Nucleus X Consulting – where patient engagement meets strategic consultancy
March 29, 2022 | Nucleus Global, Strategy, patient, rare diseases
Nucleus X Consulting consists of an agile team of specialists that combine expertise in all aspects of patient engagement along with strategic consultancy in rare disease and early-phase medical commercialisation.
We offer distinct services – supporting all aspects of patient engagement across multiple disease settings and providing strategic consultancy in the early phases of medical commercialisation – but in rare disease our unique offerings come together to form a partnership that informs client strategy and delivers a truly patient-centric launch.
Challenges associated with a rare disease product launch
Launching a product in a rare disease is becoming progressively challenging, with increased competition and pricing pressures, regulators demanding more evidence of therapeutic value and patients driving treatment decisions and impacting success through globally connected communities.
The challenges associated with a rare disease drug launch are well documented: awareness of the disease and symptoms remain low, the diagnostic pathway can be long (and fraught with misdiagnosis), few treatments are approved, access and reimbursement are increasingly challenging and patient support and engagement are critical.
With accelerated time to commercialisation, early preparation and a tailored launch strategy are essential. We believe the key to a successful launch, particularly in rare disease, is collaboration – and that starts within Nucleus X Consulting.
What support can Nucleus X Consulting provide when it comes to a rare disease product launch?
We aim to form partnerships with clients at an early stage in product development, ideally prior to the initiation of Phase 2 trials. Strategic planning activities such as gap analyses, integrated evidence generation plans, and scientific narratives and lexicons establish the foundations for a successful launch, helping us to understand what data are required to support clinical adoption and providing consistency across communications. Embedding the patient voice throughout these activities is critical – and considering patient, caregiver and patient advocacy group involvement from the offset is key.
Our goal is to ensure an optimal patient experience by not only engaging with the patient and their caregivers, but actively involving them in the entire process. Optimising patient experience during clinical trials is critical, especially when it comes to rare disease, and we have developed a thorough process for embedding the patient voice in trial activities to improve retention, recruitment and trial outcomes. We endeavour to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships with patients and patient organisations – creating true partnerships that can help improve peoples’ lives.
Understanding the pain points and the full patient journey is essential if we are to achieve our goal. This process starts with mapping the external experts, patient advocacy groups and patient opinion leaders in the field, and then engaging not only healthcare professionals, but patient advocacy groups, patients and caregivers, to optimise the entire experience from clinical trial through to launch. Defining the patient journey allows us to identify challenges and to understand which stakeholders should be targeted to raise awareness of the disease and facilitate diagnosis. Patients and caregivers are frequently the experts when it comes to their own rare disease and can provide invaluable insights into their conditions, supporting the development of impactful awareness campaigns. Ensuring targeted education to all relevant stakeholders is a first step in assisting other yet-to-be-diagnosed patients along their own diagnostic odyssey. Typically, these journeys are long and challenging, with a lot of heartache, so it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to support the launch of a drug in an indication for which few, if any, effective treatments are available.
Working in medical communications, we’re often asked what differentiates us from other agencies in this setting – for Nucleus X Consulting, it’s all about the patient. Our mission is to partner with and challenge our clients to drive a successful launch, delivering on the promise of an effective treatment option for patients that have waited so long for a sign of hope.
To learn more, please contact us or visit www.nucleusX.com.
Alex Morton, Senior Patient Engagement Director, Nucleus X Consulting
Amanda Henkel, VP Strategy, Nucleus X Consulting
About Nucleus X Consulting and Nucleus Global
Nucleus X Consulting consists of a group of specialist practices, with deep expertise in patient engagement, rare disease, and early-phase medical commercialisation. We partner with our clients to drive successful drug commercialisation, leveraging insights to develop targeted strategies, ensuring patient centricity is embedded throughout the full product lifecycle from conception to market.
Nucleus Global is the largest specialist medical communications company in the world, with 14 fully serviced agencies operating out of 14 office locations and 900+ medical communications specialists worldwide. Nucleus Global’s agencies deliver world-class compliant events, publications, and digital programs, supporting the marketing, medical affairs, and publications teams of the biggest healthcare and medical brands in the world.
This content was provided by Nucleus Global