Tag: healthcare

Brexit and the delay in the supply of medicines

Earlier this year, the Brexit Health Alliance published a paper calling on both the UK and EU to put patients first.

It warned that unless a deal can be reached, medicines and medical technologies could be delayed or, in extreme cases, become unavailable to patients.

The Alliance is concerned that if a decision can’t be reached regarding the future co-operation between the UK and the EU on the regulation and trade of medicines and medical devices that up to 120,000 prostate cancer patients throughout Europe could be affected.

Another area at risk is the future of research into new medicines and medical technologies. Without a plan in place, UK and EU patients could lose out on access to the best treatments and medical devices.

Are you concerned about the impact of Brexit? To weigh in on this topic, please cast your vote by selecting one of the voting buttons below.

Let us hear your opinion on this by signing up to receive the Monthly Pulse via email and to take part in paid medical studies.

 

 

Medical school education costs

Citing concerns about the “overwhelming financial debt” facing graduates, N.Y.U. School of Medicine recently announced it would cover the tuition of its medical students, regardless of merit or need.

School officials have become increasingly worried that students burdened by steep debt are pursuing top-paying specialties rather than careers in family medicine, pediatrics, and research. N.Y.U.’s decision may spur other top medical schools to follow suit.

What are your thoughts related to tuition free education? 

You can find below what the M3 Global Research community answered to this question.

By registering with M3 Global Research you will receive the Monthly Pulse directly to your inbox and you will be able to give your opinion about relevant healthcare related issue and compare your thoughts with your colleagues around the World.

Challenges related to the globalisation of medical education

The new global medical education system, marked by its growing size and complexity, has led to greater concerns about quality assurance of individual graduates and their educational programs.

Assuring a quality medical education varies considerably from country to country, as do training standards. Traditionally there have been two ways to assure quality, assessment of the individual practitioner (e.g., licensure examinations) and accreditation of a school or educational program.

The globalisation of the medical workforce and evidence that suggests that foreign medical graduates perform more poorly on standardized exams than graduates from local schools is leading to an interest in more uniform ways to conduct each quality assurance process.

You can find below what the M3 Global Research community answered to this question.

By registering with M3 Global Research you will receive the Monthly Pulse directly to your inbox and you will be able to give your opinion about relevant healthcare related issue and compare your thoughts with your colleagues around the World.

medical education

Parkinson’s Awareness Month

M3 Global Research is currently recruiting patients with Parkinson’s to participate in usability testing for a new device used in conjunction with a smart phone (both provided) in the United States and in Germany. We’re offering generous compensation to the patients taking part and also the physicians referring them. If you are a member of the M3 Global Research panel, contact M3_US_support@eu.m3.com to find out if you qualify. If you are a patient who is not a member and wish to participate, please register by clicking here if you are in the USA and here if you are in Germany. You will then receive an invite by email.

Around seven to 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease, a condition that currently has no cure. For this year’s WordParkinson’s Day, Parkinson’s UK, a charity that works towards finding a cure and improving life for everyone affected by the condition, has launched the campaign #UniteForParkinsons. It aims to give voice and platform to the Parkinson’s community by featuring their experiences in a world-wide campaign video and encouraging others to do the same. Watch it here:


Complexity of Parkinson’s ‘massively underestimated’ in the UK

In a survey to mark World Parkinson’s Day (Wednesday 11 April), Parkinson’s UK has discovered that 78% of the public massively underestimate how many symptoms of Parkinson’s there are. Although most people are aware of visible symptoms like tremor, Parkinson’s can also come with more than 40 less well-known symptoms such as sleep issues, anxiety and hallucinations. Shockingly, more than a third (37%) thought there were fewer than ten symptoms of Parkinson’s and more than 41% thought there were fewer than 30.

The charity is warning that this lack of awareness means that people with Parkinson’s often feel they need to hide their symptoms in public, or don’t want to go out at all due to being incorrectly judged or mocked. Previous findings from the charity have uncovered:

  • A quarter (25%) have had symptoms mistaken for drunkenness
  • 11% have been laughed at because of their symptoms
  • More than a third (34%) feel they would be judged if they were out in public
  • Almost a third (32%) don’t feel like their symptoms are socially acceptable

These symptoms are merely the tip of the iceberg, it warns, and do not reflect what people with Parkinson’s most want addressing. In a recent project carried out by the charity to identify priorities to focus on for improving everyday life, tremor came 26th on a list of what people with Parkinson’s want research to tackle.

Artificial intelligence to help develop new Parkinson’s treatments

Parkinson’s UK is actively involved in research, and recently one of its research proposals has won the BenevolentAI Award. The project demonstrated how AI technology could solve specific research challenges in Parkinson’s.

There have been no major breakthroughs in Parkinson’s treatments in the last 50 years. Current treatments revolve around medication that works by restoring the level of dopamine in the brain or mimicking its actions; deep brain stimulation (DBS), a type of surgery where electrodes are implanted deep inside specific parts of the brain, but which is not suitable for every patient; and physical therapies such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy, that are important in the management of the condition.

