Basel, Switzerland – As patient centricity continues to become more of a focus for pharmaceutical companies and their brands, Novartis recently launched a dedicated social network for heart failure patients and caregivers called Together in HF. This network helps patients and caregivers connect with one another as well as provide a plethora of resources to help manage their condition.
Backed by collaborators WomenHeart, the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses, Association of Black Cardiologists and Mended Heart, the network is positioned to offer relevant and up to date information.
Through our work with the different organizations and societies, as well as patients and caregivers, we discovered the importance of the emotional aspects of HF. We learned that people needed an environment where they could meet and share their stories with others who had similar experiences. They also wanted heart health information they could use to manage their condition. – Novartis spokesperson
The network is also unique as it doesn’t reside on a popular social framework such as Facebook or Twitter – but it sits within a Novartis controlled website that gives members a password protected place to share patient stories, tips for living with HF, inspiration and caregivers have their own dedicated space.
Why This Matters:
As a first of its kind, it is exciting to see what is normally viewed as a hard space (social networking) to navigate for pharmaceutical companies, develop a plan to play in the space however in an innovative and safe(er) framework. This is also a great step forward in bringing social into the patient centricity strategy.
As patients’ expectations continue to evolve in what they expect from a pharmaceutical company, it is important to keep engagement high. Our Communication Trend, Stay Awhile, discusses this very topic in depth – develop content where and when consumers expect to be engaged and you’ll keep them around longer.
