Relentless Health Value

Today I talk with Dyan Bryson, founder and partner from Inspired Health Strategies (IHS) about how patient reported outcomes (ie PRO) collected especially during clinical trials and beyond is fast becoming the thing to do. Not only because it tends to make a difference when you go to market, in a big, positive way, but also because policies are changing that mandate the collection of PRO in real time. This is per the old PFDD, otherwise known as Patient-Focused Drug Development. Dyan is a strategist and patient advocate over at Inspired Health Strategies.

You can learn more at www.inspiredhealthstrategies.com.

Dyan is the owner of a patient-focused consultancy, Inspired Health Strategies, LLC (IHS). After spending 20+ years in Big Pharma in traditional sales and marketing roles, in 2007 Dyan began working as a contractor with Sanofi. She was brought in to develop a multi-cultural marketing initiative and Dyan had little hope of making much of an impact until she realized that Sanofi was serious as evidenced by their commitment to a hefty budget and an enterprise-wide effort. She knew that, given her past experience combined with a non-traditional approach to market research, she could help Sanofi develop a groundbreaking program. What was developed was a program that incorporated the patient’s ecosystem into a branded and non-branded initiative that resulted in documented behavior change and significant contribution to the bottom-line. The Community Health Partnership (CHP) changed her brain – she now understood the opportunity the industry was missing by not understanding the value of the patient.

Since that Sanofi initiative Dyan has been an evangelist for patient engagement. But after years of trying to push the industry in this patient-focused direction she was ready to give up…until she attended the March 19, 2018 FDA meeting regarding the Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) initiative. The FDA was going to actually issue guidance that echoes Dyan’s mantra – that patients should be involved in drug development, in a meaningful way, from pre-Investigative New Drug Application (IND) through commercial. This has rejuvenated Dyan’s efforts as she watches and helps the industry sort out how to comply with this guidance. Compliance will demand a change in thinking in the industry and will produce great results for patients.

Dyan’s efforts have been recognized by her being included in the PharmaVoice 100 Innovators in Life Sciences. Dyan has been published in several industry journals including Pharmaceutical Commerce and The Journal of Patient Adherence and is a frequent speaker at industry meetings.

You can learn more about PFDD and see case studies on the work of IHS at Dyan’s website www.inspiredhealthstrategies.com, follow Dyan @InspiredHealth_

00:40 Patient Reported Outcomes, PRO.
01:30 Are patient reported outcomes unscientific?
02:20 Learning to accept the validity of PRO data for what it is.
02:55 Patient-Focused Drug Development – PFDD.
04:10 Closing the loop with patients.
04:55 “It’s hard enough to get people to participate in a clinical trial without making things tough for them.”
10:20 “We’re starting to focus more on real world, in real time.”
13:20 Clinical Outcomes vs Quality of Life Outcomes
18:50 EP157 with Dr Ethan Basch
22:40 “We don’t always know everything.”
25:50 Trying to improve patient adherence.
26:55 Why focusing on behavior increases patient engagement.
27:15 “It’s about engagement.”
30:35 You can learn more at www.inspiredhealthstrategies.com.