Why Patient Organizations Are No Summer Fling For Pharma

Breaking news: Protestors from patient organizations gather en masse outside a pharmaceutical company ’s headquarters wielding placards emblazoned with the words TRANSACTIONAL and TOKENISTIC.Not too long ago, such an event might have been plausible given the pharma industry ’s checkered history with patient organizations. The criticism often levelled at the industry is that patient groups are merely used as props in the marketing machinery; endorsing the latest product launch before being unceremoniously dropped.Times have changed, however. In an ongoing bid to better engage and understand patients, pharma is truly partnering with patient organizations.Novartis has been flying the flag for more meaningful collaborations for many years, says Veronica Foote, Head of Patient Relations& Communications Europe, Novartis Oncology. Underpinning this relationship is a long-term commitment, says Foote.The company still works closely with patient groups in disease areas where they no longer have patented brands in, for example. The shared history and expertise of these groups makes them trusted advisories on topics far broader than the specific disease areas they are focused on.It could be around raising awareness of a diagnosis and screening that is not necessarily in their given disease area. For example, patients are sometimes put onto chemo after being screened, when there is a much more targeted therapy available to them, they don ’t even know what their tumor type is or ...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news