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.

Recorded 1 February 2017 at a MedComms Networking event in Oxford. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

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

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

We are building a library of free webcasts, like this one, for the global MedComms Community and others at http://www.networkpharma.tv and we’d welcome your suggestions for new topics and speakers.

Full details of this MedComms Networking event are at http://medcommsnetworking.com/event85.html

Jo’s presentation (PDF format) is at http://medcommsnetworking.com/presentations/wymbs_010217.pdf

Jo’s Linkedin page is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-fearnhead-wymbs-1a6b5a15/

More about Ashfield Healthcare Communications can be found at http://www.ashfieldhealthcare.com/

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

[For the avoidance of doubt: this video is intended to be freely accessible to all. Please feel free to share and use however you like. Cheers, Peter Llewellyn, Director NetworkPharma Ltd and Founder of the MedComms Networking Community activity at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com]