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Evidence-based medical animation that makes your story easy to understand and impossible to ignore.
BRAF in Melanoma MOA Medical Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
Immuno-Oncology 3D Medical Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
3D Medical Animation with Cancer ADC MOA
Biopharmaceutical client
Cancer Immunotherapy Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
Multiple Myeloma MRD Medical Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
Organ Transplant Immunology Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
Osteoporosis Mechanism of Action Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
The Role of the Proteasome in Multiple Myeloma
Biopharmaceutical client
Osteoporosis Mechanism of Disease Animation
Biopharmaceutical client
The Role of CGRP in Migraine
Biopharmaceutical Client
Gene Doctors Animations
Tangled Bank Studios, HHMI
It’s been an absolute pleasure working with AXS. They overhauled our scientific materials, providing a consistent look across all our tangible and digital assets to convey our scientific pipeline in a graphically appealing way.
Heather Douangpanya
Director, Global Scientific Communications, Seagen Inc.
You guys are doing great work! The animation with the electric field displayed has been an 'AH-HA' moment for all of our Doctors, strategic collaborators and many of our employees!
Allan Zingeler
President & CEO, Farapulse
The AXS team was a pleasure to work with and I greatly appreciated their creative and scientific expertise. The videos received outstanding feedback and are one of the most popular assets for our disease state education campaign.
Rachel Raynes
Global Medical Communications, Senior Manager | Heart Failure GCCL, AMGEN
We chose AXS Studio because of their unique ability to curate a better, more visually impactful story resonating with both a scientific and non-scientific target audience.
Glen Tinevez
Vice President, Marketing North America Commercial Operations,
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
AXS was a true partner in creating highly compelling MOA videos for an important pharma client. They collaborated with us through numerous challenges on a tight schedule and hit our deadline with a product our client loved!
Senior Account Executive, Goodfuse
The team at AXS are true pros. They asked all of the right questions from the start, from technical/scientific details to overall look and feel, and completed this amazing cover rather quickly as a result.
Kelly Krause
Creative Director, Nature
Collaborating with the AXS team on high-impact science visualization projects is always a pleasure. I can rest assured that the final product will be clear, elegant, and beautiful while meeting our target audience’s needs.
Fabian de Kok-Mercado
Creative Director, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
These are absolutely fantastic visualizations. They convey the real science. I still am incredibly proud of what we did together on this video and I use it in my lectures to Harvard students and externally.
Donald E. Ingber
MD, PhD, Director, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
Who we've proudly worked with
Where our work has been featured
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to tell your story.
Medical Animation
We’re artists with a passion for medical science. We have a rare combination of 3D computer animation expertise and medical science knowledge. The result is medical animation that is as beautiful to watch as it is scientifically accurate.
We have experience in a wide range of therapeutic categories, along with thorough knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology and cell and molecular biology. Our clients appreciate our in-house science knowledge for the time, effort and cost it saves them on their medical animations.
Why invest in accurate medical animation?
- Medical animation is simply the best way to explain complex medical science concepts quickly and clearly
- Accurate, high-quality medical animation lends credibility to your message
- High-end medical animation attracts visitors to your congress exhibit booth and is a great conversation starter
- Medical animations are excellent for presentations to investors and strategic collaborators, when stakes are high and time is limited
- High-quality digital assets can be leveraged over and over for omnichannel marketing
The AXS Studio difference
We’re artists who love science! And it shows in every medical animation we create. What’s more, we only work on medical and scientific content—we’re industry-leading experts in medical animation.
Creative visual storytellers
We’re a group of like-minded creatives who love to visualize life science: medical animators, illustrators, designers, developers and producers who are fascinated with biology—how organs and tissues function, how cells behave and molecules do their amazing work. And we love to tell these stories visually.
We accelerate understanding
We believe that medical animations make complex scientific ideas easier to understand. With better understanding comes the ability to make informed decisions, which is especially important in healthcare.
Expert medical animators
Our in-house expertise will save you valuable time, effort and money. Many agencies and some random studios use animation “generalists”, trained for the film industry rather than biomedical science. The AXS team comprises professionally-trained medical animators. We speak your language—the language of science—making us the ideal partner for your medical animation needs.