Parkinson’s UK’s proposal will use BenevolentAI platform’s capabilities to reason, deduce and suggest entirely new treatments for Parkinson’s. The aim is to identify at least three currently available medicines that can be repurposed to address Parkinson’s, and two brand-new ways to treat the condition with new drugs. Read more about the project: Artificial intelligence to help develop new Parkinson’s treatments.

*All rights belong to Parkinson’s UK. We would like to thank the charity for sharing this content with us.

Understanding healthcare market research

Working in the pharmaceutical industry includes frequent use of market research and collaboration with fieldwork agencies like M3 Global Research. The M3 blog spoke to someone working regularly at that interface about how healthcare market research affects their decision making. Read the full interview:


How does market research support the development of a new therapy at each stage (of its development and trials)?

In the pre-launch phase we use market research (MR) to understand the needs of HCPs and patients, and which of those are currently unmet. We then consider whether we can monitor these gaps as part of our clinical trial data collection programme. Additionally, we research patients and allied HCPs to understand if there is an opportunity to build a support programme to better help those living with, caring for those living with, or treating those living with the illnesses we’re researching.

After a new therapy is launched, the need for market research changes. How does it continue to play a role in ensuring the best possible outcomes for patients?

Clearly, we use MR to assess the markets, and then track our penetration, so we can better understand prescribing, patient numbers, effectiveness of advertising and communications and patient types and characteristics. These activities help us see how our medicines are being used outside a trial setting. MR can tell us if there are anomalies in patient characteristics in greater numbers, as individual cases may not look unusual to a busy HCP. It is important to note we are required to report any adverse events (AEs) or product quality complaints (PQCs) through MR, which provides another layer of patient safety.

In addition, we have our own sets of goals and objectives that can only be measured using MR. One important factor in doing this is to anticipate usage so that we can forecast demand and make sure we never run out of medicine, but also whilst considering their “shelf lives” so this process needs to be carefully managed.

As the pharma industry continues to evolve and guidelines in how we interact and promote our medicines become ever more stringent, we use MR to better inform our touchpoints with customers, so that we don’t bombard them with un-necessary promotion. We are not there yet, but we hope to move more towards constructive discussions around meeting customer needs and away from “please use my product” discussions. Also, in this modern age, we are aware that different customers like to interact using different channels and media, therefore we use MR to understand which channels we should maximise use of, so the HCP does not have a waiting room full of reps!

We also use MR to understand the educational needs of HCPs, in order to build our medical education programs to deliver meaningful and useful disease area education. Finally, we use MR to understand potential opportunities to buy new medicines, or licence in from other manufacturers (some companies don’t have a commercial presence). MR will tell us if this is an investment worth making – will it address an unmet need or is it just another “me too”?

A cynic may argue that market research only exists to help pharmaceutical companies make money and it has little to do with promoting the best patient outcomes. How would you counter this argument?

I won’t pretend that market research does not help us commercially. Unfortunately, there are some companies who do not have resources to be able to run multiple projects, so will try and capture as much as they can in one survey. Our clinical trial data helps us understand where our medicines are optimal and therefore set expectations on usage – we use MR to see what is happening in the real-world, where these patients are not in a clinical trial setting and are instead impacted by the reality of their day to day lives. We use MR to ask the HCPs (and patients) about their experiences of these real-world settings and we use these outputs to help tailor our communications to identify the most relevant patients and help the HCP identify those who will best benefit from our medicines. An example might be patient adherence to medication – this could be identified as an issue during MR, where usage may differ from clinical trials and therefore may put the patient at risk from sub-optimal self-management. MR will help us send focused communication on these findings to HCPs and potentially deliver better patient support solutions.

Patient centricity has become increasingly important for pharmaceutical companies over recent years. What is it and how does market research with patients and doctors support it?

Personally, I think this is a buzz word – patient centricity SHOULD be the focus of everyone in pharma, it’s what we get out of bed for – but patient research is often the first to be cut when budgets are restricted. I believe this is a reaction to needing to inform the financial side of the business and keeping shareholders up to date, as these are how we are measured externally. MR can help us understand more about the patient side and then use this data to communicate internally about patient needs and how well (or not) we are meeting those needs. Because we are not permitted to communicate directly with patients, HCPs are the gate keepers to contact with them, and therefore are perceived to be the most knowledgeable. However, patient research can turn our head towards the important topics that may not be picked up in HCP research. Patient associations and pharma work together to support their activities and help them raise a voice when Patient Association Groups don’t have the resources to do this alone. MR can help us understand more about the patient side and subsequently use this data to communicate internally about patient needs and how well (or not) we are meeting those needs.

Thinking of a typical market research project, what types of people have a role in developing and reviewing the questionnaire before it is presented to doctors or patients?

This is very dependent on who us asking the questions. If it is for a commercial research project it will be the MR manager, medical approver, compliance, marketer or pharmacovigilance. For health economics research, everyone from the commercial research team will also be involved, plus the people responsible for outcomes research and market access. In patient research we’ll also involve the communications manager and the patient liaison team.