Disrupting the Clinical Trial Process with Ramita Tandon

Episode Takeaways

1. Ramita Tandon, Chief Clinical Trials Officer at Walgreens, joins Gil to discuss how she’s leading and driving growth within this new division of the corporation to help connect patients with effective breakthrough treatments more quickly.
2. There’s a need to disrupt the clinical trial process. How can we find patients and deliver better health outcomes? We’ve needed a change for a very long time, and we need to push the envelope and challenge the status quo in the drug development process, whether that’s designing better protocols or engaging patients more effectively, we need to do what we can to move the needle for people who need it.
3. The clinical trials ecosystem is vast and fragmented, like the healthcare system broadly. Walgreens evaluated what they can provide that’s different from what’s been done in the past, and ultimately it comes down to reach. 75% of the United States population lives within 5 miles of a Walgreens and by taking learnings from decades of clinical trial challenges, Walgreens can make a real difference.
4. Consumerism in healthcare is complicated. A consumer-focused healthcare industry is inevitable, but it’s isolating and exhausting for so many people. Care doesn’t always reach those that need it, and the drug development process is frustratingly slow and produces disparate outcomes that leave people confused or mistrustful. All the players in the healthcare ecosystem must align and optimize the value chain, keeping up with the patient and consumer’s needs. Patients ought to be thought of as a consumer and the drug development system has to take their needs into greater account.
5. Leaders across the spectrum are re-focusing on developing a more robust, patient-centric healthcare framework to improve the patient experience to drive better outcomes. To solve the big problems of access coordination, continuity, engagement, and personalization organizations must redefine the patient experience and increase access across communities that have never had access to clinical research before. When communities are educated about the value of clinical trials to their health outcomes, that will break down barriers of participation and retention in clinical trials.