We speak the language of science
Everyone on our Client Services team has a life science background and extensive experience helping clients communicate their messages through medical animation. We understand the unique challenges they face in presenting disease and drug information in a strict regulatory environment. The result is a partnership you won’t find elsewhere.
Prepared for success
Whether you call it MLR, PRC, MRC or another name, our medical animations are carefully referenced and prepared to your review specifications. This along with our medical science expertise and rigorous animation workflow ensures on-time delivery of approved medical animations.
Beautiful, accurate animation
The result: A beautifully-crafted medical animation that engages your audience and stands up to the scrutiny of experts. The final product can be leveraged in multiple channels: congress booths, symposia, e-detail aids, websites, continuing medical education (CME), news releases and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to make a medical animation?
A two-minute 3D medical animation usually takes four months to complete. The exact timeline depends on your review and approval process. We recommend getting in touch 5 months ahead of your due date, if possible.
Who uses medical animations and why?
Medical animations are used to educate healthcare professionals about new research in disease progression and treatment.
Medical animation is also used to educate patients and caregivers about diseases and treatments, so they can make informed choices.
Medical affairs managers use medical animations to explain disease pathways to healthcare providers at medical symposia and congresses, and on disease awareness websites.
Product and marketing managers use medical animations to explain the therapeutic mechanism of action (MOA) of drugs to healthcare providers on product websites and at medical congress booths.
Medical science liaisons (MSLs) use medical animation in detail aids and presentation decks to explain disease pathways when meeting with physicians.
Opinion leaders use medical animation in symposia presentations to describe molecular pathways in disease.
Medical animation is used by patient advocates and educators to explain complex disease processes and treatments to lay audiences.
How do clients say AXS Studio is different?
Clients tell us we’re unlike other digital agencies they’ve worked with in terms of our level of science literacy, particularly around depictions of cellular and molecular processes, and in our attention to detail. The words clients most use to describe the medical animations we create are “beautiful” and “accurate”.
Why hire AXS Studio for medical animation over another agency or studio?
Many companies, including bona fide healthcare agencies, produce medical animations. Unfortunately, very few use medical animators to do the work. Instead, most use generalists, without specialized science training. The resulting lack of scientific accuracy in the depiction of cellular and molecular structure and function undermines the important messages being conveyed to healthcare providers and patients.
In contrast, AXS Studio employs only medically trained animators. Each holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Biomedical Communications (BMC) from the University of Toronto, one of only four CAAHEP-accredited programs in North America. This specialized training is the reason we explain complex medical science processes far more clearly and accurately than generalist animators. For our clients, this translates into credible and effective messaging for both science-literate and lay audiences.
What determines the cost of a medical animation?
Runtime, resolution (e.g. HD vs. 4K) and visual complexity are the main determinants of cost for an AXS Studio medical animation. We do all content development and production in-house, so there are no markups to pass on to our clients.
What’s included in the price of a medical animation?
This varies widely among suppliers, as does the quality of service and level of content expertise. AXS Studio pricing includes content research, storyboarding, 3D modeling, animation, lighting, shading, rendering and compositing. We also include audio services: professional voice-over talent, recording and editing; sound effects design; and custom or stock music. Script writing, including literature review, referencing and annotation are optional services, as some of our clients do their own script writing and MLR preparation.
How long is a typical medical animation?
Most medical animations run between 90 seconds and 4 minutes. From experience, we have found that 2–3 minutes is the “sweet spot” for an audience of healthcare professionals (HCPs). This is long enough to convey key messages, without feeling too long for busy people and/or short attention spans. Because cost is connected to runtime, budget is usually a consideration in determining how long your animation will be. If you’re preparing an outline or narration script for your animation, a good rule of thumb is 100 words per minute of animation. If you can tell your story in 100 words, you should be fine with a 1-minute medical animation.
Can I provide my own narration script?
Yes, we do work with client-supplied scripts. We’ll review your script and may make recommendations in order to optimize it for cinematic storytelling. A good rule of thumb when writing: 100 words per minute of animation.
