“There is a focus on Sanofi at building a healthier, more resilient world. We turn the impossible into the possible by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines and vaccines for millions of people around the world.” A project that started with utilizing a COPD project framework to be applied to the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patient journey, which evolved into a business development project that will provide international collaboration tools and skills long into the future.
Because of the life long nature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) the patient journey is a challenge, with many gaps that must be better understood.
MS can affect people early in life, beginning a potentially long patient journey. Due to the nature of disease, there are often long periods of time during the patient life span in which disease progression and drug treatment effectiveness are unknown. From this perspective, Sanofi needed to know more. With the recent success of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient journey project behind, Sanofi requested that Vertical work in conjunction with six international sections of the Sanofi organization.
The MS project was initiated to assess the gaps in the local MS patient journey and the differences from country to country, to really generate a picture of how Sanofi could better support the patients and healthcare workers managing MS.
Vertical was tasked with coordinating the international cooperation to gain greater insight into:
- Local patient population information.
- Healthcare provider understanding, experience, and requirements.
- Opportunities and information to better evaluate potential market crossover.
- Implementing international collaboration tools to support project development.
Utilizing certain collaboration tools, locally and internationally, means that the data being gathered through this project will be documented, shared, and compared across the Sanofi working groups. This gives Sanofi an opportunity to develop the bigger picture using information from KOL, patient advocacy groups, and healthcare facilitators from several markets.
“The process included taking the framework based on patient journey assumptions, to validate and improve based on concrete actions within the healthcare ecosystem. We were able to develop an action plan that Sanofi could implement across the international working groups.” – Jason, Vertical Lead
International working group collaboration became the real focal point of the project.
“It was not just a patient journey project, it became a project to facilitate a coordinated work practice between the six different international working groups.” – Maria, Vertical Healthcare Consultant
The different markets operate with different systems. But different systems does not mean that there is not a great opportunity for support, or to share the lessons learned. Progressive organizations must learn to support and collaborate across country units to compete in the fast paced international environment.
Innovative consulting is not just about completing a project, it is about positively impacting the client’s way of working.
This was an important project because the MS patient journey is better understood. The learnings from this project will improve the understanding of how Sanofi can support that specific patient group. Additionally, and maybe more importantly, this project gave an opportunity to utilize collaborative tools, build international team spirit, and initiate a working culture of business development. These are operational tools that Sanofi will be able to call upon as operational resources to impact even more patients, long into the future.
While true project MS patient journey specific outcomes will most likely be seen farther down the road, there is immediate feedback coming from the adopted way of working. Collaboration and cooperation can be seen and implemented daily. New tools and ways of working will streamline the Sanofi operations, which became better understood by asking the right questions through the working process.
Can longer term and more significant business benefits be gained from your organizations work projects? Vertical could be able to help.
