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Value Collaboration Life Science CompaniesUse Insight Reports Improve Cancer Care Pharma Aptitude Health 2021

The Value of Collaboration: How Life Science Companies Can Use Insight Reports to Improve Cancer Care

Thanks to modern medicine, many cancer patients live longer, healthier lives. These hard-won victories have required a team effort; by working together, life science companies, clinical disease state experts, and community clinicians can dramatically improve cancer care for patients. All 3 entities play a vital role in developing life-saving treatments and ensuring that appropriate patients have access to them.

However, collaboration isn’t always easy. Life science companies often struggle to gather the information they need and to ensure there is alignment between disease-state experts and community-based clinicians. Community oncologists and disease experts are busy with patient care or research and in the wake of the pandemic, physician schedules have become more hectic. Opportunities to meet with life science companies and to collaborate with each other have been severely limited. Life science companies need to be able to access practicing physicians to ensure education and resource needs are properly addressed.

Fortunately, insight reports can help. Insight reports provide detailed information about physician behaviors and treatment patterns in the academic setting as well as in community practice. Life science companies can customize these reports to collect the data they need whether it is on a regional basis or specific to certain patient types. Armed with the right data, life science companies can proceed with confidence. Read on to learn more about how insight reports promote collaboration.

Why Is Collaboration So Essential?
In the fight against cancer, every individual plays an important role. Community oncologists serve as frontline workers; they manage the patient’s illnesses and provide direct care. Disease-state experts participate in clinical trials and help determine factors that influence recommended standards of care. Life science companies focus on drug development and work to ensure there is active communication and collaboration between physicians in both the academic and community setting.

These different factions rely on collaboration to get the job done. Medical experts must share their insights with community oncologists and life science companies. Physicians rely on their deep understanding of the disease state. Information provided by medical experts helps community providers establish more standard approaches across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

Life science companies are constantly looking for insights from clinical data and clinician feedback to support the development of new therapies and to maximize the positive impact they can have for patients when approved. Information from disease experts is critical as is the insights provided from community practice providers. Life science companies use this information to help guide their R&D efforts, to build out educational programs, and to make sure patients and their families have the resources and support they need. Successful life science companies keep oncologists closely informed of new treatments and inspire trust in innovative therapy strategies, leading to improved patient outcomes.

Insight reports are a fast, effective way to gather and share information. A high-quality insight report lets your organization stay in touch with medical experts and provides benchmarking data on community treatment standards. Reports also allow your organization to collect and share real-time data with community providers to help them better understand the incorporation of new clinical data in practice and how treatment standards are changing. Many congresses, conventions, and in-person meetings have been moved online or cancelled because of the global pandemic. Insight reports offer a safe and convenient way to bridge the communication gap for life science companies, clinical experts, and community-based clinicians.

How Can Insight Reports Benefit My Organization?
Launching a new product or drug in oncology requires careful coordination and educational support. Payor budgets, established pathways, formulary restrictions, and reimbursement challenges can impact the ability of companies to successfully launch cutting-edge products and deliver new therapies to patients in need.

Psychological barriers can also cause unexpected difficulties. Patients and physicians may be reluctant to try out a recently approved product. If companies fail to provide the educational support needed regarding new treatment approvals, patients and physicians may be slow to trust and utilize novel therapies. They might dismiss a new product as burdensome, limited in unique benefits, or overly expensive.

Before life science companies can undertake a product launch, they must dig into these factors that impact all new products. Companies need to determine what factors drive physicians toward or away from a novel treatment and where gaps exist in the adoption of a new therapy. To avoid costly missteps, companies must also examine barriers that prevent patients from reaping the full benefits of their product.

Insight reports can reveal many key findings for companies launching a new compound. These reports can provide a window into the physician’s mindset, answering vital questions. What treatments do physicians prefer to use? What therapies do they distrust? What are physicians’ primary concerns when choosing a treatment strategy? What research influences their decision, and what recent data might they have overlooked? With the information gathered from insight reports, you can help clinicians answer these questions and more.

How Can I Choose the Right Insight Reports?
Today, many organizations offer packages of curated data for healthcare companies, but not all insight reports are created equal. Some reports provide individual data points, stripped of context. These reports are often minimally useful.

