ASCO: Celebrate Successes and Prepare to Support Patients in the Future

The annual scientific meeting for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) starts this weekend in Chicago. This meeting is the premier scientific meeting for new clinical data in oncology. Reflecting on this important meeting I’m reminded of the significant advances that have been made in the last 15 years in treating cancer. Several trends fill me with hope for the future, including…

1) Increasing use of oral therapies
2) Molecularly targeted therapies offer decreased side effects versus traditional chemotherapy
3) The possibility that cancer, in many cases, can be treated as a chronic condition with an emphasis on on-going therapy

Cancer treatment is certainly much more effective, manageable, and tolerable than it was 15 years ago. While there are many advances in oncology treatment to celebrate, significant challenges remain including…  

* Patient adherence to treatment—As more oral treatments are used for treating cancer, patients and their caregivers take on a greater role for ensuring treatments are taken regularly and at prescribed doses. With treatments administered in a physician’s office or medical center the nurses see patients regularly and ensure treatments are administered as prescribed and at appropriate times. 

* Changing needs of patients and caregivers—As patients and caregivers take on more responsibility for administering treatments, they are also taking on more responsibility for monitoring and managing side effects to treatment. This can be a frightening responsibility for caregivers and more can be done to support them in this role.  

* Increased costs for treatment—On average targeted therapies cost significantly more than traditional chemotherapeutic agents. The increased cost is an issue for all stakeholders involved in oncology treatment including patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, payers, and life science companies. Patient co-pay and financial assistance programs are critical in helping many patients pay for their treatment.

For life science companies these challenges are significant, and they are also opportunities to engage with patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers. To begin, ensure you…  

* Understand the patient’s treatment journey, and in particular, the barriers they face in remaining adherent and compliant with treatment 

* Develop and implement comprehensive patient support programs that are a resource and guide for patient’s during their treatment journey  

* Inform and educate healthcare providers on the details of patient and caregiver support programs

As a pharmaceutical call center, we provide as-needed call-in support for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers to answer questions about a product and its side effects, enroll patients in a support program, and connect patients with co-pay assistance resources. Our Medical Advisory Board works with us to design programs focused on meeting the needs of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers.

I’d like to hear from you. What challenges does your oncology product(s) face? Please join the conversation and share your thoughts, challenges and questions.

I’ll be in Chicago at the ASCO meeting. If you’ll be at ASCO, please send me an e-mail and we’ll schedule a time to get together. I always enjoy learning about the challenges you're facing.

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Keep it Simple: Focus on the Patient with Adherence Programs

Hi, I'm Moriah Weissman and I'm a Clinical Director at Tunstall AMAC. I work with Lou and our life science company clients to provide clinical insights for the development of patient, caregiver, and healthcare provider support and communication programs. Lou invited me to contribute to the blog, and I look forward to sharing insights and thoughts with you, as well as learning more about your challenges.

In working with our clients there is a lot of interest in life science companies about maintaining patients on a treatment. A number of articles and studies have been published about patient adherence, and I certainly believe patient adherence can be a driver in your business. In looking at many of the patient adherence articles that have been published two thoughts come to my mind…

1. Why do most patient adherence programs seem so complicated?
2. Patient adherence programs are expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to implement!

Many of the patient adherence articles quickly become lost in the data, in analysis paralysis, or in defining whether or not a program is truly patient adherence based solely on whether or not it’s driving “behavior change”.

Perhaps I have over simplified the definition of patient adherence. To me, patient adherence is keeping a patient on a specific treatment. There are many ways this can be done, and certainly I agree that it’s important to embark on a discovery process that helps you to understand the patient journey and a patient’s desire to manage their condition. Without this it’s easy to develop a program that doesn’t drive the right actions. In fact an earlier blog post by Lou Shapiro provided suggestions for understanding the patient journey and resources for understanding a patient’s desire to manage their condition.

I believe two critical success factors for effective patient adherence programs are…

1. Develop meaningful programs that engage patients.
2. Collect feedback and data so the program can be continuously improved.

