Elephants and Tea - December 2022 - 27

PATIENTS FIRST Conversation
went on to explain the heroic efforts she
heard Servier has made to ensure hospitals
receive the medications they need for their
patients in a timely manner. As a mother of
eight children, including a daughter who is
a survivor of leukemia, Ruth understands
from personal experience how vital the
drugs to help fight childhood cancers are.
Jessica Bartley, Director of Biologics
and Steriles External Manufacturing at
Servier, shared an incredible story of Servier's
valiant efforts to deliver a critical
cancer medication during the height of
the pandemic. Some medications cannot
sit on a shelf for an extended period of
time, which makes it impossible to have
medication warehoused. In essence, it is
made just in time to get to patients. Jessica
explained that a specific shipment of
medicine that had been shipped needed to
be stored frozen, and the location where
the massive shipment was diverted to due
to a storm did not have the capabilities
to store it properly.
Servier employees worked tirelessly
to figure out what to do. Finally, one of
their phone calls produced a lead. " We
explained what the product was, who it
was for, and this individual figured out
a way to get the drug into the appropriate
storage freezer, " Jessica explained.
Because Servier thought outside the box
and brainstormed what they could do
differently to solve the problem, eight
thousand patients were able to get their
dose of the drug they needed on time.
Jessica went on to say, " No one knew
each other, but what we did know is that
this was a medicine for cancer patients,
and we had to do whatever it took to get
it where it needed to be. " It is clear that
Servier Pharmaceuticals goes above and
beyond their typical call of duty. Their
dedication to their patients is visible in
all that they do.
Every decision Servier makes as
an organization is for the benefit of
the patients they serve.
Servier continues to make decisions that
will further benefit patients in the pediatric,
adolescent, and young adult cancer
communities. According to Jessica Bartley,
Director of Biologics and Steriles External
Manufacturing at Servier, treatment
transitions the organization is making will
" Servier is one of the only companies who truly does
embrace real-life heroes...What's driving them is NOT
the investor dollar and profit margins, what's driving
them is helping families and making a difference in
the lives of children and young adults with cancer. "
- Ruth Hoffman, CEO of American Childhood Cancer Organization
benefit the patients they serve and help to
ensure that no patients go without a needed
therapy. " From a manufacturing operations
perspective, we will finally be able to
build an inventory of treatment and minimize
the risk of medication shortages. If
there is ever an issue, a storm, a lack of
materials for making the medicine, we will
have a backup supply, " she said. Coming
from an operations standpoint, the security
of supply is vital. " It takes the risk out
of the equation... to have a risk that means
patients may have to go without lifesaving
therapy is not what's best for patients, " she
said confidently.
The pandemic has had an enormous
impact on operations and raw materials to
make medicines, causing the manufacturing
department to encounter many issues
over the past few years. " Working with
steriles and biologics manufacturing, it
is such a highly controlled process, once
you start, you have to finish making the
medicine, " explained Jessica. This meant
that staff was working overtime in order
to keep up with demand. With raw materials
being prioritized by the federal
government for COVID-19 vaccine production,
those who were manufacturing
medicines had to put their heads together
to find solutions. When you are working
with a life-saving product, creativity goes
into overdrive to be sure to keep up with
demand. " Everyone activated everything
they could think of... We tried to reduce
consumption of certain ingredients, we
tried to change how to use a raw material,
we even worked with regulatory
agencies...Anything we could think of to
expedite the process to get the product
into the hands of the people who need it
most, " Jessica said. " Up until this point,
the stakes have been incredibly high
because any delay we undergo, you are
looking at patient impact, " she explained.
Eric Chow, Senior Medical Science Liaison
at Servier, ensured that the organization
is being incredibly proactive about
informing physicians about medication
transitions the organization undergoes.
He explained, " we are in a time when
drug shortages occur frequent ly. " He
went on to say that institutions are often
unaware that the shortage occurs until an
order for a specific medication that was
placed doesn't show up. " This is such a
disservice, " Eric said. " I have been in that
situation as a pharmacist where you are
scrambling to find an alternative for your
patients, and it is not a good feeling or a
good place to be. " Colleagues nationwide
are facing this same dilemma. " I think
for us, " he explained, " we recognize
the challenges of manufacturing these
types of drugs ... the public may not be
as attuned as to what is going on and the
difficulties behind the scenes, and up
until now, we have been able to avert the
shortage hitting at the patient level. When
possible, transitioning to products with
a longer shelf life will help to overcome a
lot of the inherent challenges previously
encountered. " Ruth Hoffman also shared
that, " Servier wants to make sure there
are no drug shortages going forward. The
steps they are taking to ensure they can
promise that are in the heroic category ...
they are doing it for the right reasons. "
At Servier, the patient voice is an
essential pillar of the organization.
Everything Servier does is an effort to make
the patient experience better; not even just
about the medicine, but about the whole
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Elephants and Tea - December 2022

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