Can I provide my own storyboard?
We use a storyboard for two purposes:
1. To previsualize the animated story for our client, and
2. To serve as a shot-by-shot guide for our animators.
We will gladly review your storyboard to see if our animators can use it in our workflow. If not, we can build on it to create a document that works well for both you and our production team.
Do I need to provide a medical content expert when working with AXS Studio?
You do not. We have in-house medical science expertise. Our writers, storyboard artists and medical animators all have M.Sc. Biomedical Communications degrees. They are formally trained in anatomy, physiology, pathology, cell biology and molecular biology. We have 6 Board Certified Medical Illustrators (CMIs) on staff and 15 years experience visualizing complex medical science processes for a discerning healthcare professional audience. While we welcome input from our clients’ medical experts and opinion leaders, it’s not a requirement.
How do you deliver the right size and resolution video to the right device?
We create most medical animations in the global HD (high definition) standard: 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 pixels, 24 frames per second (fps). From this master file, we then output the video formats (e.g. MPEG-4, Windows Media, WebM, etc.) at the pixel dimensions and file sizes (compression and bitrate) best suited to the targeted end user devices. For online video, including mobile, we optimize the bitrate and compression settings and provide multiple sizes to work with responsive websites. At the end of each project, we deliver an uncompressed master file, from which you or your agency can output any file format required in the future.
Can my HD medical animation later be up-res’d to 4K or 6K?
Unfortunately, no. While a video can be scaled up to a higher resolution format (e.g. from HD to 4K), the resolution itself does not increase. If you anticipate a need for 4K (or even 6K) in the future, it’s best to start with that resolution and then down-res for HD devices.
I’ve seen other companies that outsource or “offshore” medical animation to low cost producers. Does AXS do this?
We do all work in-house in our Toronto, Canada studio with specially trained medical animators. This enables tight control of quality and schedules, which is especially important when working toward fixed deadlines. As well, unlike many products and services that can be offshored to cut costs, quality medical animations require a high degree of specialized knowledge.
Our writers, storyboard artists and medical animators all hold Master of Science, Biomedical Communications (M.Sc.BMC) degrees. Our specialized training is the reason we can explain complex medical concepts more clearly and accurately than animators without formal medical training. There are businesses in the U.S. and Canada that use foreign outsourcing for medical animation. If you’re considering hiring one of these companies, we advise getting information on the medical training of their animators.
Are special glasses required to view your 3D medical animations?
3D animation refers to the use of digital three-dimensional models to make an animated film on a computer. Movie theaters often use the term “3D” to describe stereoscopic movies, which are created using two cameras to create the illusion of images that “leap out” in three dimensions from a 2D movie screen, when viewed using special glasses. AXS Studio creates both stereoscopic and regular 3D animations for our clients. Our stereoscopic animations are viewed using 3D glasses and a specialized monitor or projector. When we create a stereoscopic medical animation, we also deliver a “non-stereo” version for viewing on a regular screen, without the need for special glasses. This provides our clients with the flexibility to use stereo for special screenings and non-stereo for all-purpose viewing.
Can I use images from my medical animation in other applications, like a website and print?
Yes. You can use frames (still images) directly from the animation, at no additional charge. These are typically large enough for website use and illustrations in slide presentations and small print materials. If you require larger images—for use as a booth panel, for example—we can provide those and charge only for the output. We can also render individual elements from an animation—a ligand binding a receptor, for example.
How do you help clients navigate medical-legal-regulatory (MLR) approvals?
We ensure that all material we provide for MLR review has been diligently referenced from the scientific literature. Depending on a client’s review process, we may provide a “reference binder” containing bookmarked supporting passages that link back to an annotated version of the animation storyboard. This enables reviewers to quickly look up supporting evidence. As well, at our client’s request, we’ll call in to review sessions to field questions and defend visual and storytelling recommendations.
Do you sell stock medical animation?
We do not. All AXS Studio medical animations are custom solutions to our clients’ visual communication needs.
111 Peter St. Suite 700
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