We offer four straightforward solutions to help our clients build effective patient adherence programs. These include…

1. Our focus is the patient. Start with the patient and keep them, and their needs, at the center of your solution.

2. Our AMAC Medical Advisory Board. We have relationships with healthcare providers in a number of therapeutic areas. We engage these experts to help us understand a particular disease-state/condition, current care delivery models as well as patient needs and challenges. We then work with our Medical Advisory Board to develop custom healthcare communication solutions that meet patients’ needs.

3. Our clinical program directors. They have advanced life science degrees in nursing and pharmacy. We tap into their clinical expertise to understand the patient journey and barriers to treatment as well.

4. Our pharmaceutical call center operators. They talk with healthcare providers and their offices, as well as patients and caregivers each day. They hear first-hand about the challenges patients have in managing their condition. Whether the challenges have to do with side effects, dosing, or cost, our call center operators can describe in detail what the obstacles are that patients face.

To build an effective program we take these insights and evaluate them against the product’s goals and needs. Next, we start putting together solutions that we, as a pharmaceutical call center, can provide. We also work with our clients to integrate other services, such as customized direct mail fulfillment, as appropriate.

Of course, I’ve simplified our development process for the sake of keeping this post brief. And my point is this: patient adherence programs are not rocket science. They can be straightforward and still be effective. I’m willing to bet that if you keep the patient, and their needs, at the center of your solution it will be a success.

Now, I want to hear from you. Do you agree, or do you think my oversimplified approach is wrong? Join the conversation and share your thoughts, challenges and questions.

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The Double Dip - Deliver Impact and Flexibility with Tele-Sales Solutions

The sales function in life science companies continues to evolve and become more complex. The pressure to increase sales in a cost-effective manner grows by the day and sales executives are eagerly searching for innovative and impactful ways to grow sales.

Tele-sales programs are flexible programs that efficiently and effectively augment sales and promotional activities in many ways including…

1) Scheduling visits with a field-based representatives to provide 1-on-1 interaction when it’s needed

2) Expanding territories and coverage to ensure all healthcare providers in a given territory have regular interactions with company representatives

3) Supporting promotional programs for new indications and offers such as support groups or prescription rebates

4) Building relationships with office staff to provide a venue for answers to their questions and for requesting samples and educational materials

5) Providing responsive handling of scientific and/or clinical questions by healthcare-trained representatives when the caller wants and needs it

I recently recorded a Podcast through PharmaVOICE sharing insights we’ve gathered from tele-sales programs we’ve worked on for our clients. Also, we recently published a White Paper on this topic. The White Paper offers three case studies that demonstrate how tele-sales solutions can be customized to meet a number of promotional needs and audiences including physicians, their office staff, and patients and caregivers.

If you’d like to listen to the podcast titled “Insights from the Field: Tele-Sales Solutions”, please click here to download. Additionally, if you are interested in a copy of the white paper titled "Seize the Moment: Tele-Sales Solutions Delivering Impact and Flexibility", please click here to request it. Please let us know what you think of these two resources—are they helpful or not? Also, would you like to have additional resources in other areas? If so, please let us know what areas interest you.

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Three Must-See Sessions at DTC Perspectives in April

The DTC Perspectives Conference starts next Tuesday, April 10 in Washington DC. The agenda looks great. I’m looking forward to hearing from executives at several life science companies on how they are changing their DTC programs to move away from brand promotion and awareness to focus on what patients need and want. When programs focus on what patients need and want we build engagement that can lead to commitment and loyalty.

There are three sessions that I’m particularly looking forward to...  

1) The New DTC: Using Technology to Build Relevance and Engagement with Paul Ewing and Todd Kolm at Pfizer. They are taking a case study approach to share insights into efforts to innovate consumer marketing at Pfizer.  

