One Immune Voice Podcast series

Contracting Process

The contracting phase involved careful planning to ensure compliance with the ABPI Code of Practice and minimise burden on Patient Organisations. A contracted service agreement was chosen, allowing J&J to manage operations while fairly compensating patient organisations and individuals with lived experience. This simplified legal, approval, and intellectual property considerations. Contracts were segmented by project components consisting of patient organisations scoping, podcast contributions, and individual participant involvement. Despite internal complexities, the approach was praised by patient organisations for being pragmatic and patient centric.

Implementation

Following extensive advisory and planning stages, the podcast series was co-created with Patient Organisations. It featured six episodes, each around 30 minutes long, hosted by Claudia Hammond and spotlighting patient representatives and individuals with lived experience. Topics ranged from mental health to supported self-management. The collaborative approach allowed flexibility and focused engagement, with content development handled in smaller, focused groups to reduce workload and maintain momentum.

Impact

The project delivered tangible benefits for patients, including access to trusted, practical resources and personal narratives that resonated across communities. Patient Organisations gained a platform to amplify their messaging and build cross-organisational relationships. J&J strengthened its credibility and partnership model, demonstrating that industry and patient organisation collaborations can be both impactful and streamlined. The recognition received via awards underscored the value and professionalism of the initiative.

Benefits

Impact on Patient Organisations:

The project resulted in improved disease awareness, validation of experiences, and accessible signposting to support for patients. As well as enhanced reach, meaningful cross-sector collaboration, and efficient co-creation for patient organisations. In total, the podcasts had more than 1,500 listens.

Impact on Industry Partner:

By working with Patient Organisations, J&J gained a better understanding of the challenges faced by communities, which strengthened relationships with their partners. Bringing together the auto-immune/immune-mediated community helped raise awareness of these conditions among key stakeholders. J&J gained reputational value by receiving the Patient Partnership Index Silver Award in 2023, recognised for the scale of their collaboration.

Top tips

• Have clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
• Manage content creation in small groups.
• Allow plenty of time for approvals.
• Seek advice from pharmaceutical industry compliance leads to ensure compliance and regulatory requirements are met effectively, with requirements communicated clearly and at an early stage to all parties involved in the partnership.