Looking Back—and Beyond—at Accord BioPharma

By Chrys Kokino, President, U.S. BioPharma at Accord BioPharma

It’s an exciting time to be at Accord BioPharma. As we enter a new year, I’d like to take a beat amid the swirl of activity we’ve had to reflect on all that we have accomplished in such a short time. And I am, of course, compelled to look beyond—to keep dreaming of, and planning for, our not-so-distant future. We’ve been shaping that future since our inception. This year, we’re committed to continuing to improve the overall treatment experience in our three major areas of focus—oncology, immunology, and critical care. The patient experience is at the core of everything we do.

That's the mission on which we were founded, and we proudly declared it when we launched last year. In that first ever LinkedIn article – and still today – I wanted to communicate that we’ll always look beyond the biology of medicine to more effectively reach and meet the needs of patients, providers, and partners. We’ll always prioritize access and affordability. And we’ll always provide a fair, balanced approach to our business that incorporates the viewpoints of each group we engage.

That inclusivity begins internally. Our people make the difference; our people are our difference. And I felt it necessary to share early on that we do what we do because of them. At Accord BioPharma, we’re built to feel like a family, and that approach is woven into our company culture. Everyone’s voice matters here. It’s what makes us such a great place to work—and what makes our work so great.

And we saw the fruition of some of that work in 2022. For the treatment of advanced prostate cancer in adults, we came to market with our first product. It was a tangible example of our commitment to innovative thinking and meeting unmet needs with our products.

To further those efforts, we announced a partnership with StoryMD, a personalized digital health information portfolio that curates the most relevant, visually rich content based on a patient's condition. Together, we provide a comprehensive, user-friendly tool to help patients and their caregivers navigate advanced prostate cancer. With StoryMD’s help, we went beyond drug development to change the patient experience in an area where understanding was lacking and help was needed.

And we didn’t stop there. To simplify and improve the patient experience, we launched AccordCares, an online patient hub service that onboards, educates and supports those who are using one of our products.

We also wanted to drive greater operational efficiency for the practices that handle our products. AccordConnects allows hospitals and healthcare practices to register Accord BioPharma products that they’ve received in a secure online database, create a link between their Accord BioPharma product inventory and a practice’s electronic health record system, view alerts to enable optimal product lifecycle decisions, and keep a record of when inventory has been dispensed. The portal was initially launched as an app, available in the App Store and on Google Play.

We knew, though, that some practices do not allow their providers to download third-party applications on practice-owned devices, while others do not allow providers to use personal mobile devices during shifts. Additionally, we discovered that some HCPs prefer to perform the reporting features of AccordConnects from their computers. For these reasons, we worked to make our intuitive, user-friendly inventory management system available in the form of a website as well.

I think these examples of our work perfectly encapsulate our company’s mission. That’s what you’re always going to get from us—a group of likeminded, empathetic individuals who work together to look beyond and solve unmet needs across the treatment experience. That’s what you’re going to see from our portfolio moving forward. And that’s why we’re excited to continue our innovative approach. The best from Accord BioPharma is yet to come—in 2023 and beyond.