Closing pharma’s communication gap with patients

The pharma industry has been talking about being patient-centric for years, but often that rhetoric hasn’t been accompanied by real change in the way product development is carried out.

Keri McDonough thinks there is still a still a void between some pharma and patients, but one that can be bridged by developers who make a commitment to incorporate patient insights at scale across their operations.

Why the patient voice is important

Listening to patients. It’s a phrase that’s been repeated so often and for so long by the pharma industry that it surely must be deeply ingrained in its culture, but McDonough says the sentiment –while sincere– doesn’t always match the reality and has lost meaning.

Through her role as head of the Patient Voice Consortium at Syneos Health®, McDonough has seen first-hand how pharma companies large and small have attempted to build patient-centricity in the development programmes, with varying results.

• Read the full article in pharmaphorum's Deep Dive digital magazine