Conference news
Recently, I had the privilege of attending a conference where William Burns, CEO of Roche was speaking.
The thing I found most fascinating was his future view: “the patient of tomorrow will be in the driving seat”.
As he says, today’s patients research via the net to talk to other patients about which trials, medicines, doctors and hospitals might be best for them. They then make informed decisions and requests based on this and will argue with multiple gatekeepers to get there.
I’m interested to know other doctors views on this….Should an informed patient be feared or encouraged?
Although many people on this side of the Atlantic feel that the US Direct to Consumer advertising has taken things too far (and I would definitely agree) I do think there is more that should be done with Direct to Patient communication.
The internet is a great leveller given that everyone can put content on it, and increasingly acts as a first stop for many patients. But it does seem bizarre that in the UK, the pharma industry, who have access to the most information on products, are prevented from joining that discussion.
A couple of stats Mr Burns gave us made me think….
- 33% of the public use the internet prior to a doctor’s appointment
- 40% of the public will do so after a doctor’s appointment
Hopefully, the current EMEA debate on DTP communication will mean industry is more able to contribute in future.
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