IGG Recognized for Most Valuable Collaboration at The 2018 Eye for Pharma Awards

Trio Takes Home Team Prize

Allergan, SonarMD and Illinois Gastroenterology Group’s (IGG) joint efforts to improve the lives of IBS patients earns them the Most Valuable Collaboration award

The vital role a doctor plays in a patient’s life is a truism. That first visit to a doctor’s surgery can mark the moment a person turns into a patient. Yet depending on the condition, this partnership can be fraught with complications.

Today, a collaboration formed to bridge the patient-physician disconnect was named the Most Valuable Collaboration of 2018 at the eyeforpharma Philadelphia awards.

To facilitate patient-clinician communication and improve care, Allergan collaborated with SonarMD, the developer of a cloud-based care management platform, and leading gastroenterologists at the Illinois Gastroenterology Group, to develop an innovative patient engagement platform for patients with IBS-D.

Reflecting on the win, Robyn Carson, Executive Director of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Global Evidence & Value Development at Allergan, said:

“It feels great to have this important initiative recognised. Allergan, SonarMD and IGG really had a shared common vision in this initiative and wanted to ultimately improve care for patients with IBS-D. It is great that there is a forum such as eyeforpharma that recognises these important altruistic initiatives that the industry is leading.”

In naming the initiative the Most Valuable Collaboration of 2018, the panel of expert judges — comprising patients, patient advocates, healthcare professionals and senior pharma executives — hailed the approach as setting a new gold-standard for every chronic disease area.   

The IBS-D Patient Engagement Platform takes an innovative approach in combining clinical decision support, outcomes data and patient engagement tools as part of a system that engages patients and tracks their symptoms. The clinical decision support tool has already helped to identify 350+ IBS-D patients, while 100+ patients have been enrolled.

This goal of the initiative is three-fold — to correctly identify patients with IBS-D, continuously engage IBS-D patients between office visits, and track and respond to changes in patients’ health status.

It aims to empower patients to become active partners in their own health management to improve care, decrease healthcare resource use and costs, and enhance the patient experience.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is estimated to affect nearly 35 million Americans. According to an American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) survey of 3,200 individuals with IBS symptoms, more than two-thirds reported waiting more than a year before seeking medical attention, despite the significant impact of symptoms on their quality of life.

Limited diagnostic and therapeutic options available for patients suffering from IBS, combined with the reluctance of those patients to discuss their symptoms with healthcare providers, has presented a major barrier for physicians to be able to provide the most effective care. Early and frequent communication with healthcare professionals is key to long-term symptom relief and management for these patients.

BY ADAM CHAPMAN - APRIL, 11th 2018