By Lynn Kirkpatrick, as published in PM360, April 16, 2022
Medicine is a high-involvement category. Decisions aren’t made on a whim; a process involving several stakeholders is required before the product is actually used in a patient. If you’re living with a serious health condition, chances are you’re more than just casually interested in talking to someone who has the same condition, or someone who has a product specifically designed to help you manage the disease. […]
Biopharma’s role over the last three years has been laudable—getting lifesaving vaccines and drugs on the market in record time is where most of the public accolades have been. But it’s just as important that the patient engagement train has been able to roll on practically without interruption, just on a different track. Industry is continuing to make good on its pledge of being patient-centric, by keeping everybody safe and maximizing what we can do to support patients and caregivers.
People-based Medicine
The gradual easing of restrictions is now opening a limited-time window of opportunity: Many brands have already made the move back to in-person patient engagement. They know that face-to-face is when we make the most meaningful connections. Face-to-face is when we most effectively listen and tell stories. It’s time to give this experience back to people.
The meaning of a pharmaceutical brand is not a molecule, it’s people. When the brand communicates through leaflets, TV commercials and websites, it provides information and hopefully some level of motivation. But when it communicates through people and their stories, it proves that it can be part of people’s lives. [Read more at PM360]
