By: Birgit Girshick - Corporate Executive Vice President - Charles River
The COVID-19 pandemic has marked a pivotal moment in the healthcare system, pushing players across the full spectrum of healthcare to work together and act quickly to address a novel virus. The pandemic marks one of the most significant examples in recent history, where government leaders, healthcare providers, scientists, and drug developers are working at record speed to achieve a common goal. While the past year has presented unique challenges, it has also demonstrated just how essential collaboration is for innovation – presenting us with an opportunity to advance the field.
Following the height of the pandemic, the healthcare industry’s focus has shifted to understand how lessons from the current pandemic can translate into actionable insights that will help better manage future pandemics and improve the healthcare system overall. In order to implement satisfactory and effective changes within healthcare, and work towards delivering life-saving drugs and treatments faster, understanding public perception, knowledge gaps and future priorities is a critical foundation.
A recent survey conducted by Charles River and The Harris Poll sought to understand Americans’ knowledge, sentiment and priorities surrounding healthcare. The findings revealed Americans’ perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses in our healthcare system, general knowledge of drug and vaccine development and approvals, and key areas that adults in the United States would like to see prioritized in years to come.
The U.S. Healthcare System in Jeopardy; Collaboration is the Remedy
Despite the rapid development and distribution of effective vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, 59% of Americans think that healthcare is broken. Cost is most often cited as a main factor, namely the cost of healthcare overall and prescription drugs. The survey identified that 34% of Americans believe the cost of healthcare (including health insurance) is the biggest problem facing the system, followed by the high cost of prescription drugs (18%).
In looking at how the U.S. handled the coronavirus pandemic compared to other countries, most say healthcare systems need to do more to help prevent pandemics (80%) with only 62% feeling the U.S. healthcare system is very or somewhat prepared to deal with a pandemic in the future.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated perceived cracks in our healthcare system, it has also prompted a potential road map for change. Interestingly, the key to fixing the healthcare system is the response we’ve seen firsthand over the past 18 months: collaboration.
The scientific community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated just how powerful collaboration can be, with stakeholders across healthcare working together to develop, approve, manufacture, and distribute a vaccine at record speed. Thanks to years of scientific and academic research, scientists were not starting from square one, and this previous research could now be applied in a practical scenario. When combined with the knowledge that scientists were quickly gathering, piecing together and sharing, the years of research ultimately fed into translational research and the design of COVID-19 vaccines.
Open access to existing and developing research allowed scientists across the globe to rapidly analyze the virus and quickly design vaccine candidates. At the beginning of the pandemic, Chinese researchers posted the full sequence of SARS-CoV-2 on a public access site, as well as a public genetic sequence bank. As research evolved, more scientists published their research using the same open access format – facilitating shared data, experiences and models to help to drive forward our knowledge of the virus at an exceptionally fast pace.
The pandemic also exposed more Americans to the intricate structure of the healthcare system including the many players, the roles they each have and how they work together. Americans have witnessed the positive impacts of collaboration and most say collaboration between groups in the healthcare system was a reason the coronavirus vaccines were able to be approved so quickly (61% correctly answered true, 25% not sure).
Looking to the future, adults believe that collaboration has the potential to transform the industry, with 90% agreeing it will take a united effort of all key players to improve the healthcare system. Additionally, Americans believe a united effort could help drive innovation in healthcare and help drug development move more quickly.
So Who do Americans Trust to Improve Healthcare Quality?
Although Americans clearly trust in the positive impacts when all players in the healthcare industry collaborate, the survey revealed that trust in individual players within the system varies.
Research has shown that patient trust is linked to the quality of a healthcare system. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that during a time when Americans are labeling the healthcare system broken, trust in the system is consequently suffering.
The government is most likely to be assigned with the responsibility for improving the state of U.S. healthcare (39%), but the government is also the group least likely to be trusted to do what’s best for Americans – less than half (46%) trust the government somewhat or completely to do so.
