17th annual eyeforpharma Philadelphia (Commercial, Digital and Patients)

Apr 16, 2019 - Apr 17, 2019, Philadelphia

800+ pharma leaders join together to discuss how to revolutionize the patient experience – and, accordingly, their commercial performance.

Strength In Numbers

A collaboration to thwart the transmission of leprosy wins the Most Valuable Collaboration award



Every year over 200,000 people are newly diagnosed with leprosy, including thousands of children. Additionally, 2-3 million people live with a physical disability and are stigmatized because of the disease.

In an effort to stem the spread of the disease, Novartis Foundation launched the Leprosy Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (LPEP) project in 2014, which, for the first time, aligned eight of the most affected countries — Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.

The scale and success of the project has not gone unnoticed. At our annual awards show in Barcelona last week it was crowned the Most Valuable Collaboration.  

In their closing remarks, the panel of expert judges — comprising patients, patient advocates, healthcare professionals and senior pharma executives — said: “Incredible collaboration with tremendous impact. We need more of this. Thank you for leading the way.” 

Picking up the award on behalf of her team, Arielle Cavaliero, Global Project Lead at the Novartis Foundation, said: “The entire leprosy project team has worked for four years and this is really the capstone of a lot of hard work.”

Reflecting on why the award is important, she said, “It is encouraging because it legitimises the role of collaboration for success. It is not just a nice-to-have or an accessory. It comes as additional motivation for all partners involved and the entire leprosy community. By having this award, the pharmaceutical industry is pushing it to the forefront. For that I am very grateful.” 

The program provides preventative treatment to close contacts of newly diagnosed patients – such as family members or friends – to decrease the risk of transmission. The data collected from the project is being used to assess the feasibility of contact tracing and the provision of preventative treatment for leprosy under routine conditions in several countries, and to determine its impact on leprosy.

Rolling out the National Leprosy Programs in eight countries involved aligning with global healthcare systems and a wealth of regional partners.

In 2018, the LPEP strategy was included in the first World Health Organization (WHO) Global Guidelines for the Prevention of Leprosy. This marked a significant change in global policy and formally recognized a new approach to leprosy elimination following decades without reform.

The other finalists for the Most Valuable Collaboration award were:

Householder Health Ambassadors —Horizon Marketing Solutions, CABA Association andSanofi Pasteur joined forcesto establish a robust, reliable and resourceful information hub for household decision makers on family health.

Travel with IBD — a collaboration between Crohn’s & Colitis UK, Takeda UK, IBD Passport and Aurora mobilised the travel industry to take key actions that would make a real difference to people living with IBD.

Next Generation Scientist Program— To foster scientific and professional development and to build global health scientific capabilities, Novartis supported an intensive fellowship programme in collaboration with the University of Basel.

Providing high quality and sustainable care for stable HIV patients — ViiV Healthcare and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust undertook a joint project to develop a new model of care that better meets the needs of HIV patients. The result was a nurse-led, technology-enabled service centred around an Annual Review consultation to provide an all-round ‘health MOT’.

You can find out about our upcoming North American awards here



17th annual eyeforpharma Philadelphia (Commercial, Digital and Patients)

Apr 16, 2019 - Apr 17, 2019, Philadelphia

800+ pharma leaders join together to discuss how to revolutionize the patient experience – and, accordingly, their commercial performance.