#patientvoice in Novo Nordisk

As a person living with a chronic illness and working in the pharma industry I know the importance of listening to the experts (#patientvoice) in their own illness and learning what treatment offering would be ideal to develop. I know patient centricity in research and development is key.

Ask any representative of a pharmaceutical company and they will probably tell you that patient centricity is a key focus for their company. But what do we actually mean by patient centricity? The term can be difficult to define.

As an umbrella term, it can mean different things across different organisations and manifests in multiple ways, as diverse as the patients to which it refers. Yeoman et al., in their landmark project, worked through an inclusive, collaborative definition that was validated with over 1000 patients. They defined patient centricity as “putting the patient first in an open and sustained engagement of the patient to respectfully and compassionately achieve the best experience and outcome for that person and their family”[1].

?I would go one step further. Patient centricity is certainly about putting the patient first, it is about listening to the patient and their needs, but it is also about inviting them in and engaging them in active co-creation.

A heritage of patient centricity – 100 years

诺和诺德 has a long-standing focus on patient centricity, dating back to the 1920s when the company was founded.? Novo Nordisk have developed various innovations in diabetes treatments, such as long-acting insulin and the NovoPen? device, all with the aim of improving the quality of life for patients.

?To continue its patient-centric approach, Novo Nordisk has developed the ‘Disease Experience Expert People’ (DEEP) framework, which focuses on patient needs and desires at each stage of their journey. This includes co-creation workshops with patients and the creation of patient-facing materials. DEEP has today evolved into the ‘Patient Voice Forum’, which also includes deep dive sessions through which employees can learn more about patients on a personal level.

Some years ago, Novo Nordisk initiated a series of meetings with people with diabetes and other chronic diseases to understand their daily needs and challenges. These meetings were later integrated into the onboarding for new employees at the company. Approximately 85% of pharmaceutical companies have plans to ramp up their patient engagement strategies.

?We see a recent shift in focus within the pharmaceutical industry, from “product” to “patient” and it is driven by multiple factors, both internal drivers and external trends. Patient insights help companies better understand true unmet needs from the patients, which is not always the same as the unmet medical needs. For instance a medical unmet need could be lowering blood sugar to avoid complications, and unmet patient needs, could be ?easier treatment administration or digital solutions to self-monitor their disease, or as simple as a heat stable solution of the drug. These insights also help identify meaningful treatment solutions and guide the scientific development of the treatment offering, which ultimately result in better outcomes for the lives of patients.

"I believe the next step is that we come together in a collective manner, ensuring a continuous movement towards co-creating with patients across the entire value chain of drug development and the life science landscape in general"

In Feb 2023 Novo Nordisk started the unit building exercise of a patient voice unit and established the role of "chief patient officer" for better alignment and co-creation with patient and patient organisations. I am proud and honoured that I have been given this task and eager to learn even more.

I am curious to hear, your thoughts as to what are the best ways of co-creation with patients and patient organisations ?

Share your thoughts? What are you doing? How can we as an industry better listen to and support the people living with illness we are trying to help ?

References

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[i] Yeoman G, Furlong P, Seres M, et al. Defining patient centricity with patients for patients and caregivers: a collaborative endeavour. BMJ Innovations 2017;3:76-83.