Patient care and clinical trials during Covid-19
Marie Lamont of Inteliquet dives into Pharma's process for conducting clinical research
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The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of Pharma, including access to treatment for cancer patients and biopharma’s ability to conduct clinical trials.
Marie Lamont has seen the effect of Covid-19 in her role as the president and COO of Inteliquet. Inteliquet provides technology, insights, and services for optimizing clinical trials and Pharma research.
“Most cancer centres have been trying to avoid having what I would call the most immune-compromised patients to come in,” said Lamont (photo below) on a recent episode of the NPC Podcast, a program for Pharma executives hosted by Peter Brenders. Brenders is CEO of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. (Listen to the episode here.)
With cancer centres seeing fewer patients, staff has been reassigned to assist with the treatment of acute patients based on an algorithm used to prioritize patients.
However, Lamont said the prioritization of patients has meant some patients are not receiving the diagnostics they require.
“If you have cancer, and you want targeted therapeutics, biopsies, blood draws, or molecular results, [they] are not being provided because the diagnostics aren't happening,” Lamont explained.
“It is this downstream effect. If patients aren't coming in, what's happening with their cancer journey? Cancer is one of those disease areas you can't really put on pause.”
For the biopharma sector, Lamont notes patients are not being cleared for trials due to the coronavirus. As a result, biopharma has had to stop, delay, or hold the start of new trials.
Further, Lamont said there has been a lack of clinical supply due to Covid-19. As a result of the lack of clinical supply, and the supply being deemed not critical, those employed in clinical trial initiatives have been unable to find work.
“It is a really interesting dynamic that happened,” Lamont said. “I want to say about 65 to 80 biopharmas paused trials or stopped new trials. And we saw the effect of that in patients.”
Lamont said that while some clinical trials are re-starting, she has also seen new pathways and alternatives come to the table since the start of the pandemic. She said there has been an “upsurge” in the use of oral therapeutics, especially in the cancer space since patients are not making the trip to infusion centres to receive therapeutics.
“I believe that one of the things we are seeing is a move to telehealth,” Lamont said. “We are also seeing a move to evaluating comparators. Instead of doing a live arm to comparator [in a study], there is this movement to retrospective studies and synthetic cohorts.”
The pandemic has shifted attention to the virtual world and telehealth, according to Lamont.
She has also seen a hybrid model where visiting nurses help the patient with components of treatment they cannot do themselves.
“The challenge still comes down to the diagnosis. If you think that diagnostics still need to occur, no one has come up with [a plan to] solve that in the telehealth world,” said Lamont. “I think treating physicians want to see patients face-to-face, [but now we have] the framework to help that happen virtually as much as possible.”
She added telehealth or a hybrid model can also help protect the patient.
The takeaway: Lamont’s concern going forward is whether government and payers will continue to allow for the virtual or hybrid telehealth model once the pandemic “settles out”. While telehealth saves money, it hasn’t been the standard method of care.
“Are we seeing this evolve [into] that standard of care? Or are folks going to try and revert? And what are the risks of [going] back? That is, I think, what worries me a little,” she said.
Further reading: While telehealth could have a lasting impact on Pharma even after Covid-19, the pandemic is also changing business for the better, according to an article in The Drum. Story here.
YOUR HEALTHBIZ WEEK 11/17/20
Drugmakers Amgen and AstraZeneca said a trial found their experimental medication tezepelumab significantly reduced asthma attacks for people with severe forms of the respiratory condition compared to a placebo, according to a story from Reuters. The drugmakers said the year-long trial met its primary goal in patients with severe asthma who were also receiving standard care, including medium- or high-dose inhaled corticosteroids plus at least one other controller medication.
According to Reuters, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold US$5.56 million worth of company shares after drugmaker announced its Covid-19 vaccine was 90 per cent effective based on interim trial results. Bourla authorized the sale of the shares on Aug. 19—provided the stock was at least at a certain price—as part of a predetermined plan, the company said. Bourla sold 132,508 shares at US$41.94 per share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Reuters reports.
Agios Pharmacueticals announced that the U.S. FDA has granted orphan drug designation to the company’s pyruvate kinase R (PKR) activator mitapivat for the treatment of patients with sickle cell disease. Mitapivat is an investigational, oral, small-molecule allosteric activator of wild-type and a variety of mutated PKR enzymes.
NATIONAL PHARMA CONGRESS WINTER WEBINAR
As announced during the final session of the 14th National Pharmaceutical Congress last Wednesday, plans are in the works for a winter webinar scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Be sure to subscribe to the NPC HealthBiz Weekly for updates on the winter meeting.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002, to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our avocation and are an inspiration to others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. They stand for, in the view of the selection committee, a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2015 Inductee
Grant Gibson
The Gibson Group
Aurora, Ont.
Editor’s note: Grant Gibson retired from his role with The Gibson Group prior to his 2015 induction into the Canadian Health Care Marketing Hall of Fame and handed control of the company to his daughter, Allison Boyd.
After completing his MBA at the University of Windsor, Grant Gibson was offered a position with a tobacco company, but he decided to go a completely different route and choose a position in health care. “I could not bring myself to sell a product that causes such incredible harm. So instead, I went to work as a sales representative for Becton Dickinson, a hospital/medical firm, based in Mississauga, Ont.,” said Gibson.
“I have always been interested in the health care field. It is a great industry, one that makes a difference,” said Gibson, who added that his maternal grandfather was the first secretary-general of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). Gibson’s grandfather later served as president of the CMA and worked with the World Medical Association and the World Health Organization.
“Even though I had a MBA it was suggested that I experience sales before entering the marketing department,” Gibson recalled.
“After I had spent time in the field, I was given the opportunity to head up the advertising department and was later promoted to marketing manager.”
Gibson then moved to Ortho Pharmaceuticals as the marketing manager for consumer products, a position he held for four years.
“While I was working at Ortho, I was offered a position at McDade & Monty Inc., a health care advertising agency, as the president of their Ontario company,” said Gibson.
“In 1991, I founded The Gibson Group and over 25 years later, we are still at it.”
“I am pleased to say that over my career I have had the privilege to work with many top health care companies, hundreds of skilled professionals, and been involved in dozens of major product launches.”
Over the years, Gibson said that he has learned that you have to reinvent yourself and adapt to the needs of the marketplace.
“So you cannot remain stagnant and say that is the way we did things in the past,” he said. “You need to always evolve and be aware of the needs of your clients because great customer relationships are vital.”
Gibson said The Gibson Group has been fortunate enough to have many long term clients.
“Ultimately, I think I have had a really terrific career,” he said.
“I recently retired and my daughter Allison Boyd has taken over The Gibson Group and is doing an amazing job, not just maintaining the business but growing it. I am so gratified to see The Gibson Group prosper and grow.”
NEXT WEEK
The 11/24 edition of NPC Healthbiz Weekly will feature Nicole Serena of Waldron & Associates on the impact of Covid-19 on patient support systems. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next Tuesday.