As the managing general partner at Propel Bio Partners, Dr. Leen Kawas staunchly advocates for embedding patient viewpoints in developing new medications. This stance aligns with Dr. Kawas’ past leadership experience as the chief executive officer of Athira Pharma and her present mentorship of burgeoning biotechnology ventures.
The conventional pipeline for ushering a drug from conception to public availability encompasses five phases. Following initial experimentation, a candidate compound undergoes preclinical and clinical inquiries regarding safety and efficacy. If these stages satisfy regulators, the proposed treatment enters formal review and potential endorsement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Despite the drug directly impacting patients upon release, their input has factored into the creation at the final assessment.
Through endeavors like the FDA’s Patient-Focused Drug Development initiative, momentum has been gained to integrate patient perspectives much earlier and more consistently. As someone well-versed in navigating the drug development course, Dr. Kawas stands behind embedding patient voices throughout the sequence rather than limiting their say. She has put this belief into practice during her leadership tenures and continues advocating for it today within Propel’s portfolio companies.
Dr. Kawas’ patient-minded approach is partly rooted in recognizing that people now actively inform themselves about medical conditions and therapies via technology. This knowledge exchange transpires through social media, forums, and advocacy groups. Since patients have meaningful firsthand experiences, Dr. Kawas argues their systematic inclusion will generate treatments better suited to their preferences and hurdles. Her background also shows that patients directly enhance or hinder a drug’s path according to their willingness to join clinical trials necessary for gathering data. Consequently, she calls for patients to help shape these studies in a manner conducive to recruitment and retention.
While at Athira, Dr. Kawas’ team implemented her patient-centric philosophy by supplying meals for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers throughout a trial. This tactic removed a participation barrier posed by needing to prepare food amid other obligations. Her leadership stimulated the view that patient satisfaction constitutes the primary indicator of success. Financial valuations will logically follow suit if patients positively respond to a treatment.
Dr. Kawas guides Propel’s young companies to embrace patients as vital stakeholders within their developmental sequences. She stands ready to help firms remove patient-reported logistical, communicative, or knowledge-based obstacles. Through Dr. Kawas’ mentoring, incorporating patient insights earlier and more consistently will build productive and pragmatic treatments that, in turn, thrive in the marketplace. Ultimately, the future of drug development must hinge on amplifying patient voices.
