What Are Patients and Caregivers Talking About? Lung Cancer Biomarkers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Since the FDA approved the first targeted treatment for NSCLC in 2003, treatment decisions for NSCLC are increasingly made based on individual genomics.1,2 There are now 20 distinct biomarkers that serve as identification points differentiating cancer cells [...]
Engaging with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients and Caregivers By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The word “Earth” doesn’t reflect the complexity and diversity of the planet. Similarly, the term “lung cancer” only identifies the location of the cancer. There are two general categories, non-small cell lung cancer [...]
Patient Perspectives on an Invisible Disease: Lupus and Lupus Nephritis By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Imagine going to see a doctor when you are exhausted and enduring multiple kinds of pain, and they recommend a “psych” evaluation. When they “can’t find anything,” the medical professional you looked to for help decides you [...]
More Good News about Treating Multiple Myeloma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH This spring, the FDA approved a drug called idecabtagene vicleucel ('ide-cel'), a form of CAR-T cell therapy available to treat some forms of recurrent multiple myeloma (MM). Ide-cel is used to modify a patient’s own T-cells to attack the B-cell [...]
How Clinical Trial Diversity Saved a Life By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH “My pastor warned me not to participate in a clinical trial,” Karen Barrios said. Going against his advice, Ms. Barrios joined a clinical trial that she believes saved her life.1 Ms. Barrios shared her story as a panelist during the [...]
What's Pharma's Key to Success in 2021? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH What commercial and clinical trends can we expect to shape pharma and biotech as the pandemic continues into 2021? What can your company do to make 2021 a better year? In August, Deloitte surveyed 60 marketing leaders of biopharma companies [...]
Top 5 Ways Online Patient Communities Can Reduce the Cost of Clinical Trials By Jeff Terkowitz Trying to rein in clinical trial costs? You’re not alone. A JAMA research study of 138 trials for novel therapeutics found that clinical trial costs ranged from less than $5 million to $346.8 million, with a [...]
Recruiting Rare and Oncological Patients? Top Pharma Turns to Inspire By Jeff Terkowitz Did you know that 80 percent of Inspire’s members agreed to receive information from Inspire about clinical trials? That’s about 1.6 million members with conditions in oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune disorders and chronic conditions who want to know if [...]
COVID-19 and a Future with Fundamental Design Shifts: Incorporating Virtual into Clinical Trials By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH On a recent Pharma Talk Radio podcast called, The Impact of COVID-19 on Clinical Trials: Where are We? And Where are We Going?, three subject matter experts discussed how they see COVID-19 impacting the future [...]
Customer Loyalty and Service Insights for the Pharmaceutical Industry By Dana Deighton “Only nine percent of U.S. consumers believe pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies put patients over profits.” This sentiment, found in the 2016 Harris Poll of Reputation Equity and Risk Across the Health Care Sector, has stayed fairly consistent in Harris polls [...]
