Real World Voice Allows Patients to be Part of the Cure

Real World Voice Allows Patients to be Part of the Cure By Claire Harter “The patient wants to be a partner in cure, just as with their doctors they want to be a partner in care.” - John Linnell, COPD Patient Advocate, talking about health literacy, eyeforpharma virtual conference, 4/14/2020 Where and how can patients partner with pharma for a cure? Where can pharma go to learn from patients about the patient experience? One resource is Electronic health records (EHRs). As a resource, they provide critical information about patient diagnosis and treatment. But, EHRs reflect the [...]

How is COVID-19 Impacting Patients and the Life Science Industry?

How is COVID-19 Impacting Patients and the Life Science Industry? By Jeff Terkowitz As a virtual business, Inspire has a head start in dealing with social distancing and COVID-19. Many of our employees work virtually. Our patient and caregiver members have always communicated virtually and during this time are actively engaged in discussing the impact the Coronavirus and COVID-19 are having on their behaviors, concerns and needs. Proactive as ever, Inspire created a new resource for Coronavirus including a map of where people are discussing their experiences, videos of Inspire members participating in our #keepusallsafe public awareness [...]

Continuing Critical Patient-Centric Research Virtually during COVID19

Continuing Critical Patient-Centric Research Virtually during COVID19 By Richard Tsai The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing all kinds of businesses and research institutions to find ways of working that provide results similar to what we’re used to gaining from human social interaction. For example, being mindful of the time healthcare professionals need to dedicate to the pandemic has resulted in tremendous delays in HCP-based market research programs. Many clinical trial sites have temporarily suspended work that not only impacts existing enrolled patients but also greatly reduces recruitment. How can we continue critical research programs amidst these challenges? As [...]

Where Can I Get This ‘Real World Data’ You Speak Of?

Where Can I Get This ‘Real World Data’ You Speak Of? By Robert Gardner How far has the importance of Real World Evidence advanced as part of treatment development? When the attendees of a recent eyeforpharma webinar were asked, “Are you, or will you soon be using RWE for enabling new types of value or outcomes-based assessment within your own firm?” 35 percent responded that they already consider RWE “a universal and necessary standard,” with another 26 percent saying RWE is or will be used as evidence in developing “specialty and high-priced treatments.” A “universal and [...]

Patient Centricity: Joining Qualitative with Quantitative

Patient Centricity: Joining the Qualitative with the Quantitative By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Reams of market research and data can provide insight, but so can one patient in the room, telling you what really matters to them.1~Paul Tunnah, PharmaPhorum founder The FDA’s drug approval process requires developers to submit quantitative data demonstrating that the treatment is safe and effective after testing in a representative target population. But if you’re accustomed to using quantitative studies to attain approval, you might be feeling jaded about patient centricity guidances. As Tunna’s article says, “...everyone seems keener to shout about [...]

Doing Better and Feeling Worse: Patients with Long-term Conditions Describe Treatment Side Effects

Doing Better and Feeling Worse: Patients with Long-term Conditions Describe Drug Side Effects By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH We live in fortunate times; people are now described as “living with” conditions. As an article in BioMed Central Health Services Research put it: Where previous generations experienced episodes of infectious and acute disease that were often rapidly lethal because there were few effective treatments,... major changes in the epidemiological and demographic landscape have led to increasing numbers of people with chronic or long term conditions such as diabetes and asthma; living with and surviving potentially life-limiting conditions, [...]

Getting the Real Story from Patients

Getting the Real Story from Patients By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Humans evolved in a storytelling milieu where stories taught and explained the world around us. Our brains carry this legacy, research shows that the brain can store more information and retrieve it more easily when it is in story form. Narrative is easier to understand, is more engaging, and is an effective tool to communicate science to lay individuals.1,2 Personal narratives make science relatable. But mistakes made in the process of capturing a patient narrative can be cumulative. When writing native advertising (sponsored content), copy [...]

Getting the Most from Online Surveys

Getting the Most from Online Surveys By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Do you wonder about online surveys? Are they reliable? Is there bias? A recent article by the Pew Research Center For Weighting Online Opt-In Samples, What Matters Most? 1provides guidance to allay those concerns. Pew experimented with different procedures for weighting results from surveys with online opt-in samples to discover which techniques best reduced bias on estimates. They compared online results with the results given for 24 benchmark questions drawn from “high-quality federal surveys,” public surveys that were conducted using more traditional methods. This was [...]

Getting the Most from Clinical Trial Protocol Feasibility Studies

Getting the Most from Clinical Trial Protocol Feasibility Studies By Monica St Claire Webinar provides expert tips for getting real feasibility data, optimizing trial design When the drug development process is at the point of moving to clinical trial, the next step is conducting a feasibility study. Stakeholders are all looking to hit the jackpot: figuring out the best place to conduct the clinical study, and identifying the design factors that result in maximum patient retention. Recently, the topic of the WCG Institute’s podcast “Stump the Experts” was feasibility. It featured Diane Carozza and Danya Kaye, [...]

Do You Really Know How Patients Talk About Their Condition?

Do You Really Know How Patients Talk About Their Condition? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH There are classic examples of advertising messages that ended up offending the target customer, but the Utah Department of Transportation provided the most recent. The Utah DOT’s lighthearted attempt to adopt a specific culture’s way of speaking was predictably ridiculed when “Hey Teens, Buckling Up is Totes Yeet Yo” (meaning “the use of seatbelts is excellent”) appeared on the state’s electronic highway signs.1 honestly pic.twitter.com/axXJwjbJrH — Nico Di Angelo Fan Blog (@Laney_Brynn) October 23, 2019 The story is funny, but illustrates [...]