Are pharmaceutical companies allowed to engage with patients and HCPs? Judging by how infrequent such interactions are, you might get the sense that it is strictly forbidden. Though such interactions are regulated, navigating these for the promise of understanding the perspective of the clinicians as well as patients is worthwhile.
We speak to Andreas Dam, the founder and CEO of Daman, about patient empowerment in clinical trials and how pharma can come closer to patients and HCPs.
Life sciences are impacted by two major trends: the larger consumerization trend and the shift of healthcare payer focus on outcomes. For the first, patients take greater ownership of their treatment. For the second, additional data about patients’ everyday lives are needed to determine how to prioritize the best treatment.
Patient reported outcomes are becoming an integrated part of clinical trials in part because regulatory bodies are requiring data on evaluating the value of the drug on the overall health of the patients.
There are benefits of measuring patient health continuously rather than just at site visits. Ecological momentary assessment describes the difference between what you can measure in a controlled setting, and the actual reality. Our minds are programmed to forget the bad part of our lives and are influenced by the setting in the clinic when we recollect how the state of our health has been in the time period leading to the visit.
Indirectly measuring the patient data from wearables rather than answering questionnaires is one of the ways that co-creating with patients creates trial design that fits more neatly into the lives of patients.
Increased use of technology is challenging the predominant pharmaceutical business model with long lifecycles. Building software tools and wearables meant for patients require quick iteration and feedback from the end users. In this sense the digital transformation in pharma is not just about technology, but also a transformation in patient focus.
Technology can help promote shared decision making between patients and doctors. The patient is the expert in living their life with their disease and the doctor is the medical expert. Looking at the same data can ensure a more equal conversation and improve collaboration.
Guest:
Andreas Dam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreasdam/
Daman: https://www.damandigital.com/
RheumaBuddy: https://rheumabuddy.com/
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