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Auto-Injector Patient Services
User Research
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Team: Alexion (AstraZeneca Rare Disease)
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Background: Alexion was developing a new drug for a rare, debilitating disease. Traditionally, patients with this disease would travel to a clinic and receive an hour-long IV infusion. To increase patients' autonomy and access to care, Alexion decided that this new drug would be administered by patients at home using an auto-injector. Auto-injectors are notoriously finicky – for various reasons the devices often fail to administer the full dose of the drug to patients. For patients who use auto-injectors to administer medication for migraines and psoriasis, missing a dose is unfortunate but not life threatening. Alexion's patients, however, cannot afford to miss a dose. Alexion needed to solve this problem, but did not have the resources to completely redesign the auto-injector device itself.
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Challenge: How might Alexion leverage existing tools and techniques to maximize their patients' ability to successfully self-administer medication using an auto-injector?
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1. Patient Journey
What does the auto-injector patient journey look like?
What challenges do patients encounter?
Researching
I did not have access auto-injector patients to interview. However, I did have my computer. Facebook and Reddit are home to various support groups for auto-injector patients to share their experiences, voice their concerns, and seek guidance from peers. I spent weeks scrubbing these pages for first-person accounts about what using an auto-injector is like and took notes of my findings.
To get a better idea of how auto-injectors are meant to work, I turned to pharmaceutical company websites which (sometimes) have detailed, step-by-step guides on how to use auto-injectors.
Analyzing
After my initial research, I began to use various frameworks to paint a more detailed picture of the auto-injector patient experience. I began to notice that there were certain concentrated pain points – moments in the life of auto-injector users that were regularly challenging for many patients. For example, auto-injectors must be constantly refrigerated before use. This makes traveling with auto-injectors difficult, as portable refrigeration is rarely accessible. Some patients miss or delay the administration of their medication when they travel. I also noticed that patients often faced challenges at the moment of injection – some felt so much pain that they simply stopped taking the medication, some mentioned that the medication leaked out of the injector and failed to enter their body.
I also examined the the factors that go in to a patient's decision of whether to continue with IV infusions or switch to auto-injections.
As part of my analysis, I composed a comprehensive timeline of the auto-injector patient's experience. This, of course, was a cyclical timeline, as patients use auto-injectors for much of their lives. The timeline highlighted the various potential pain points that that might hinder a patient's administration.
Synthesizing
After completing my analysis, I put all of my findings together in a slide deck that was shown to management.
2. Existing Patient Services
What services do other companies offer to support patients?
How do these services empower patients to overcome challenges?
Researching
Online peer support groups were full of home-brew remedies to overcome the obstacles patients face. Additionally, other pharmaceutical companies with existing auto-injector medications offer services to ease patients' experiences.
I did an extensive search into these existing services.
Analyzing
I compiled these findings into a comprehensive catalogue of drugs with auto-injector administration options, as well as the patients services their manufacturers' offer through the entirety of the patient experience timeline.
Synthesizing
I illustrated my findings in a slide deck which was shown to management.