WCG’s Fall 2019 Patient Advocacy Forum

Washington Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, DC

The Patient’s Voice Can’t Be Ignored In Clinical Research

Please join us in a forum that gathers Patient Advocacy Groups, their constituents, and key stakeholders in drug development to advance and insist upon meaningful change in clinical research.

On Tuesday October 22, we will be hosting a reception in the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm where you can meet speakers and attendees. Plenty of food and drinks will be provided! The forum will take place on Wednesday, October 23, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Both breakfast and lunch will be provided.

The meeting will include a variety of speakers, interactive sessions and panels, with dozens of experienced and thought-provoking participants. Questions and contributions from the attendees will be encouraged, with the goal of creating actionable plans for continuing to integrate patient voices into drug development.

Planned sessions will include:

  • Listening to Patient Experiences: An exploration of the importance of hearing patients and the impact of missing a critical part of the drug development team
  • Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion in Clinical Trials: What can we do to make sure that study populations reflect patient populations, and that data is being generated that will be as generalizable as possible
  • Compensation for Research Participation: Attitudes around compensation for research participation are changing as patients become recognized as a team member rather than as a “research subject”. What are the current best practices?
  • Effective Input Along the Drug Development Continuum: How can patients, patient advocates and caregivers be best prepared to work collaboratively with biopharma companies, to provide insight on program and protocol development
  • Improving the Informed Consent Process: Many efforts have looked at attempts to remodel informed consent documents, with no real improvements. How do we make meaningful change to the process of research informed consent to empower potential research participants?
  • Returning Study Results to Research Participants: Everyone agrees this is an important action, but very few studies and sponsors make this effort. How can we make this an expectation for study conduct.