The best reports offer aggregated data, including input from experts. Aptitude Health’s reports provide insight from community physicians and analyses from disease-state experts. These reports deliver a comprehensive view of the cancer care landscape. Aptitude Health reports don’t just take into account the clinical approaches from community oncologists, they include critical commentary and recommendations from disease-state experts on current approaches and considerations. They answer important questions, highlight where community approaches and those in the academic setting are aligned or differ, and draw conclusions based on the data.

With Aptitude Health insight reports, life science companies receive the full picture and gather information from community physicians and medical experts along with recommended next steps to ensure the needs of both are met.

Introducing PIVOT
Aptitude Health’s PIVOT platform uses a unique approach. PIVOT allows providers and experts to exchange oncology information on an ongoing basis. Aptitude Health works with physicians and scientific experts, delivering a well-rounded stream of data. PIVOT reports start with a detailed baseline assessment of 50–150 Axess Network community physicians and their approaches in a specific disease state. Respondents are selected on the basis of their experience in that solid tumor or hematologic malignancy and they provide detailed insights into their current approaches by line of therapy. Their output helps life science companies to understand current clinical approaches, referral patterns, educational gaps, and resource needs. An external Medical Director is assigned on the basis of their clinical expertise in that disease state to lead the project and to provide their insights and recommendations.

The clinical expert presents a detailed review of baseline assessment findings and their recommendations to the life science partner during an interactive presentation and planning session. They review all of the clinical information gathered from community clinicians and offer their insights into current disease management approaches and recommendations for community practices. The clinical expert also highlights key educational gaps that may be impacting current approaches in the community with suggestions on how to best address them. Aptitude Health insight reports and platforms such as PIVOT do more than offer quantitative analyses of patterns, they provide key benchmark information on an ongoing basis to measure changes in community approaches over time.

PIVOT experts understand cutting-edge treatment practices, and they’re aware of the latest research. PIVOT reports offer life science companies a significant advantage in the marketplace and the reports are not just developed for life science partner commercial and clinical teams. Summary reports are provided back to Axess members, highlighting some of the key information gained from the assessment data and the clinical expert’s insights. PIVOT reports ensure that life science partners, disease-state experts, and community-based clinicians have access to data that help improve how they are able to communicate and collaborate together to improve patient outcomes.

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Matthew Gordon

VP, Real-World Evidence
Matthew has more than 25 years of experience in real-world evidence and observational, non-interventional research. He has led studies across the full life cycle—from startup through publication—supporting objectives that range from understanding a disease’s natural history to fulfilling global safety surveillance requirements. Matthew brings deep expertise in orphan disease programs, having overseen more than 25 long-term, global initiatives, as well as in disease and product registries, prospective pharmacoeconomic studies, and systematic literature reviews. Matthew leads the RWE Registries team, responsible for building the business and team. Prior to joining Aptitude Health, he held senior leadership roles at Parexel, Worldwide Clinical Trials, inVentiv Health Clinical, Quintiles Outcome, and ICON Clinical Research. Matthew holds a BA in sociology from Boston University, is a long-standing member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), and is a frequent speaker at ISPOR, the Center for Business Intelligence, and related industry conferences.

Gerald Stanvitch, PhD

VP, Scientific Content

Cate Browning, PhD

VP, Global Medical Affairs

Erin Zingales Rau

VP, Account Services

Kelly Kocor

VP, People & Culture
Kelly leads both the human resources and talent acquisition teams, ensuring that Aptitude Health attracts, retains, and develops top personnel to drive our continued success. With over 17 years of experience transforming global HR initiatives, Kelly is an expert in harmonizing HR policies and fostering a culture of engagement and partnership. She is committed to partnering with all areas of the business to ensure full regulatory compliance and delivering value-added services to our organization and its people. Kelly is passionate about developing and implementing HR strategies that help support our employees’ professional and personal growth. She is dedicated to fostering a culture that encourages innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity, helping Aptitude Health continue to be a great place to work.

