Spelling out what patients can expect from Novartis

Nearly everyone has seen the debilitating or devastating impact of illness, either first-hand, or through the experience of family members, friends, or co-workers. 

Increasingly, however, advances in science and healthcare are yielding new medicines and ways to more effectively fight disease. This ongoing progress can be a source of hope for patients, as well as their families and friends. 

As Novartis continues its efforts to develop innovative new medicines and generics to fight potentially deadly diseases ranging from heart failure to cancer, this is an appropriate moment to spell out the company’s commitments to patients in areas ranging from clinical trials to access to medicines. 

The commitments are explained in the Novartis Patient Declaration, formally introduced at the Novartis Innovating for Patients event in Basel, Switzerland on June 29-30.  

“We are inspired by patients,” said David Epstein, Division Head, Novartis Pharmaceuticals. “With the patient declaration, for the first time we are clearly stating exactly what patients can expect from us.”  

The declaration sets out the role Novartis plays and the company’s commitments in five key areas: 

• Access to our innovative medicines
• Patient safety
• Respecting the patient perspective
• Data transparency and data integrity
• Clinical trial input

It was developed with the involvement of a number of international patient organization advocates. It also reflects issues discussed with patient advocates at a Novartis Global Patient Forum, part of an Innovating for Patients event in 2014.  

“This declaration is the first time a pharmaceutical company has made a public commitment detailing what we can expect as patients -- not only in terms of therapies, but also with respect to access and support before, during and after clinical trials,” said Durhane Wong-Rieger, President & CEO of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders.