Patient Focused Medicines Development (PFMD) -- a nonprofit coalition seeking to give patients the same treatment as active partners while manufacturers discover, design and develop research and medicines -- recently published a paper seeking to improve patient engagement in developing medicines.
Many health experts believe that development for patient engagement with medicines is crucial as a culture and process change, one that must happen to benefit worldwide health.
“A growing number of health stakeholders have embraced the need for patient engagement,” Marc Boutin, CEO of the U.S. National Health Council (NHC), PFMD founding member and lead author of the publication, said. “But no matter how well intentioned or well executed their individual initiatives are, we need a more global environment that embraces and facilitates patient engagement -- removing barriers and promoting effective implementation. Without a broad and unified approach, desired outcomes will not be achieved.”
The paper discusses perceived as well as real obstacles that stop patients from being engaged, like operational restrictions designed to stop various health stakeholders from uniting in partnerships.
“PFMD brings together individuals and organizations committed to early and effective patient engagement as an integral and valuable component of the medicines development and are committed to making it happen within their own organizations,” Boutin said. “Embedding this spirit of patient engagement into the entire medicines lifecycle will require significant changes in the way stakeholder organizations traditionally work. Our paper highlights the establishment of cultures and processes that ensure patient engagement becomes a critical component in medicines development.”
