Two-thirds of the finalists for the ‘Most Valuable Patient Initiative’ in the 2015 eyeforpharma Barcelona Awards have used interactive digital resources or mobile applications to engage with the patient; a tell-tale sign of the dominance of patient engagement as a focus for pharma right now.
The list of finalists includes Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Janssen Healthcare Innovation and Novartis all vying for the ultimate accolade in pharma; to be crowned ‘most valuable’ to their patients.
Projects from Abbvie, in partnership with communications agency Biosector2 and Janssen Healthcare Innovation, in conjunction with DePuy Synthes and the orthopaedic department of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital in London, are based around interactive websites. These empower patients to take control of their health and be educated and supported throughout their relevant treatment.
While Bayer Healthcare Turkey stands out with its Women’s Health TV, developed by 2014 category winner Pelin Icil, which addresses the issue of poor communication between women and their gynaecologists in Turkey.
The judges, who include patient representatives Heidi Floyd and Jack Whelan, as well as senior pharmaceutical executives Alberto Grua, Chief Commercial Officer EU, Australia and North-America and member of the Corporate Executive Board of Grünenthal and John Pugh, head of digital innovation at Boehringer Ingelheim favoured projects which could demonstrate real patient-experience improvement and those that showed a real understanding of culture and patient-need.
Of Janssen Healthcare Innovation’s Care4Today all-encompassing initiative, which combines an interactive patient website and a printed educational pack for hip and knee replacement patient the judges were unanimously impressed.
Patient-judge Heidi Floyd said: "Guiding a patient from beginning to end of their surgical journey, stepping through all the way to end of recovery; magnificent. As patients, we often are overwhelmed and unable to absorb required data while preparing for life-changing surgery.
"This resource appears to be the perfect tool to allow and encourage patients to educate themselves about the intense process at their own pace. Health information such as this will change the future for patients and caregivers worldwide."
A comprehensive list of finalists can be found online here.
Winners will be announced at the 2nd annual eyeforpharma Barcelona Awards, on Tuesday 24 March 2015 at the CCIB, Barcelona from 7.30pm, as part of the largest gathering of pharma executives, eyeforpharma Barcelona. The evening will be attended by the top 200 VIPs from the pharma industry.