How Novartis deploys a new model of creativity to understand patients better

• Published in: International journal of pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing 2023-07, Vol.17 (3), p.311-326
• Main Authors: Knowles, Samuel Kenneth Zachary, Klein, Beyza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergies; Artificial intelligence; Budgets; Cardiovascular diseases; Chronic illnesses; Codification; Compliance; Creativity; Decision making; Dermatology; Dictionaries; Disease; Drug development; Food allergies; Health care; Heart diseases; Heart transplantation; Immunosuppressive agents; Methodology; Ophthalmology; Patients; Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmaceuticals; Prescription drugs; Psychology; Research methodology; Social networks; Teams; Transplantation
• ISSN: 1750-6123; 1750-6123; 1750-6131
• DOI: 10.1108/IJPHM-11-2022-0100

Purpose To better understand the reality of living with the diseases and conditions that its drugs and therapies are developed to treat, the Novartis leadership determined a need for more meaningful insights into patients’ lives. They sought to develop a systematic, creative methodology – informed by the psychology of insightful rather than analytical thinking – to properly integrate and deploy the research commissioned into its day-to-day business decision-making. For it is well established that better understanding of the patient reality drives both compliance and adherence “beyond the pill”. The purpose of this paper is to bring the novel methodology of creativity to a wider audience and ensure that many others – notably in patient advocacy organizations – can benefit from this approach. Design/methodology/approach A core team of Insight and Analytics and Patient Engagement leads from various therapeutic area teams worked in partnership with a psychologist and practitioner in the field of insightful thinking, to develop an effective methodology that could reliably surface and articulate genuine patient insights. This methodology – the i4i Insights Discovery™ process – was developed, piloted, refined and codified in 2020 and implemented across the company in 2021–2022. It uses a combination of convergent and divergent thinking techniques – human rather than artificial intelligence, combining diverse research outputs – to understand patients’ lives better. With enhanced understanding, the insights then shape educational and behavioral strategies to drive adherence and compliance. Findings At a time of tightening budgets and demands to deliver enhanced impact from research budgets, i4i Insights Discovery™ has enabled Novartis teams to turn existing research outputs into profound and useful understandings of what it means to live with specific diseases and develop evidence-based patient engagement strategies; insight-driven decision-making around the lifecycle of any compound. i4i Insights Discovery™ has been applied across Novartis’s diverse areas of expertise, from heart disease to cancer, from organ transplantation to dermatology, from food allergy to ophthalmology. Practical implications The i4i Insights Discovery™ process enables Novartis teams to gain deeper understanding of patients’ lives without the need to commission additional research; to do more with less. These insights enable cross-functional Novartis teams to develop better-informed strategi