Peas In the Pod

Who makes the most critical decisions? Prescribers do! 🌟 By understanding their perspective and maintaining open and honest communication, we can build and sustain a relationship of trust with them. But trust is precious and fragile, much like a butterfly. With careful handling and continuous attention to the prescribers’ actual needs, we gain credibility and bring harmony to this critical relationship, allowing it to soar to greater heights. ▶ Join us in nurturing these essential relationships for a more trustworthy and harmonious healthcare environment. #PharmaMarketing #MarketResearch #PrescriberTrust #HealthcareRelationships #EmpathyInHealthcare #PeasInThePod

Who is the most important Pea in the Pod? The Patient is! 💛 Every time we engage with patients, we feel a deep responsibility to advocate for what truly matters to them. For us patient-centricity means seeing things through the patient's unique lens and being genuinely empathetic towards their needs, experiences, and perspectives. It involves actively listening, interpreting, and conveying critical insights to manufacturers, enabling them to continually improve and provide the best possible care. Join us in our commitment to making healthcare more empathetic, responsive, and accessible. #PatientCentricity #EmpathyInHealthcare #HealthcareInnovation #PeasInThePod #PharmaMarketing

What is holding prescribers back from developing genuine partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers? 🤔 In a post-pandemic era, where digital communication covered 90% of all interactions between pharmaceutical manufacturers and prescribers, our task was to advise on creating a branded customer portal. An initial desk research showed an overwhelming number of digital initiatives. So, what did end-users think of these platforms? The harsh truth: they did not think anything of them because they mostly ignored their existence. Those who knew about them, they only visited them once and never went back. ❗ Further investigation uncovered a number of issues with the current offering. Reading between the lines, we soon realized these were post-rationalized arguments covering up an underlying sense of mistrust, a historical skepticism, about the pharmaceutical industry's intentions.🔍 To foster a future of collaboration, we must first address these five sabotaging beliefs: 1️⃣ Bias in Pharma-Sponsored Content: Pharma-sponsored content may be biased towards promoting products rather than providing valuable medical information. ➡ This perception undermines the potential for pharmaceutical companies to be seen as credible sources of scientific knowledge. 2️⃣ Profit Over Patients:  Pharma companies prioritize sales and profits over the well-being of patients. ➡ This view challenges the foundation of trust and partnership, making it difficult for prescribers to see pharma companies as allies in patient care. 3️⃣ Transactional Relationships:  The shift towards digital communication may have turned meaningful interactions into impersonal transactions. ➡ This diminishes the sense of genuine collaboration, leaving prescribers feeling undervalued and disconnected. 4️⃣ Inadequate Communication Customization:  Pharma communications are not adequately tailored to prescribers' specific needs and contexts, feeling too generic or irrelevant. ➡ This lack of personalization can prevent meaningful engagement and understanding. 5️⃣ Short-term focus:  Pharma companies have to focus on short-term gains, such as quarterly sales targets, at the expense of long-term investments in innovation and relationship building with healthcare providers. ➡ This short-term focus can make it hard for prescribers to view pharma companies as committed, long-term partners in healthcare. ⏭ How can we dismantle these lingering misconceptions and build trustful, long-term partnerships? #PharmaMarketing #Insights #Healthcaremarketing #healthcare #marketresearch #peasinthepod #disconnects

Why is it so difficult for pharma to secure drug reimbursement on their terms? There is a clear disconnect between manufacturers and payers' perspectives on what is the real value of a new medicine. But why is that? Pricing and reimbursement decisions may not fully consider the impact of disease on patients’ lives. But why? Below we have delved into the five potential reasons behind this critical issue: 1️⃣ Limited Data Availability. Decisions heavily rely on clinical evidence, focusing on measurable outcomes like survival rates and symptom reduction. Clinical trials cannot capture all aspects of a patient’s experience, such as daily quality of life, mental health, and social functioning. A critical aspect in rare diseases where limited patient data often leads to reimbursement rejections or strict conditions. 2️⃣ Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Methodologies. HTAs focus on clinical evidence, ignoring broader patient-reported outcomes. The QALY metric (Quality Adjusted Life Years), assessing cost-effectiveness, is subjective and influenced by socio-economic factors, often sidelining important patient experience aspects. 3️⃣ Economic Focus Over Comprehensive Patient Impact. Economic evaluations can overshadow non-clinical aspects such as emotional and social health impacts. In rare diseases, general Quality of Life (QoL) tools fail to persuade payers, not considering patient experiences holistically. 4️⃣ Regulatory and Policy Constraints. Regulatory frameworks can restrict the scope of data considered in reimbursement decisions.  Policies may explicitly limit the use of qualitative data or enforce economic thresholds prioritizing short-term cost control vs. long-term patient well-being. 5️⃣ Short-term vs. Long-term Cost Considerations. Reimbursement decisions prioritize short-term clinical outcomes, overlooking long-term patient benefits. Payers tend to look at costs on a short-to-mid-term perspective, typical for health insurances, which have to set and defend premiums on a yearly basis. ⏭ Stay tuned for our upcoming posts and let’s work together to bring clarity to the critical disconnects of the healthcare industry. #HealthcareEconomics #Reimbursement #PricingDecisions #HealthcareDisconnects #HealthcareSeries #PatientAccess #HealthcareFinance #InnovationInHealthcare

