Improving lives: Putting patients at the centre of our business

Jo Fearnhead-Wymbs, Patient Engagement Director at Ashfield Healthcare Communications, reflects on how gaining insights and understanding from patients helps bring value to the work Ashfield do for their clients.

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ABSTRACT:

The pharmaceutical industry approach towards product development has been increasingly evolving in a patient-centric direction, as patients have become more informed and involved in their healthcare through technological advances, and industry is driven to innovate to meet growing healthcare system demands. Aside from these imperatives, patient-centricity makes good commercial sense. An estimated $546 billion is lost to industry each year through non-adherence of patients to medication.

Ashfield have been seeing a shift in the way that the pharma industry is asking for expertise in this space over the past 12 months – and has itself been shifting focus towards patient-centric working, for example by building relationships with patient advocacy groups to enable the agency to speak from a place of understanding. Understanding patients and the patient journey provides the insights necessary to develop tailored, flexible solutions to meet patient needs, leading in turn to the sorts of behaviour changes that are necessary to improve outcomes.

It is not straightforward to change traditional pharmaceutical company ways of thinking and operating, but it is likely to be increasingly important in terms of commercial success, legislative compliance, and improving outcomes. Measuring the long-term Impact on outcomes is the greatest challenge. The indications thus far are positive, and we can realistically expect results in this area within the next five years.

Written by Penny Gray, Freelance Medical Writer

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Filming and technical direction by Mario Crispino, Freelance Cameraman & Editor