The FDA, on the other hand, is highly regarded, and its involvement builds trust and confidence in the safety of drugs, even though many Americans don’t fully understand the role it plays. The majority of adults (74%) say they can trust the prescription drugs they take because of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process, while 77% say prescription drugs are safer because they are reviewed and approved by the FDA.
It is encouraging to see that, during a time where the pandemic and several other pivotal approvals created significant discussion around FDA’s decision-making process, the FDA is generally viewed positively. In the early phase of vaccine and therapeutic development for COVID-19, Americans saw the government and FDA make decisions and public announcements in real time, while still learning about the virus and possible treatments. This level of public visibility showed the importance of collaboration and leadership by the government and the FDA, but also created a level of uncertainty – demonstrating that more work needs to be done to create a standard level of trust across the entire healthcare system.
Now more than ever, Americans are looking for comfort, hope and alignment between leaders. As healthcare leaders strive to lead America through this difficult time, we want to create a sense of trust around the healthcare system. Players across healthcare, including drug companies, researchers, hospitals, and insurance companies are tirelessly working to address some of the toughest healthcare challenges America has faced in years. By working together, the healthcare system can achieve positive outcomes faster, creating greater overall trust among Americans.
Drug Development: The Knowledge Gap
The pandemic also brought conversations around vaccine and drug development to the forefront of media coverage, giving Americans rare insight into the realities of the discovery and development process and proving the novelty of the speed at which COVID-19 vaccines were developed. While the pandemic has created a unique opportunity for Americans to learn about vaccine and drug development, there is still little understanding of the time or cost required to develop drugs, or even the number of drugs rejected or approved by the FDA.
Those polled reported that they know more about drug development than they did before the pandemic, but the survey shows their knowledge is plagued with misconceptions about the process. Only a small percentage – less than 10% – guessed correctly that the average time needed for a drug to make it to market is 10-15 years. Thirty-five percent guessed between 4 to less than 10 years, 85% guessed less than 10 years, and 28% guessed 2 to less than 4 years.
When asked to estimate the percentage of potential new drugs that are approved and make it to market in the United States, the average percentage reported was 36.4%. The actual percentage is closer to .02%. When it comes to money, over half thought that the average drug cost less than $100 million to develop. Meaning, most people would be surprised to learn that the actual average cost has been estimated by some experts to be US $1.3 billion.
There are clear opportunities for education in the industry. This is a crucial moment for our industry to lean into Americans’ engagement in health news and continue to educate people about drug and vaccine development and ensure that public, private, and government officials understand the realities of what scientists are facing. Players from all sides of the industry – from CROs to pharmaceutical companies and research institutions – are in a position now to educate the general public, and we must recognize the opportunity and take advantage. As we are faced with new challenges stemming from the pandemic, public education will help with managing expectations and allow Americans to make informed choices.
Keeping Collaboration at the Forefront of Healthcare
Moving forward, Americans want to continue to see collaboration prioritized, with 88% of respondents agreeing that pandemic prevention requires a collaborative effort between government, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and patients. This sentiment held true across political parties, with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all remarking on the power of collaboration.
While the confidence Americans feel in collaboration is promising, there is room for improvement. We need to better understand where we are when it comes to collaboration and identify the areas where more work is needed. The positive impacts of collaboration extend far beyond pandemics, so now is the time to rally together to maintain the current momentum. The united front that was developed to address COVID-19 can serve as a model for how we should approach all drug development.
A commitment to maintaining a collaborative effort will clearly create the foundation for a strong healthcare system in the future. By bringing expertise and perspectives together across the different areas that make up healthcare, partnerships between key players like drug companies, patient advocacy groups, hospitals, and insurance companies can continue to help solve healthcare’s biggest challenges. Collaboration will allow the healthcare system as a whole to excel, ultimately improving how patients experience and receive care and changing outcomes for not only tomorrow's patients but also today's.
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