Women in Pharma: Unlocking patient inclusion at CPHI Americas

Our monthly Women in Pharma series highlights the influential lives and works of impactful women working across the pharmaceutical industry, and how the industry can towards making the healthcare industry and workplace more equitable and inclusive. 

1. Could you please give a brief overview of yourself and your role? 

I grew up in India until my undergrad and then came to the US for my graduate studies I have now spent the past 30+ years in the global pharma industry developing medicines for patients, having led or contributed to 15 FDA/EMEA drug approvals that have impacted several millions of patient lives, including Tecentriq® in multiple indications and combinations, Alecensa®, Polivy®, Hemlibra®, Gazyva®, and Pixuvri®. I have held various global leadership positions within Biotech, Big pharma, CROs including Genentech/Roche, Bayer Oncology, Johnson & Johnson, ICON, Oncology biotech start-up companies, consumer health companies (Unilever, Proctor &Gamble) as well as a digital health technology company (Medable).  

I am now an independent strategy consultant and Board Advisor, providing strategic advisory services to pharma, biotechs, digital healthtech software companies, and venture firms in clinical development and operations, as well as leveraging innovative patient-centered digital health technologies in a fit-for-purpose approach to improve patient inclusivity, access, and efficiencies within the healthcare ecosystem. 

Throughout my career I have also volunteered and given back to the industry. I have led and contributed to several industry collaboration consortiums that set the standards in our industry. I was invited to co-found and chair the Oncology Board for Society for Clinical Research Sites and continue to serve on the Board. I am a current Mentor for CEOs at the CancerX Moonshot program dedicated to revolutionising advancements in cancer and drive integration of digital tools in oncology. Some other consortium work includes: Decentralized Trials and Research Alliance (DTRA), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), National Academy of Sciences Forum on Drug Discovery and Development, Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), and IEEE-SA CTTMN (Clinical Trial Technology Modernization Network)  

I was honoured to be a Top 20 Women in Immuno-oncology drug development and was also featured in PharmaFEATURES on Oncology Drug Development and Digital Health Technology. 

2. What are you hoping to cover in your session at CPHI Americas? 

At my session I will be speaking on expanding patient access to care through Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and Virtual Care – what is the current state, why this is important, and what are the regulatory guidelines, therapeutic areas, and frameworks for RPM and technology solutions. I will be discussing actual published case studies and benchmark with data-driven insights on how our current industry is supporting patient access and diversity. 

3. Why should pharmaceutical companies and service providers prioritise patient access and inclusion in the trials they conduct? What steps can they take in their operations to help achieve this? 

The availability of clinical trials and clinical care across the US are often concentrated to large academic centres in larger cities. Trial and clinical care capabilities are even more limited in non-metropolitan areas that have a higher percent of patients living with chronic diseases and have high cancer mortality and/or high social vulnerability. 

Expanded inclusivity and accessibility promote greater insights regarding how treatments work across varying demographics and ensure that novel therapies are effective across diverse populations. This is what the regulatory authorities are asking for in their evaluation for marketing authorisation application and modernisation of clinical trials to promote access and inclusivity.  

Deploying digital health technologies in a fit-for-purpose approach and with options for patient preferences, along with cultural sensitivity to patient communities and to the social determinants of health, will go a long way in promoting patient inclusivity and access. Ultimately, this will democratise access to trials and bring more communities into trials. Scientifically, this will also help pharma understand how treatments work across varying demographics and ensure that novel therapies are effective across diverse populations. 

4. What are you most looking forward to at CPHI Americas? 

I am really looking forward to networking with fellow speakers and attendees, and engaging in a dialogue on how we can push innovation forward for the pharma and biotech industries – what is working and what areas remain as opportunities for further innovation. Pharma innovation is driven by interconnected cross-functional teams engaged from discovery, manufacturing and supply chain, clinical development, and patient access. This conference gives an opportunity to engage and network with them and hear from the excellent line-up of fellow speakers who are driving innovation and change in our industry. 

5. If you could give one piece of advice to Future Women Leaders of Pharma, what would you say? 

Find your passion and pursue it with purpose and humility for lifelong learning. Some other key traits that come to mind are courageous leadership, servant leadership by enabling and empowering your teams, navigating challenges with resilience, and striving for excellence in everything you do. Seek mentors and build a robust network, develop multifaceted (emotional intelligence, foster collaboration, and adaptability as change is a constant in the pharma world) leadership skills, and always help other women leaders discover and multiply their power so we can be a united force of women leaders in service of patients. I would be amiss if I did not mention to always give back to the industry by joining professional organisations and industry consortiums and leading change and innovation across the industry. 

Have a story to share about diversity, equity, and inclusion in pharma? Contact [email protected] to learn how you can contribute to our Women in Pharma series.