Patient-reported outcomes: key to brand differentiation

In my strategy meetings with pharma clients, I really stress the need to find relevant distinction between brands.

And, of course, a benefit to the patient is the most important of all.

So I appreciate the point of view of Gregory Hess, MD, MBA, MSc, chief medical officer and vice president for health economic and outcomes research at SDI.

Hess says, "Patient-reported outcomes offer a benefit to brand managers as well: They can provide compelling evidence to differentiate their brand in cases where there is little or no difference in efficacy, safety, or price.  Having real-world evidence that indicates a brand helps patients improve their quality of life—and communicating that to physicians, managed care, and patients—can help one drug stand out over the competition. As patients are assuming more of their own healthcare costs, patient-reported outcomes are becoming more important."

The table above illustrates the comparison of a clinical trial viewpoint to the real-world situations.

You can read more -- including how Hess suggests to communicate outcome results -- in his article in our industry journal PM360 at pm360online.com