Why are patients often feeling disconnected from prescribers ❓ Often when we talk to patients, it’s evident their experiences are broader and more complex than what their treating specialists 'the prescribers' might see. While they strive to treat medical conditions effectively, they might not fully grasp the day-to-day realities of the sufferer. As we delve into better understanding this issue, we have identified five possible reasons - mostly out of their control - why this may be the case. 1️⃣ Systemic Time Constraints: Healthcare systems are saturated and pressured to maximize efficiency. This translates into shorter appointment times, leading doctors to rush through consultations, limiting the time they have to listen thoroughly, empathize, and engage deeply with each patient's unique needs. 2️⃣ Training and Emphasis on Clinical Outcomes: Medical training is heavily focused on diagnostic skills, technical knowledge, and clinical outcomes. While these are crucial, there can be insufficient emphasis on communication skills and emotional empathy. This gap might prevent doctors from being fully equipped to handle the emotional and subjective experiences of their patients, making patients feel misunderstood. 3️⃣ Cultural and Language Barriers: In multicultural societies, differences in language, cultural norms, and communication styles between patients and doctors can lead to misunderstandings. Patients may feel their personal, cultural, or social contexts are not fully appreciated by their healthcare providers, which affects how they perceive the care they receive. 4️⃣ The Influence of Technology and Bureaucracy: The increasing use of technology in healthcare, such as electronic health records, can sometimes detract from the human interaction between doctors and patients. Doctors often need to divide their attention between the patient and the computer screen, which can make patients feel neglected or unheard. Additionally, bureaucratic demands for documentation and procedure can depersonalize the consultation process. 5️⃣ Patient Expectations and Doctor-Patient Power Dynamics: Patients often come with expectations about what their visit should entail, which may include a desire for more dialogue, validation, and support than what is provided. The inherent power dynamics in doctor-patient interactions can also make patients feel vulnerable and less capable of expressing their needs or disagreements, contributing to feelings of being misunderstood. So we are left wondering, is it possible to better balance the demands of efficiency and technology with the essential need for empathy and communication in patient care? ⏭ Stay tuned as we venture into breaking down more of these critical disconnects in our next posts. #PatientCare #Healthcare #DoctorPatientRelationship #MarketResearch

Do prescribers feel their needs are being heard by pharmaceutical companies❓ Not as often as we would like ❗ It’s mostly specialists who feel disconnected. They are scientists and they prefer to engage with academic institutions and forums. The industry is claiming to be customer centric, but are we really? To be fair, with the best intentions, it’s challenging for pharmaceutical organizations to balance the needs of their customers with the demands of shareholders, and regulatory and compliance frameworks. Back to our problem of the week, so why is it that many prescribers feel their needs are not being heard then? 1️⃣ First of all, they feel overwhelmed with indistinct, repetitive and unsolicited information from countless pharma companies, leading to disinterest and saturation. The information overload makes it challenging for prescribers to identify and retain meaningful insights that are critical for informed clinical decision-making. 2️⃣ The lack of personalized and relevant content fails to engage prescribers, especially specialists, who typically look for concise, scientific data to aid clinical decisions. While general practitioners tend to navigate broader topics, specialists seek highly specific information tailored to their fields of expertise. If content does not provide this level of specialization, it will not be considered valuable. 3️⃣ The shift towards digital and remote engagement accelerated by the pandemic often lacks the customization of an in-person interaction. Digital platforms may struggle to replicate the depth and personalization of live discussions, making it harder to address specific prescriber queries or adapt to their immediate feedback during a conversation. 4️⃣ Regulatory and Compliance regulations limit the scope of commercial activities about existing and new therapies, restricting pharmaceutical companies' ability to communicate. These regulations, designed to ensure accurate and ethical promotion, often impose strict limitations on how and what information can be communicated. 5️⃣ The cross-functional structure of a pharma company may lead to misaligned priorities between customer-centric solutions and product-focused strategies. Different functions like marketing, sales, and medical affairs might pursue divergent goals, with some focusing on more immediate product performance while others aim to build long-term relationships with healthcare providers. Is it even possible to be genuinely customer-centric in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape? What do you think? 🤔 ⏭ Stay tuned as we venture into breaking down more of these critical disconnects in our next posts. #Healthcare #pharmamarketing #PharmaIndustry #ClinicalDecisionMaking #RegulatoryCompliance #FutureOfPharma #patientengagement #marketresearch #strategy

