, most companies need more flexibility. We've developed a multimodal approach that combines both synchronous and asynchronous options. We offer virtual ad board hosting, live video meetings, and real-time surveys alongside discussion boards and time-shifted surveys. This versatility is crucial if you frequently need real-time interaction or conduct hybrid engagements that mix live virtual meetings with asynchronous discussions.
Consider what percentage of your engagements need to be synchronous versus asynchronous. How geographically dispersed are your stakeholders? Do you need the ability to switch seamlessly between live meetings and asynchronous discussions within the same engagement? If you value this kind of flexibility, talk to us.
3. Balancing budget and flexibility
Budget considerations are often at the forefront of decision-making, especially for smaller companies. Within3 typically requires year-long minimum commitments, which aligns with their focus on large, enterprise-level clients. While they don't publicly disclose their pricing, we’ve heard firsthand that it's geared toward enterprise-level budgets.
At ExtendMed, we understand that only some companies can commit to a large, long-term contract right off the bat. That's why we've developed a more flexible, scalable pricing model. We offer short-term pilots starting at $20,000 - $25,000, allowing you to test the waters before making a larger commitment. For more extensive needs, our larger projects, such as year-long, multi-panel engagements, typically range around $100,000.
I urge teams to consider a few critical questions: What's your annual budget for engagement platforms? Do you prefer the predictability of a long-term commitment, or do you need the flexibility to start small and scale up? How frequently do you conduct advisory boards or similar engagements per year?
If you need the ability to scale up or down quickly based on project needs, or if your engagement needs fluctuate significantly throughout the year, ExtendMed's flexible model might be more suitable.
4. The human touch through service and support
I've learned that the level of support and service can make or break your experience with an engagement platform. We’ve heard that Within3, operating on a standard SaaS model, offers the typical support features you'd expect from an enterprise SaaS platform. This might be sufficient if you have a robust, experienced internal team for platform management, but can be a huge strain if you’re a smaller team.
At ExtendMed, we take a different approach. We offer a high-touch, personalized white glove service model. Each client is assigned a dedicated senior-level healthcare technology expert as a program manager. These managers provide hands-on support for platform customization and engagement strategy development. We position ourselves as an extension of your team.
When deciding on a platform, consider your team's experience and resources. Do you have dedicated staff for platform management and engagement strategy? How important is it to have a dedicated point of contact for support? Do you need assistance in designing and executing engagement strategies?
5. Tailoring the platform to your needs
Customization can be a key differentiator when choosing an engagement platform. We’ve heard that the size of Within3’s platform doesn’t allow much customization.After spending over two decades in healthcare education, I've seen firsthand the challenges faced by both life science companies and medical communications agencies. Time and again, I've witnessed the struggle to efficiently gather, combine, and report data from various engagement channels. Virtual meetings, discussion boards and surveys produce valuable insights, but coordinating them all can be a logistical nightmare.
Let me paint a picture I've seen all too often: A life science company works with a stellar medical communications agency that crafts precise, impactful content. But things start to fall apart when it comes to sharing that message with key audiences and gathering meaningful feedback. Meetings are hosted on one platform, and surveys on another. Insights become siloed, connections are missed, and it becomes nearly impossible to develop a cohesive communication strategy that resonates consistently with providers, payers, patients, and other stakeholders.
This is the critical gap that ExtendMed fills. We don't replace your medical communications agency — far from it. Instead, we complement their expertise with a suite of engagement tools and analysis capabilities. This enables you to share your meticulously crafted content, gather insights from thought leaders, and distribute those learnings across your organization and beyond. We bring unique efficiencies in producing content in various formats and facilitating the engagements you need, all at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditional approaches.
For medical communications agencies, we're the technology partner you've been looking for. I can't tell you how many agency heads I've spoken with who are fed up with managing "franken-systems" that frustrate their teams and clients. That's why agencies typically partner with us when they're ready to streamline their tech stack. We offer a single platform that provides your team and your clients with the convenience and rich insights they expect from stakeholder engagement.
Our goal isn't to replace what you do best. Instead, we free your team to focus on crafting exceptional content and messaging by providing the engagement tools that deliver desired outcomes faster and more reliably. Think of us as arming you with a powerful mechanism for gathering, tracking, and distributing insights. This allows you to spend more time and attention on what you do best: creating impactful content and strategies.
In essence, we give your content the platform it deserves. By partnering with ExtendMed, you're not just getting a technology solution. You're gaining a partner who understands the unique challenges of medical communications and is committed to helping you deliver better results for your clients.
ExtendMed’s Health Expert Connect™ platform is a comprehensive, compliant platform for engaging healthcare stakeholders and enabling their insights to guide efficient planning and action.
Graduate from rigid systems, siloed tools and infrequent, in-person-only engagements by centralizing logistics management among your team, enabling synchronous and asynchronous digital engagement motions and increasing the frequency and quality of your advisory board engagements.
Read our new case study to see how we helped Mediar Therapeutics, a former Within3 customer, implement a more flexible, cost-effective solution for a virtual advisory board that combined both synchronous and asynchronous methods.
Learn more about the differences between ExtendMed and Within3, and contact us to schedule a free demo.