Servier exec urges patient-centered strategy for drug firms

The ongoing changes in the disease spectrum and medical practice environment have been prompting pharmaceutical companies to adjust patient strategies, from "working for patients" to "work with patients", according to a senior executive of French pharmaceutical company Servier.

"Doctors, hospitals, governments and pharmas have always worked for patients, which means the intent was to help patients to make them feel better, to heal them, to prolong their life and to improve their life," said Lode Dewulf, chief patient officer of Servier.

"People used to die of acute disease, trauma, infection by poison, but in the last 50 years, we have medicines able to control the causes of acute diseases, more peace and less trauma, and more antibiotics and less infection.

"Because of that, people now get much older, and get what we call chronic diseases, which start silently and touch the whole body, and most importantly, depend very much on behaviors as a person, much more on patients than on the doctors."

That means patients now have a very important role in their health management, and requires pharmaceutical companies to start working differently from "for patients" to now "for and with patients", because patients have to be part of the solution, he said.

While some of the big pharmas have quickly accepted the patient-centric idea, many more are not, and he believes the most critical success factor is whether a patient-centered strategy is really understood and supported from the very top of the organization.

He cited the example of Servier, saying "the company is unique in that it is governed by a nonprofit foundation, not driven by the stock price, and thus aims to really bring therapeutic innovation that meets patient needs.

The company, operating in 149 countries and regions, officially kicked off its "Patient In" strategy in January this year, to first operate in 12 countries and regions, including China.

In headquarters, the company picked three functions - Clinical Development, Global Marketing and Global Medical Affairs - to innovate with very specific objectives.

Over the year, those goals have been fully achieved. For example, Clinical Development functions have developed several new protocols with patients, which not only improve the protocol relevance to patients, but also make studies more doable for patients, according to him.

The company also worked with many patient groups and patient advocates to better understand how they live with a disease and what the priorities are for them, to improve the way the company answer calls from patients, he said, adding the company is to expand the strategy to other countries and other functions.

"Adopting such a patient-centered strategy is not likely to improve a company's profit-making in short term, but it is a must-do, just like protecting the environment, to drive long-term success of the healthcare system," he added.

In China, the company has launched a series of patient projects for those living with chronic diseases, including one to change patients' mindset from better treatment to better management, and another using digital platforms to connect doctors with patients.

China has more than 180 million seniors suffering from chronic diseases, of whom 75 percent have more than one, data from the National Health Commission showed.