What is your role at Envision Pharma and what does this involve?
90TEN joined the Envision Pharma Group family in April this year. My role as Managing Director of the PR division is to inspire our passionate team to live and breathe our mission to make people happier and healthier through life-changing communications. Our mission drives everything we do, from how we approach client briefs to our internal culture. As we integrate into the Envision network, I’m excited about bringing our approach to more clients and across more geographies.
Is patient-centricity and engagement a key focus for the company?
90TEN’s patient engagement work is a key focus especially in developing patient awareness and activation campaigns. Since joining Envision, our patient capabilities have further expanded; we now have a dedicated team of experts delivering end-to-end patient services. Our determination to go beyond patient-centricity and ensure our clients’ campaigns are patient-owned is often key to their success. Our behavioural science approach starts with listening, immersing ourselves in understanding what worries and motivates patients. This ensures that outputs truly meet patients’ needs.
How important is being patient-centric to improving outcomes and the value of products?If we want to improve outcomes and change people’s health-related behaviour, we need to bring an understanding of the science of human behaviour and patient insights into any planned intervention or we won’t successfully convince anyone to change. In the wake of COVID-19, there is an opportunity to learn from beneficial changes implemented through necessity during the pandemic, such as remote digital support for patients with chronic conditions. It’s also the right thing to do as industry professionals.
Does pharma pay enough attention to ensuring that the patient voice remains heard across product life cycles?Developing a new medicine costs hundreds of millions of pounds and takes an average of ten years from discovery to approval, so ensuring the patient voice is heard at every step of the journey is essential. The commitment is there – we’ve seen more and more pharma companies prioritising patient-centricity as a key business focus. Ultimately, embedding the patient voice needs to go beyond products and into the company culture; the new Patient Partnership Index should provide valuable opportunities for companies to raise the bar.
What are the key ingredients for a successful relationship between pharma companies and patient organisations?
At 90TEN we are united by wanting to do the right thing by the patients we serve. This shared ambition is ultimately the most crucial element of any relationship between stakeholders in the healthcare space, including pharma companies and patient organisations. Committing to transparency on where our clients’ objectives overlap with the organisation’s is crucial too, along with getting to know each other and building trust to work effectively – and compliantly – together on new ways to improve access to health education and care. Ultimately, that is the only way to ensure our work can support more people to live happier and healthier lives.
