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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Case studies

Focus on the Patient programme

Our Focus on the Patient programme helps our R&D employees understand patient needs and inspires them to do more to help improve the lives of patients.

In 2008 we held 12 seminars where patients visited GSK sites to help our R&D employees understand the realities of living with their illness. The seminars included discussions on breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV/AIDS, inflammatory bowel disease, schizophrenia, epilepsy, meningitis, hepatitis C, pulmonary hypertension, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and migraine headaches. There were over 4,640 attendees at these seminars.

We have also held lunchtime sessions to develop ideas and actions. One session prompted the organisation of a seminar at our site in Verona, Italy, providing insight for local scientists developing medicines for sleep disorders and depression. Another idea led to ‘Patient Empowered’, a project to improve patients’ experience in GSK clinical trials, through patient-focused study design and simplified patient-directed communications.

To inform our employees about the patients they are helping through their work in R&D, regular monthly bulletins highlight key medicines in our pipeline and how they will meet the needs of patients. This helps to motivate employees by reminding them about the importance of their work.

A survey of R&D employees showed over 50% of respondents felt that there was an increase in patient focus across the businesses through greater application of patient focus in work processes and the development of medicines.

Clinical Study Register

It is important that the results of all studies that evaluate medicines are in the public domain. This enables the information to be used to help inform medical judgement and advance medical science.

Traditionally, publication in scientific and medical journals has been sought but there are well recognised limitations:

• Have all studies been published by researchers?
• What if it is not possible to publish a study in a peer reviewed journal?

Posting a summary of each study on the internet when it is initiated enables all studies to be tracked to publication. Studies that are not publicly disclosed can be identified and researchers called to account.

Posting the results after the study is completed means that results are in the public domain, whether or not the study is accepted for publication. GSK provides an online Clinical Study Register, which now contains the results of over 3,000 trials, covering over 100 GSK products dating back to 2000 when the company was formed. Launched in 2004, we are pleased that the site has been a success and our latest figures show that the site is receiving over 25,000 visitors a month.

In 2008 we took further steps to build on our commitment to the transparency of clinical research:

• To help people quickly find the information they need, we launched a revised version of the Clinical Study Register, which includes an improved user interface making it easier for users to find information by disease area or medicine
• We are adding observational research and meta-analyses that evaluate our medicines and studies of terminated compounds to the Register. This adds to our current commitment to post-protocol summaries and summary results of all GSK’s clinical trials (phases l-lV) for our marketed medicines

However, the disclosure of research protocols and results online should be seen as a supplement and not a replacement for the need to publish studies in peer reviewed journals. We believe that the level of public disclosure achieved through posting results on our Register alone is below that achieved through papers published in peer reviewed journals which more fully explain a study and places the results in context.

GSK aims to publish our clinical research of our medicines as more comprehensive papers in peer reviewed journals. When studies are not published we will provide context and interpretation via our register.