2) Effectively Reaching and Supporting Patients: A Novo Nordisk Case Study with Jeremy Shepler at Novo Nordisk and Rob Rebak at QualityHealth. They will be sharing key learnings from an integrated multichannel DTC program to drive educated doctor-patient interactions.  

3) Wake Up! Really, We Need to Wake Up! With Brian Lange at GSK. This presentation promises to help us recognize the cold hard reality that is in front of us each day, and will share tools to help us prepare for the next generation of DTC marketing initiatives.

I always look forward to learning from others, and the DTC Perspectives Conference is a great opportunity to engage with leaders that are boldly trying new things.

No doubt we live in exciting times. The opportunities to engage with patients and caregivers are rapidly changing, and the challenge is to develop patient programs that are meaningful and valuable. At PhoneScreen and AMAC we have been working with our life science company clients on a number of projects including tele-sales programs and patient support programs. These programs have the ability to quickly gather insights on the needs and challenges of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers in managing a disease-state or condition. These insights enable our clients (and us) to develop meaningful programs.

If you are going to DTC Perspectives, please stop by our exhibit booth (look for the AMAC booth, which is number 29) and we’ll be happy to share with you how our programs can be customized to gather meaningful insights into what patients and caregivers need. If you would like to set up a time to meet at the DTC Perspectives meeting, please send me an e-mail and we’ll schedule a time to get together.

Hope to see you in Washington DC!

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White Paper - Seize the Moment: Tele-Sales Solutions Delivering Impact and Flexibility

This white paper illustrates how tele-sales solutions provide valuable interactions and develop relationships with healthcare providers and their offices in customized ways that meet their individual needs.

Download Whitepaper
Download Companion Podcast - Insights from the Field: Tele-Sales Solutions Build Relationships between the Brand and HCPs 
Download Podcast Transcript (PDF)


All Podcasts and White Papers

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Podcast - Insights from the Field: Tele-Sales Solutions Build Relationships between the Brand and HCPs

In this podcast, I talk about the challenges life science companies face when providing information on their products to physicians and healthcare providers. I hope you enjoy it.

Download Podcast
Download Podcast Transcript (PDF)

Download Companion Whitepaper - Seize the Moment: Tele-Sales Solutions Delivering Impact and Flexibility

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Engaging HCPs, Patients, and Caregivers to Shape Your Initiatives

Gaining Valuable Insights from Daily Interactions

Designing and implementing effective marketing programs starts with understanding what your customers need most. This knowledge will help you develop impactful and desired programs that customers seek out. The idea of including the “voice of the customer” (or VOC) has been around for many years, and is becoming standard practice when developing new initiatives and programs.

We live in exciting times and there are limitless new opportunities to interact with patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers. The challenge is to engage your customers quickly and to obtain meaningful insights. Some life science companies have experimented with using social media to reach patients and caregivers as a channel to understand their needs. This is a viable solution; however, with social media communications you lack “real-time” interactions and the ability to ask questions and probe for further understanding.

At PhoneScreen and AMAC we have been working with our life science company clients on a number of projects including tele-sales programs and patient support programs. One of the unforeseen benefits of these programs has been the ability to quickly gather insights on the needs and challenges of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers in managing a disease-state or condition. These insights enable our clients (and us) to develop meaningful programs.

Our representatives speak directly with patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers each day. Through the course of these interactions they develop relationships that provide meaningful insights into what these audiences need. We take these insights, share them with our clients, and either integrate them into our existing programs or develop new initiatives.

Examples of how these insights have been leveraged into our programs include..

* Including new questions in our FAQ information
* Updating our call scripts to include information that is often asked
* Developing a resource sheet that is shared with patients and caregivers

Three tips I can share with you for success are…

1) Careful documentation of questions. We use our database technology to capture this information
2) On-going analysis on questions that are coming up. On a regular basis we look at the questions we are being asked
3) Act on the findings. We report our findings and provide recommendations to our clients for how we can act on these insights

How are you gathering insights and input from patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers? Are you using these insights to design more meaningful programs? Please share your experiences, successes, and challenges.

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