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Advocacy

Medications are effective only when people can access them. Ensuring patients can navigate the growing complexity of the healthcare system is key to improving access to these treatments.

At Johnson & Johnson, we recognise that we are just one stakeholder in a highly complex healthcare ecosystem. While we cannot change everything ourselves, as one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, we have a unique influence and responsibility to advocate on behalf of patients for improved health outcomes. We recognise the true value of medicines lies in their availability to those who need them.

In today's ever-evolving world, effective advocacy is instrumental to encourage active participation in health planning, legislation, services delivery and education to advance health for all. We support patient groups to advocate for initiatives and reforms which streamline and simplify the healthcare system, removing obstacles that prevent patients from receiving the vital treatments they require.

How we advocate

We tackle society’s most pressing health challenges by taking an evidence based approach to advocacy. We connect big ideas to the resources necessary to make them a reality to advance access to good health for all. Examples of how we advocate include:

Accelerating Access to Innovative Medicines:

We commissioned BioIntelect to explore current approaches to reimbursement for new and promising medicines in Australia and internationally. The resulting report, Accelerating Access to Innovative Medicines, analyses Australia's current reimbursement pathways and compares them with international policies to accelerate access to medicines. The report highlights that Australians are waiting longer for funded access to new medicines following regulatory approval than most OECD countries.

Car-T Therapy: Is Australia ready, willing and able?:

We commissioned Evohealth to explore the current state of CAR T-cell therapy in Australia, expected opportunities and our healthcare system's preparedness for delivering CAR T-cell therapy at scale. The resulting report highlights that for Australians to benefit from this innovative treatment, CAR T-cell therapy must be funded and made available to suitable patients in public hospitals. Importantly, the report draws attention to research that shows patients living with multiple myeloma and other blood cancers do not have time to wait.

Getting Australia to the front of the queue:

We commissioned Shawview Consulting to develop this report as we recognized the difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of strengthening our healthcare system. This report emphasizes the chance to advance the nation's health policies and funding mechanisms to build a better society and economy for all Australians. Australia must adopt a robust, collaborative approach towards medical technology in its policies and evaluation processes concerning medicines, vaccines, and medical devices.

Shed your Fears:

As part of our Get Psorted program, the Shed Your Fears campaign is designed to raise awareness of psoriasis, challenge attitudes, and empower people living with psoriasis to get connected and find the support they need.

Australia's Patient Voice Initiative (PVI):

Johnson & Johnson are proud long-time partners of the PVI. PVI's mission is to bring together patients, health consumer organisations (patient groups), academia, and the government to gain the patients' perspective on the value of medicines. The PVI drives critical dialogue with the government on improving the patient voice. To assist patients and patient advocacy groups in contributing to the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process in Australia, PVI hosts a series of round table educational meetings.