PharmaTimes and health comms agency OVID Health have launched the Patient Partnership Index 2020, which is now open for entries.
The Index is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for pharma companies to showcase, benchmark and measure the quality of their advocacy with patient groups. The aim is to celebrate as many companies that meet the mark in order to raise the bar across the board.
The COVID-19 pandemic is placing pressure on healthcare systems and patients everywhere. Putting patients at the heart of what pharma does has never been more critical. While patient centricity is now mainstream in R&D, the concept of impactful communications, engagement and advocacy with patient groups is less well defined.
This is why PharmaTimes and OVID have co-created the Patient Partnership Index and are inviting life science companies (small, medium and large) to take part, in order to share and profile their partnership working with patient communities, such as (but not exclusively) patient advocacy groups.
The Index will assess the highest standards based on best practice partnerships in communications between pharmaceutical, biotech companies and patient communities. The panel of judges includes PharmaTimes editor Selina McKee, OVID Health founder Jenny Ousbey, chief executive of Sarcoma UK Richard Davidson and director, ABPI Code Engagement Jill Pearcy.
The judges will use a metric created by OVID Health in partnership with pharmaceutical companies and patient groups to judge (not rank) entries based on industry best practice. The Index covers six themes: engagement; co-creation; empowerment; transparency; innovative; and impactful.
All entrants will receive an exclusive analysis and insight report plus marketing materials from OVID Health, and best practice will be recognised in PharmaTimes’ September issue.
Gaëtan Leblay, managing director of Janssen UK & Ireland, said: “We work hard to build trusted, transparent and lasting relationships with patient organisations, no matter how big or small, to help us understand what matters most to patients and their families. Our unique Patient Advisory Committee also ensures the patient voice is reflected across all key areas of our business, and we value platforms such as the Patient Partnership Index which enable us to share our initiatives and learn of other important programmes helping to meet the needs of UK patients.”
Director, ABPI Code of Engagement Jill Pearcy, said: “At the ABPI, we strongly believe that working with patients and patient organisations can bring significant public health benefits. At a time when pharma companies and patient organisations alike are working flat out to improve public health, the Index will help share best practice and foster positive, compliant collaborations in the interests of patients.”
CEO of Sarcoma UK Richard Davidson said: “The Index is an incredibly important initiative that will acknowledge and encourage transparent and innovative collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and charities. There has never been a time when these partnerships have been as essential or as productive. I’m delighted to be a judge on the inaugural Index and I hope that it continues for many years to come.”
Take part in the Patient Partnership Index 2020 now by visiting: www.patientpartnershipindex.co.uk or email info@patientpartnershipindex.co.uk for more information. The entry deadline for the Index is June 23.
