By Ashley Gaines, Franchise Head, US Breast Cancer Business
I had the pleasure of speaking with Hannah Kuchler at the Financial Times US Pharma and Biotech Summit in mid-May to discuss the business case for reimagining patient centricity.
As the life science industry continues to evolve, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we discussed the need to ensure care continuity and improve health equity across the board. Strategic collaborations with advocacy, researchers, care providers and policy makers play an important role in this evolution. For instance, through our ACT on Health Equity initiative, we are working with local community-based programs to advance care and education among underserved communities. Together, we can identify barriers to care and potential solutions to resolve them, especially at the local level.
To be truly people centric, we also need operating models that reflect all aspects of a patient’s experience. We’ve recently shifted our tumor and geography-focused customer engagement model to better develop deep, localized expertise and interact with the full multidisciplinary team of care providers from screening to long-term survivorship. We are also bringing the patient voice into the design of clinical trials, ensuring that trial sites are accessible, and materials are offered in multiple languages.
I am proud to be part of an organization whose business and culture is truly people centric – and asks the question “what is best for people living with this disease?” in everything we do.
You can watch our discussion below.