Patient Advocacy: Optimizing Structure of the Advocacy Function in the United States

As treatment options become more complex and plentiful in the United States, pharmaceutical organizations are increasingly relying on their relationships with patient advocacy groups to educate and inform patients about new therapies and treatment options. During the same period that advocacy groups have risen in importance, pharma has been shifting its structural approach to maximize the efficiency of its interactions with external patient groups.

Best Practices, LLC conducted this benchmarking research to examine the ideal structures, skill sets, and staffing for pharma organizations that deal with advocacy groups in the United States. This study also identifies the preferred communication channels for patient advocacy groups.

KEY TOPICS

• Understanding the advocacy landscape
• Preferred advocacy structures
• Communicating with advocacy groups
• Profiling advocacy group experience & expertise

• How would you describe the structure of your company’s patient advocacy function?Do you feel the current structure of your patient advocacy function is appropriate for your organization?
• How does your company ensure that patient advocacy organizations may properly contact or communicate with your patient advocacy functional personnel?
• Please estimate the number of FTEs within your organization dedicated to patient advocacy activities
• How many years of experience do you have working on patient advocacy objectives?
• How many patient advocacy groups do you support or plan to support in the coming year?

• Steady rise in the number of advocacy groups supported by companies: Participating companies predict an increase in the number of external advocacy groups that their organization supports. Currently companies support an average of 23 advocacy groups. In the next two years, participants estimated they will support, on average, 29 patient advocacy groups. Meanwhile, companies have about 5 FTE in their patient advocacy groups, on average. These employees have more than 10 years of advocacy experience, on average.

Best Practices, LLC engaged 48 leaders supporting patient advocacy initiatives at 43 biopharmaceutical companies in the United States through a benchmarking survey.

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