Patient Centricity Affinity Group – Fireside Chat with Dr. Anthony Yanni

Patient Centricity Affinity Group – Fireside Chat with Dr. Anthony Yanni

The HBA Global Patient Centricity Affinity Group (PCAG) is excited to share the highlights and full summary of the Fireside Chat with Dr. Anthony Yanni, MD, MBA that took place on February 19th, 2025. Anthony is currently the SVP, Head of Patient Centricity at Astellas. His empathy and understanding of patients come from being a medical practitioner for 15 years earlier in his career. 

The Fireside Chat was facilitated by the Patient Centricity Affinity Group’s Deputy Chair Jenny Sheng, who is also the Founder and Chief Patient Officer of Innomaven. In her work with Pharma and Patient Organizations, Jenny amplifies the patient voice across early R&D, Launch Excellence, and beyond. 

Key Takeaways: 

• New drugs underperform likely due to patient needs not understood and incorporated early enough in development.
  • Action: Integrate patient perspective in early R&D
• Patient centricity within an organization can be approached operationally and culturally
  • Action: Create an organizational structure that activates and uses patient insights across product lifecycle
  • Action: Share your patient-centricity and your “why”! Create groups with similar interests at your job
• Patient-centricity is critical to our industry and those not in patient-facing roles can also prioritize patient needs.
  • Action: Be conscious of the relationship between what you do and the patient.

Summary adapted from the Fireside Chat: 

Jenny: What drew you to write “A Bandana And A Bluebird”? What is it about?   

Dr Yanni: The book is about patient experiences and learnings. The bluebird and the bandana were gifts from 2 specific patients that experienced weaknesses in the healthcare system. It is important to understand these weaknesses to improve the patient’s experience. Remember that most of us will be caregivers at some point and all of us will be patients!

Jenny: How can being more patient-focused enhance and accelerate one’s performance and career trajectory? 

Dr Yanni: Know that you are making a difference every day to deliver for patients. Keeping focus on the patient is not only the right thing but it is the smart thing to do that makes business sense. Understanding this gives you an edge in the business setting. 

Jenny: Your book talks about being patient centric from 2 angles: Operational and Cultural. Can you please share that with us?  

Dr Yanni: The operational model involves 4 specialized teams working with different segments of the traditional pharma research and development continuum:

a) Discovery and Research: partner with internal teams to analyze and integrate the patient perspective.

b) Development and Real-World experiences: provide actionable insights based on wholistic understanding of the patient in the real-world setting. Use data, technology, and qualitative research methods.

c) Understanding of Behavioral Science: enhance organizational understanding of patient behaviors in their environments.

d) Partnering Globally with Patients: build trusted relationships globally with patients and advocacy organizations.

Patient centricity is intuitive and commonplace for most of us, but we need to create a centralized Patient Centricity function that activates, collects, and shares patient insights with the rest of the organization. Incorporating the quantitative and qualitative insights across the product lifecycle is critical. It is so important to be brand agnostic in these activities.

Jenny: What about from a cultural perspective?

Dr Yanni: Most employees come to their jobs already with a patient-centric interest. Employers need to follow through and maintain the right culture. It involves creating a global culture focused on the patient for every employee in every role. Programs to make everyone in the company aware of the patient in their role. The company culture is integral. It makes our efforts sustainable. It is the foundation for change. 

Jenny: Approximately 50% of drug launches underperform in sales by an estimated 20% or more. Why do you think that is? 

Dr Yanni: It is likely that the patient needs are not understood and incorporated early enough in development. The right culture at a company will change the way a company invests. In the end, the right thing is also the smart thing for the business. 

Jenny: Would this model work at a biotech or a smaller company?  Are smaller companies better off without the burdensome bureaucracies and matrix organization? 

Dr Yanni: Patient centric concepts work in large companies or small- even for insurers. The key is to have a model that incorporates patient centricity and makes sure that patient insights are collected and considered.

Jenny: Finally, how can individuals (especially those not in patient-facing roles) be more patient centric? 

Dr Yanni: Be conscious of the relationship between what you do and the patient and the importance of acting with urgency. Show joy in your work! Create groups with similar interests at your job to share your “why”. 

For more events and updates, please follow the LinkedIn Page for the HBA Patient Centricity Affinity Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12877187/

You can connect with Anthony and Jenny directly: 

www.linkedin.com/in/AnthonyYanni

www.linkedin.com/in/JennySheng

Anthony’s book “A Bandana and A Bluebird” can be purchased through Amazon: https://a.co/d/0V1V6C1