Bart Zygmond

VP, Finance
Bart brings a wealth of experience to the organization, having worked in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and service industries. With his expertise in financial reporting, US GAAP, SOX, cash flow modeling, and financial analysis, he plays a crucial role in the company’s financial management and strategy. Prior to joining Aptitude Health as VP, Finance, Bart held several controller positions: at Q2 Solutions, he oversaw the global finance team and financial operations, ensuring the accurate and timely financial reporting of the company. He also held controller positions at Domtar Inc and Veristat.

Eugene Vissers, MD

Senior VP, Global Scientific Content
Eugene is a seasoned medical doctor with over 20 years of international experience in pharma, consultancy, and agency environments. Eugene leads the US team of dedicated experts responsible for developing high-quality medical content. Prior to joining Aptitude Health, Eugene served as medical director at Ipsen and AstraZeneca. With both his medical degree and an MBA, Eugene brings a unique perspective to his role. His clinical background, combined with his business acumen, allows him to develop innovative strategies that drive results. Under Eugene’s leadership, the medical content team delivers scientific information of the highest quality, providing valuable insights to our clients around the world.

Adrian Barfield

VP, US Business Development

Kelley Hernandez

Executive VP, US Business Development
Kelley has over 18 years of experience in the oncology space. Kelley joined Aptitude Health after working with Cardinal Health, where she was part of the Healthcare and Analytics Division, and finished her tenure there with VitalSource™ (GPO division). As the leader of the strategic business development team for the US, Kelley brings a wealth of expertise to the organization. Her experience in the healthcare industry, combined with her ability to identify and capitalize on new business opportunities, is invaluable in driving the company’s growth and success. Kelley’s dedication to building strong relationships with life science partners is a testament to her commitment to delivering exceptional value to the healthcare industry.

Adam Sinensky, MBA

Chief Technology Officer

Adam has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry and an MBA in healthcare management. After 10 years as a strategy consultant to life science companies, Adam has spent the last decade as a product and strategy leader focused on bringing technology products to market across the payor, provider, and life sciences segments. By combining his business acumen and experience working directly with software developers, engineers, and data scientists, Adam has successfully led numerous product launches and enhancements from ideation to development and go-to-market initiatives. His product and change management expertise has led organizational shifts from services to technology at companies such as Change Healthcare and Datavant/Ciox. At Aptitude Health, Adam is responsible for growing our portfolio of product offerings by leveraging real-world data and artificial intelligence with our existing solutions and industry-leading Axess Network of healthcare providers. He also oversees our IT and cybersecurity teams.

Stefanie Daniels

Chief Commercial Officer

Stefanie is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience in oncology. She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the organization. Stefanie joined Aptitude Health after spending over a decade as a senior director at Physicians’ Education Resource, an oncology CME vendor. During her tenure, she led and managed teams responsible for grant development/acquisition, program creation/execution, and faculty management. Stefanie’s deep understanding of the oncology industry and her ability to lead teams through complex projects make her a vital part of the organization’s success. Her dedication to providing high-quality solutions to our life science partners is a testament to her commitment to improving cancer patient care.

Jason Cash

Chief Financial Officer

Jason is an accomplished finance professional with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical services industry. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a keen ability to navigate high-growth organizations, delivering exceptional results. Before joining Aptitude Health, Jason served as the CFO of Veristat International, a global contract research organization. In this role, he led the financial strategy and played a pivotal role in driving the company’s growth and success. Jason’s wealth of experience and expertise in financial management make him an essential member of the leadership team. His strategic thinking and ability to drive results are highly respected within the industry.

Jez Moulding

Chief Executive Officer
Jez is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in general management and regional president roles. He has a proven track record of success in the healthcare industry, having worked in the US, Japan, Australia, Korea, South Africa, France, and the UK for Sanofi, where he supported the launch of 10 new drugs across various therapeutic areas. As chief commercial officer at UDG Healthcare and EVP at Ashfield, Jez demonstrated his expertise in developing and implementing successful business strategies. He joined Aptitude Health from Pharmaspectra, an IQVIA business, where he served as CEO since 2018. Jez’s extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and his leadership skills make him an invaluable asset to the organization.
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