PatientsLikeMeOnCall™: “A Look Ahead” at Patient and Industry Interaction (Episode 2)
“Social media is the canvas on which patients can really paint the entire picture of the experience they’re having with their disease and how it impacts their lives.” - David Williams
Why is it so important for patients and industry to work together? Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Development David Williams tells us just that in this week’s installment of “A Look Ahead.” We sat down to discuss the benefits of aligning patient and industry interests as well as the role that social media can play.
Among other win-win results, David shared that this alignment of interests can produce:
- Faster development of treatments and services
- Products that impact a patient’s quality of life, not just clinical outcomes
- Greater patient influence and input on industry decisions
We also talked about how social media has become a key method of interaction, allowing pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies to better understand the functional impact of a disease on everything from mental productivity to the ability to stay employed. Patients like you discuss issues like these online every day, and if the industry is paying attention, it can lead to richer data and improved services.
What successes has PatientsLikeMe had in bringing patients and industry together? And what kind of possibilities do we see ahead? Tune in to David’s full interview here:
Thanks for stopping by and listening to the second podcast in the “A Look Ahead” series. Next Friday, April 1, 2011, we will be talking with Co-Founder and Chairman Jamie Heywood about the transition from drug safety to patient safety. See you then!