Why is patient feedback incorporated late into drug development❓ We have thought about this problem for sometime. Because it is still a problem for many organisations. It is the first of the six disconnects outlined last week. Now, we are well aware this is a complex issue that cannot be accurately mapped out in a LinkedIn post. But discussing a problem openly not only acknowledges its existence but may pave the way towards finding potential solutions. If we keep asking why, we may be getting closer to the root cause of it all. Let's dive in. So why is patient feedback incorporated late into the process? 1️⃣There is a lack of systematic processes for gathering patient feedback in the early stages of drug development. Biochemical & pharmacological evaluations have historically been seen as more scientific and quantifiable vs. patient-reported outcomes. So, many companies might still not establish protocols to gather patient insights early on. But why? 🔍 2️⃣ Pharma companies tend to rely more on clinical trial data and expert opinions. The industry traditionally values quantitative data and expert assessments being direct requirements for regulatory approval. This overshadows the qualitative insights of patient feedback, seen as subjective and less rigorous. But why? 🔍 3️⃣ Early patient involvement may be seen as time-consuming, expensive, or not essential for regulatory approval. Engaging with patients early in the process is seen as a logistical and financial burden. There's a belief it could delay the development timeline and add costs, without necessarily providing benefits that are recognized by regulatory bodies. But why? 🔍 4️⃣ Insufficient awareness or education about the potential for patient feedback to enhance drug efficacy, safety and adherence. There might be insufficient training regarding how early patient engagement can contribute to more effective and user-friendly medications, preventing the implementation of strategies that integrate patient input from the start. But what may be underneath all this? 🔍 5️⃣ Deep-seated undervaluation of how a patient-centered approach can ultimately lead to better clinical outcomes and market success. If we could improve the relevance of clinical trials to real-world conditions, increasing patient adherence to medication regimens due to better-tailored drug profiles, we would enhance the overall success in the market through products that better meet patient needs. ⏭ Stay tuned as we venture into breaking down more of these critical disconnects in our next posts. #patientengagement #patientadvocacy #healthcare #marketresearch #strategy #pharmamarketing #patientcentricity

Where are the disconnects between Patient, Prescriber and Pharma, the Peas? Albert Einstein once said “given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” With this quote, Einstein emphasized the critical importance of thoroughly understanding a problem before even thinking about solving it. Investing time in comprehensively defining and analyzing issues that affect our industry is foundational to what Peas in the Pod does. In simpler terms, we just love digging deep into the why of everything. Below we have provided a broad outline of the fundamental disconnects that may exist in relationship between the three Peas.  We have identified six of them. 1️⃣Patient Perspective: Often overlooked during early stages of drug development. 2️⃣Prescriber Needs: Potential misalignments between commercial teams' strategies and actual needs of prescribers. 3️⃣Prescriber-Pharma antagonism: Lacking sense of partnership between prescribers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. 4️⃣Prescriber-Patient Interactions: Challenges that lead to patients feeling misunderstood by their healthcare providers. 5️⃣Pricing & Reimbursement: Decisions that may neglect the full impact of disease on patients' lives. 6️⃣Cross-Functional Alignment: Lack of shared vision and understanding of patients and prescribers’ needs within the pharmaceutical company. What have you observed in your experience? Which one of these potential disconnects resonates with you? In our next post, we will start breaking it all down into the potential root causes of these disconnects. ⏭ Stay tuned for more! #pharmamarketing #insights #patientengagement #healthcare #marketresearch #pharma

Everybody speaks but is anybody listening? 🆘 "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." By saying “two ears, one mouth”, Epitectus wanted to emphasize the significance of thoughtful listening. Listening twice as much as you speak embodied wisdom - one of the Four Stoic Virtues. 2000 years later, we find ourselves in an era of constant broadcasting and information overload. Thoughtful, active listening requires a special ability to focus beyond than just hearing words, now more than ever. In simpler terms, it’s listening to understand -  instead of listening to reply. It’s not that easy. It requires us to put aside our egos, biases, and agendas and empathetically engage with the speaker to grasp their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. In our industry, in spite of the extraordinary progress that took place over the past two decades, we still observe a recurrent breakdown in human communication. Dynamics that keep repeating, fundamental disconnects in the relationships between patients, prescribers, and pharmaceutical companies. And, this is what we call The Three Peas. What we question is whether the Three Peas are: 1️⃣ Giving genuine attention to what they hearing? 2️⃣ Truly understanding what is being said? 3️⃣ Taking onboard what they heard and behaving consequentially? Above all, are the Peas actively listening to each others' needs? In the next post, we will go in-depth into the specifics.  ⏭ Stay tuned for more! #healthcare #pharma #insights