From the patient’s perspective; Haemophilia February 12, 2019 There are an estimated 400,000 people worldwide living with haemophilia, with approximately 6,000 sufferers in the UK alone. Haemophilia is an inherited disorder that affects the body’s ability to clot. Usually, when someone cuts themselves, clotting factors and platelets combine to make the blood stickier and stop the bleeding. However, in haemophiliacs, the bleeding episodes last longer due to abnormal clotting, and bruising and spontaneous bleeding can also occur too. The main problem for haemophiliacs is internal bleeding into joints, muscles and soft tissues, which can cause pain and stiffness and ultimately lead to joint damage. To better our understanding of the patient’s perspective when it comes to market research studies, we spoke to someone who recently took part in haemophilia research with GKA. written by GKA Read more
Who’s who in Breast Cancer February 6, 2019 The lowdown Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with one person diagnosed every 10 minutes. Cancer Research UK predicts that one in eight women in the UK will develop breast cancer within their lifetimes, an increase of 50% over the last 25 years – making breast cancer market research a fast-growing fieldwork area. There are around 55,000 new cases of breast cancer reported in women in the UK every year, and although it’s much less common in men, there are still 390 male cases reported each year. written by GKA Read more
Biosimilars: what are they and what do they mean for the NHS? January 31, 2019 What are biosimilars? A biological medicine is a type of treatment for long-term medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis that’s given via a drip or an injection pen. A biosimilar medicine is simply a newer version of the original biological drug: as the name suggests, it’s highly similar to EMA-approved biological medicines in terms of safety, purity and potency, and it works in much the same way. There are no clinically meaningful differences, just minor differences in clinically inactive components being allowed, and they have to go through the same rigorous scientific assessments before becoming available on the market. So how are they different to biological drugs? Well, instead of being created using chemical synthesis, biosimilars are synthesised from living organisms or their products, such as hormones, proteins yeast or bacteria. As a result, the molecules within the drug could vary slightly between different batches, which means research and development takes an average of about 10 years. In addition, biosimilars can only become available once a branded drug patent expires – and according to Pfizer, approximately 100 biologic products will lose patent or other protections by 2022, which means newer and cheaper biosimilar products will soon become available. written by GKA Read more
Five reasons recruitment has been difficult for your fieldwork project January 28, 2019 Are you finding your medical fieldwork recruitment harder than you expected? Or perhaps you are unsure as to why your recruitment agency is taking so long to recruit your sample? Don’t worry – recruitment can be tricky at the best of times, and when it comes to sourcing high-quality respondents for healthcare market research, it can be even more frustrating. From busy HCPs to rare therapy areas, there’s so much to think about that sometimes when it comes to figuring where you might have tripped up, you can’t see for looking. And that’s exactly why we’ve written this blog! Read on and discover the five most common reasons why your medical fieldwork recruitment might be a little bit more difficult than you expected – and what you can do to fix it! written by GKA Read more
The history of the NHS January 24, 2019 Technically, the NHS officially began on 5th July 1948. Prior to this, local governments were responsible for running their hospitals, which meant that many hospitals weren’t adequately equipped, struggled to cater for people’s needs and were inaccessible for the poor. It also meant the quality of care varied hugely from place to place, with rural areas having very limited access to hospitals and healthcare. written by GKA Read more
The arrival of 5G and what it means for healthcare December 18, 2018 Thanks to apps, wearables and other connected devices, patients have never been in more control of their health. All of this new technology in the healthcare industry has huge benefits for stakeholders. So, if the industry wants to keep up with patient demands, it needs to reduce costs and improve efficiency – and next generation networks such as 5G are set to be a pivotal part of this transformation. written by GKA Read more