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The patient-centric shift in Biologics: Transforming modern healthcare

patient-centric shift in biologics
The patient-centric shift in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries refers to considering and prioritising the needs, preferences and challenges of patients. This trend is seen across all stages of the drug development lifecycle, from research and development to treatment and optimisation, making it end-to-end integrated into the system. This not only improves the efficiency of therapies, but also focuses on providing a good overall experience for the patient throughout their treatment.

Biologics are large and complex compounds derived from living organisms using techniques such as recombinant DNA or cell culture. Examples include monoclonal antibodies, hormones, vaccines, cytokines amongst others. The main applications of biologics are in treating serious diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders – a key reason for their rising prominence in recent years.

For greater impact, patients’ preferences need to be understood and continually assessed throughout the development process of biologics.

Due to this patient-centric shift, several changes have been brought about in the way processes work, which will be briefly discussed in this insight.

Patient engagement:

The needs, preferences and challenges of the patient are well understood from the early stages of drug development and every effort is made to design more effective and user-friendly treatments. For example, patient-friendly formulations like liquids/chewable tablets/transdermal patches are developed for patients who have trouble swallowing.

Personalised medicine:

Medicines that are tailored to a particular patient, taking into account their genetic and biological makeup are categorised as personalised medicines, the main advantages include more cost-effective and more efficient medicines for patients.

Convenience:

Some patients may need to take their medicine as IV injections. But formulating these as subcutaneous injections provides greater convenience for the patient, reduces hospital visits, and eases self-administration of medication during travel. In the same way, formulating the medicine as transdermal patches can help in the slow release of the drug and could avoid daily administration of the medication. Latest developments also include smart injectors, tele-health oversight, connected devices, home delivery of biologics, and patient apps for self-management.
patient-centric shift in biologics

Decentralised clinical trials:

This aspect of clinical trials makes the patient an important part of the drug development process. It employs advanced digital technologies for data collection, patient monitoring and supply tracking. This can lead to greater access and convenience for patients as they do not need to travel to the clinical trial site and stay there to monitor the effects of the medicines. They can self-monitor the symptoms at home. It can lead to advantages such as faster, more efficient clinical trials and thereby produce more comprehensive and accurate datasets. These advancements, like digital platforms, remote monitoring, wearable sensors and hybrid trial designs, are particularly important for biologics and rare diseases.

Holistic support, feedback and improvement :

Once a medicine reaches the patient, there will be a lot of information provided along with it, as well as any applications that can support them in reporting their condition/symptoms back to the investigators. This way, they can monitor how effective the treatment is and make any necessary improvements. Post-market real-world monitoring, digital therapeutic apps, patient communities, and feedback loops are being built into biologic therapies as standard.
patient-centric shift in biologics

Supply chain resilience:

Biopharma companies can safeguard patients’ access to medicine and at the same time, manage costs and reduce risks by maintaining supply chain resilience. Latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence are used to create contingency plans and avoid any delays in real time. For biologics with cold-chain or sensitive logistics, various methods, such as direct-to-patient delivery, home-storage solutions, and digital tracking, are increasingly used to ensure access and reduce the burden on the patients.

Strategic collaborations:

Contract research, development and manufacturing companies are collaborating with biopharma companies rather than working independently to provide effective medicines and expedite patient access to these medicines. The main advantage of these collaborations is to identify any potential issues early in the development process.

In conclusion:

Patient centricity involves the patient in the drug development process from early on to optimise and improve the process. The formulation of medicine should also be decided keeping in mind the patient’s challenges. Direct patient participation in clinical trials from home and active symptom monitoring through digital applications are also part of patient-centricity. Patient feedback is considered to improve the product. This holistic patient inclusion helps enhance accessibility, convenience, and efficacy of biologics. It also helps with a better quality of life for patients and is redefining the future of medicine. The patient-centric shift is moving from an aspirational idea to a core business imperative. For biologics developers, this means going beyond not only molecule design, but also to designing the patient journey, access pathways, digital engagement, and real-world lifecycle management.

Manju Sabnivisu

Scientific Advisor

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