The Three Pillars of Sanofi’s Patient-Centric Strategy

The Three Pillars of Sanofi’s Patient-Centric Strategy Input, Solutions, Culture
Pharmaguy interviews Anne C. Beal, MD, MPH, Chief Patient Officer, Sanofi, and Melva T. Covington, MPH, MBA., PhD, Project Leader, Research and Development, Sanofi, (see Bio). They talk about their roles in bringing the patient perspective into Sanofi’s work to advance the company’s ability to deliver health care solutions that matter most to patients and those who care for them.

Air Date: Friday, 20 March 2015

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Background

Dr. Beal’s responsibility will be to further elevate the perspective of the patient within Sanofi so the company’s future healthcare offerings can better incorporate the unique priorities and needs of patients and caregivers in a variety of Sanofi activities, ranging from early stage R&D through to on-market availability of novel healthcare solutions.

“I am incredibly honored to join Sanofi as the first Chief Patient Officer”, said Dr. Anne C. Beal, M.D., MPH, Chief Patient Officer at Sanofi. “I will use my experience as a physician, researcher, philanthropic leader, and advocate for patient access to high quality care to infuse the patient perspective into Sanofi’s work that will advance our ability to deliver health care solutions that matter most to patients and those who care for them”.

In December, 2014, Anne gave a presentation at the 11th annual Patient Summit USA conference, where she provided additional detail on the three pillars of our patient-centric strategy:

1. Input and Understanding: Utilize patients’ input to get a better sense of their needs, so we can design and deliver solutions that help fulfill them
2. Solutions and Outcomes: Engage and support patients and other stakeholders, ensuring the solutions that we deliver enhance their lives and improve outcomes
3. Culture and Community: Involve and support our employees to create an engaged community and patient-centric culture

Questions/Topics of Discussion

• How do you define “Patient-Centricity?”
• Tell us more about the three pillars of Sanofi’s Patient-Centric Strategy. How do you get patients’ input? Do you have any patient advocates on your team who are not physicians but who have worked extensively with patients?
• Are we talking only about patient-centricity in the context of research & development? What about corporate and marketing communications?
• What’s the most difficult hurdle for pharma to overcome to be truly patient-centric?
• Why did Sanofi create the role of “Chief Patient Officer?” How is it different from “Chief Medical Officer?” What do you do as Sanofi’s Chief Patient Officer? Can you relate a case study which demonstrates how you implemented your strategy?
• What other pharmaceutical companies have Chief Patient Officers? Do they all have similar roles? Will all pharma companies follow?

Guest Bios

Anne C. Beal, M.D., M.P.H. is a pediatrician and public health specialist who has devoted her career to providing access to high-quality health care. She joins Sanofi from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the United States’ largest research institute focused on patient-centered outcomes research. As PCORI’s Deputy Executive Director, and its first Chief Officer for Engagement, she was charged with ensuring that the voices and priorities of patients and other stakeholders were reflected in the Institute’s research portfolio.

Prior to her tenure with PCORI, Dr. Beal was president of the Aetna Foundation, the independent charitable and philanthropic arm of Aetna Inc. As President, she led the Foundation’s work on improving health care in the United States, particularly for vulnerable patient groups. Dr. Beal holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and an M.P.H. from Columbia University.

Melva T. Covington, M.P.H., M.B.A., Ph.D. is currently a pharmaceutical leader within Global Research and Development at Sanofi. Her leadership skills, expertise and impact has spanned throughout the drug development lifecycle process for over 15 years.

Prior to joining Sanofi, she led both Global and US-based teams in Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics across a number of therapeutic areas at Lilly and Roche labs. She has broad-based experience and training across a number of disciplines, namely maternal and child health, clinical operations, health outcomes, public policy, economics and business management. She has an A.B. in Politics/Economics from The Catholic University of America, Masters of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University.