Solving the patient
engagement value equation

Are we engaging with patients to impress our peers and stakeholders or to develop better medicines and support?

Of course, both can be true at the same time. But while an improved reputation can be a by-product of patient engagement, it should not be the driving force behind it. Reputation enhancement is not the reason the US 21st Century Cures Act emphasised the need for patient engagement in medicines development or why the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) actively drive a patient engagement agenda.

The legislation and regulatory support came into place because the benefits of patient engagement in medicines development have been well established: accelerating clinical trial recruitment; reducing protocol amendments; strengthening trial data and improving product viability.

In the current geopolitical climate and the uncertainties created for life sciences companies, it is more important than ever to look beyond the ‘patient-centric’ narrative or storytelling and instead demonstrate how patient engagement is driving improved outcomes for patients and the company.

A strategic and rigorous approach to patient engagement that demonstrates value creation for stakeholders and the life sciences company is vital if we are to address persistent scepticism, both internally among scientists and commercial teams and externally among stakeholders, including clinicians, regulators, payers, policymakers and even patients.

Such scepticism is often driven by concerns related to either:

• Tokenistic involvement to justify decisions
• The creation of research bureaucracy/hoops to jump through
• Patient expertise to be involved in medicines development.

Yet, this scepticism is compounded when patient engagement is primarily leveraged as a driver of reputation. Pharma corporate collateral is dominated by phrases like ‘patient-centric approach’ but clear articulation of what this means or how it is measured isn’t usually provided. Furthermore, barely a month goes by without a major industry patient engagement event taking place – while best practice sharing is vital, the frequency of these events (often among industry representatives and patient advocates who are already familiar with the themes covered) raises some questions about the real motivation.

Only a handful of companies have published details of how they are systematically integrating patient engagement across the life cycle and how they are measuring its value. This is significant as currently no standardised tool exists to assess all aspects of patient engagement across the life cycle, leading to inconsistent benchmarking and lack of alignment on what success looks like. Patient-Focused Medicines Development (PFMD), a cross-industry collaborative, warrants mention here for contributing to a systematic approach (developing tools like the metrics selector and patient experience data navigator), but further validation is still required.

So, while there is plenty of exposure for patient engagement through the creation of worthy (and shiny) initiatives, the extent to which patient-focused medicines development is taking root and how its value is being measured is less clear.

At Aurora, a Spectrum Science company, we believe the key to creating value through patient engagement is found at the intersection of three core elements: deep scientific expertise and commercial acumen, along with advanced patient and stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Without understanding the scientific and commercial landscape in a deep way, patient engagement will be blunted in realising its potential as a strategic driver of innovation and growth.

Aurora’s patient engagement offering focuses on three vital points:

1. Insights team: in-house patient research and analytics capability focused on generating rapid insights and evidence
2. Strategic precision: breadth and depth of our capability maximises value of insights and unlocks new opportunities from preclinical to commercialisation
3. Local to global: patient engagement expertise in 60+ markets globally, connected to networks of patient communities and proficient in local industry regulation.

Moving beyond patient engagement as a driver of reputation means building authentic, empathetic partnerships with patient communities, generating data and insights and applying it where it can make the greatest impact scientifically and commercially.

We need less talk about being patient-centric – and more thought, action and demonstration towards realising the impact for patients and companies.