Abstract
Launched by NI Health Minister in 2020, the goal of the HSC Industry Partnership Agreement is to develop and accelerate improvements to the health and wellbeing of patients affected by conditions under the care of the HSC System who are from all over the UK although predominantly from Northern Ireland. Subsequently, our findings will be shared to benefit patients affected by these conditions more widely throughout the UK and globally.
The Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre (MOIC) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) convened an HSC Industry Steering Group to address the regional priorities for health conditions in NI, and working together introduce transformative medicines-related innovations across the HSC system, resulting in a triple win for patients, the service and the economy.
The objectives of the Partnership will be best achieved through adopting a systematic approach to the improvement of health outcomes through the managed adoption of innovation – in diagnosis, treatment and coordination of care, underpinned by research and evaluation.
The partners within the HSC Industry Partnership will work together to achieve the following aims:
•Rapid and consistent patient access to innovation
•More effective use of HSC resources
•Increased cross sector research collaboration
•Step change in the pace and consistency of adoption of evidence based innovative medicines and technologies
The Partnership is an ‘alliance of the willing’. All parties agree voluntarily to work together to achieve the shared vision of measurably improved outcomes for people affected by identified conditions.
The HSC Industry Partnership will create a ‘Portal’ process, acting as a conduit for collaborative proposals to improve the health outcomes for patients originating from all the partner organisations.
Through this process, as appropriate, the ABPI will ensure that such proposals are swiftly, fairly and transparently disseminated to ABPI member companies with an interest in the disease area in the form of ‘Invitations to Respond’. This process will serve as a mechanism for partners to rapidly assess whether there is industry interest in developing collaborative initiatives at a formative stage.
The Partnership was created in recognition of opportunities for NI to become a thriving health and life ecosystem to the benefits of patients, HSC and the economy. The opportunities will depend on effective stakeholder collaboration. All partners acknowledge and fully support the wide range of legal and governance requirements that already exist to guide interaction between industry and the HSC.
Collaborations arising from the Partnership will be in accordance with the following principles:
•Rigor – partnership work will be evidence-based and underpinned by transparent governance to ensure collaborations have a firm foundation.
•Ambition – a shared goal of, driving evidence-based innovation into practice and generating evidence of the impact of innovation on patient outcomes.
•Transparency – All proceedings undertaken and the results of all initiatives and collaborations, will be published when complete, subject to respecting commercial in confidence information.
•Fairness – Initiatives undertaken will be conducted with equality of opportunity and appropriate access to all participants, companies and organisations.