As many of you may know, Mission: Cure recently launched its first patient survey to gain real-world patient perspectives on living with the disease. Although the survey is ongoing, we are also excited to share some preliminary insights that we have gathered from the first 145 responses. We are excited to present a white paper report on the results of these first responses that was shared with researchers, clinicians, and FDA authorities at the PancreasFest conference in Pittsburgh, PA earlier this week. The report is in tune with an FDA draft guidance issued just last month on “Patient-Focused Drug Development” and came at a pivotal time in a transforming US healthcare system in which patients are beginning to take the driver’s seat in directing care.
The survey, phrased as an open dialogue with the FDA, asks patients to shed light on their symptoms and current treatment plan and to describe the aspects of the disease they find most difficult to live with. Initial analysis reveals four recurrent themes in patient experiences: a huge lack of understanding of pancreatitis from medical professionals, a lack of available treatments, the need for continuing research, and burdensome symptoms that place a large toll on daily life. We invite everyone to read through and download the report to glean more detailed insights into our results.
Putting patients at the forefront of decision making has the potential to unify researchers, drug developers, and government officials with a streamlined goal of improving patient outcomes. In the words of co-director Linda Martin, “This survey is just the beginning. As we continue to connect with and understand the patient perspective at a deeper level, we will be able to guide the industry to make meaningful choices that will have a direct impact on patients.”
We would like to thank Annie Kennedy and Ryan Fischer from Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy for kindly providing advice and suggestions for our patient survey and helping make this project possible.
For any further questions regarding our report or our patient survey project as a whole, please reach out to info@mission-cure.org.
An official press release regarding our patient survey can be found here.
