Je Suis Un Patient

A month ago, I held a conference for pharmaceutical managers in Barcelona. I realised something new as it came to a close.

I saw that while we advertised ‘learning’, ‘networking’ and ‘benchmarking’ as the key returns from spending three days at the conference, the most important thing was missing from that list. Those who stayed right through to the end experienced something more, something I can only call ‘belief’.

Belief in a new model, a new way; that it is the right way, and that we are no longer alone in thinking it.

Five people who embodied this belief by the last day were Alan, Mike, Nuria, Jack and Juan. Five nervous individuals who attended the event for the first time. They made up the 'patient panel', who during much of the event had the privileged position of contributing questions for each speaker before anyone else, sitting at the front like accidental judges on X-Factor. Of course, they were far more amenable than Simon Cowell and his ilk. Plus, they were the only people in the room who had never worked in the pharmaceutical industry. But what is more noteworthy is that none of these people were believers at the beginning. In the final seconds of the conference, I decided to hand them the microphone:

• "What the hell am I doing here?” That is what I thought on the first day at this conference. I felt really bad. I felt I was visiting ‘the dark side’. But now, I am telling everyone I can! - Nuria Zu?iga, Lupus Patient

• It's exciting and encouraging to be able to talk to so many people on an equal level, which doesn't happen at home. Just don’t stop it here: keep collaborating and let's share the outcomes at next year’s conference - Alan Thomas, Ataxia Patient

• I really have to admit that I'm very surprised. My views have evolved. It has been so refreshing being able to actually see that pharma is doing something to get closer to patient needs. There is a will. What once was a phrase used only as a marketing tool is starting to become reality: 'we are all about the patient' - Mike Young, Diabetes Patient

It struck me that all that these five people had witnessed was, simply, pharmaceutical managers talking to other pharmaceutical managers. Nobody had tried to convince them, to sell to them, to brainwash them. They had simply sat in the room and listened. Through that exposure, five people who started as skeptical, embarrassed, frightened anti-pharma campaigners had become passionate, energized and emboldened advocates. They became aware that the pharmaceutical industry was now an open door, they knew what they had to do next, and they wanted their cohorts back at home to feel the same way.

Nothing has given me a greater sense of pride since I began my time in the industry about 12 years ago. What this means is that we are finally heading in the right direction, collectively. I have been surprised at the number of people who have expressed that we have created a place for (without it sounding like a quasi-evangelical experience) the 'believers' in a new commercial and ethical model.

But there is so much work still to do. There were nearly 900 people in Barcelona, but the number of industry people who didn’t attend was far higher. A lot of people back home didn’t witness the transformation. These are the people who will hold us back. These are the people who believe the status quo is acceptable. And just as we created solidarity with the Parisien workers who fell victim to terrorists at the start of the year with the phrase "Je Suis Charlie", it's time now for those of us who are ready for change to join arms and shout loudly: "Je Suis Un Patient".

Because it's still not apparent that we all are patients. In Barcelona, the patient panel noted that pharma executives were initially just as scared to approach the patients, as patients were to approach pharma. Yet it is obvious that no matter how senior-level you are, you're a person first and a businessperson second. David Loew from Sanofi helped us understand this in the conference opening session when he showed through audience participation that there is no 'us and them'. We are all affected.

If you encounter resistance in your company, please seek solace in the fact that we hosted four C-Level executives who made an absolute and public commitment to patient-centric leadership on stage. They were asked questions like: “can you give us an example to prove you're prioritizing patient interests even when there is no business case for doing so?” and, “are you prepared to fire successful but cynical employees that don’t prioritize patients above financial goals?” (In both cases, they said yes.)

We also held an awards ceremony. The winner of our Lifetime Achievement Award was Roch Doliveux, former CEO of UCB, a man who spent much of his early career believing he was ‘too soft’ because he found himself unique in wanting to prioritize patient experience - and in doing so, tripled the value of his company. 

And feel free to quote the closing session from Dr Anne Beal, who declared that her core objective was to become literally redundant. Her redundancy package would arrive 'at that point when every person in the organization has the mentality: "I am a soldier of the patients' will"'

If the industry is going to change, the change needs to happen in all of us.