Our commitment to patients:
Galapagos’ first Patient Partnership Day!

We are excited to announce the successful conclusion of Galapagos’ first Patient Partnership Day!

On November 15th, our headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium, became a vibrant hub of insightful discussions as we welcomed over 100 participants ranging from over 40 patient organisations and Galapagos employees with the aim of discussing and proposing ways forward for an improved patient engagement relationship.

Key takeaways from the day

We heard many insightful and thought-provoking ideas from the patient community and from our Galapagos colleagues! Here are just a few we wanted to share:

• We are proud of the steps Galapagos is taking to embed patient engagement in all aspects of our medicine’s lifecycle, such as with the development of our Patient Engagement Roadmap, which is going into its second year, and our ongoing partnership with the Patient Engagement Council (PEC) members. We are happy to be seen as an industry frontrunner committed to patient engagement. However, there is still much more to be done.
• The patient voice has an increasingly central role in the healthcare landscape. At Galapagos we acknowledge that putting the patient at the centre of the shared decision-making process is crucial to develop better therapies for the right patients by taking into account the patient’s experiences and preferences.
• As a company, we recognize we have a role to play in bringing the patient and medical communities together to share their complementary expertise and perspective at the same table.
• A positive patient experience is closely linked to the relationship with healthcare professionals – a positive relationship based on respect is key, and nurses have a crucial role to play in educating patients to ensure they can make informed decisions, due to the close proximity to patients.
• Finding a common language between pharmaceutical companies such as Galapagos, the patient community and the medical community is key to ensure shared decision making, as equal partners.
• The event was a success, but as a company truly committed to patient engagement, we must build on this momentum to continue our partnership with the patient community by embedding patient engagement in our daily work, across the company.