Pharma’s Turn to Peer-to-Patient Platforms and Trusted Patient Communities

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Jen Butler, Chief Commercial Officer for Pleio, discussed the significant threat of misinformation to public health, citing a 2021 report by former Surgeon General Murthy. She highlighted that 70% of false news is shared more often than true news due to its emotional appeal. Butler emphasized the importance of verifying health information by directly contacting trusted sources like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, and Kaiser Permanente. She also noted the role of pharma in supporting patient communities and the need for media and health literacy. Butler also suggested that peer-to-patient platforms can enhance patient engagement and adherence, particularly for chronic conditions.

How and why is pharma increasingly turning to peer-to-patient platforms to educate patients — as well as relationships with trusted patient communities and pharmacies?

The power of the human connection in a world that's so digital, really helps to cut through the noise and “unoverwhelm” the patients, if you will. I think that we can get lost in so many different areas of finding information and to just cut right through it, to have a conversation directly with a patient, to really listen and understand the level which a patient is where they need the information, making it relevant to the patient. Not every patient needs to be sent all the information, and there's little chunks of it that might be more worthwhile in understanding kind of what's needed at what time. I mean, focusing in the beginning onboarding patients is super important, as we see that, the medication adherence lasts a lot longer when you have the right setup to patients as they're onboarding.

A peer-to-patient creates a validated, trusted rapport. It's like a mentorship, if you will, where the peers are, what JAMA would call ‘lay people’ and not white coats, not clinical and I say this because there's just another recent study done in December with JAMA reported that diabetes patients who had support with a lay person actually saw significant improvements in their overall health and outcomes. It shows that just having that that support and rapport from a trusted source to just check in and make sure that everything is going in a direction that patient is looking to go in with resources and introducing resources that might be available that patients aren't aware of a lot of times, peer-to-patient platforms aren't always for those patients that are seeking out like a patient community. A patient has its fabulous community for patients who are seeking out others like them and that's a great source to go, to feel the support, to ask the questions, but not all patients are going to seek that information. So a peer-to-patient platform has more of a direct identification of patients and a reason behind the kind of that connection to make.

For example, with medication refills through pharmacies, pharmacies want to make sure that patients are getting their refills. Those refill check in reminders and check ins offer a whole conversation that can happen in support network for patients’ events, and that's where having a peer-to-patient platform to support that process can then also open up further discussions and develop that trusted rapport. That kind of starts in partnership with pharmacies and then brings in the brand medication sponsored needs as well but delivered through someone like them. Someone who's not a clinician, kind of mitigating that white coat syndrome, so if they're conditions that you want to talk about, that you might — let's just be honest, like when you go to your doctor and you and they ask you know your habits and your lifestyles, you might kind of curve it a little bit in the healthy way — when you have someone on the phone that's like you, you might not hold back like that. And that's where this conversation with someone that's a peer really is impactful. And you can develop that rapport, to say, build the confidence in taking that next step forward.