5QQ: Quick Questions to… William Hind, CEO, Alpharmaxim Healthcare Communications

Interview with William Hind: Innovating Healthcare Communications Through Behavioral Science

Location: Manchester, UK

In this interview, we explore the journey of William Hind , CEO of Alpharmaxim Healthcare Communications. William discusses the inspiration behind their latest initiative, the Healthcare Behaviour Insights Tool (H-BIT), developed in collaboration with Aston University, to revolutionize how communications address barriers in adopting new medical therapies. He shares insights on navigating challenges, leveraging behavioral science to enhance communication effectiveness, and the anticipated impact on the pharmaceutical sector. Additionally, William offers advice for aspiring leaders on driving innovation and fostering meaningful change in their industries.

What motivated the development of your latest business initiative or project, and what were its primary objectives?

Alpharmaxim has worked on developing communications in prelaunch and launch activities since its founding in 2001. To address how to uncover the key unmet needs we developed the Belief Continuum ® process in 2007. As the complexity of scientific advancement has gathered pace (for example with things such as gene therapy and the many novel uses of immune-therapies), so too has the complexity of the barriers to adoption. Behavior change has also become increasingly used to define how to plan communications campaigns to tackle these challenges.

Alpharmaxim partnered with Aston University, School of Psychology, in research supported by UK Research and Innovation (a government body) to develop a validated tool that utilizes the latest behavioral science to pick apart the barriers, determine their components and, importantly, determine the proven best communication approaches to overcome them. This tool is known as the Healthcare Behaviour Insights Tool (H-BIT) and has been built to be applicable in any disease area.

What significant obstacles did your team encounter during this project, and how did you address them?

There are two main challenges. The first challenge was that to be successful, the research had to be able to triangulate the data and show lived experiences. It also had to be statistically relevant. To overcome these challenges, we undertook the research in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s. This enabled us to look at the barriers to adopting new therapies in an area with different techniques, as well as having a large enough base to make it valid and applicable for use in more specialized diseases, including rare diseases where the numbers would have been too low.

How do you anticipate this initiative will impact your industry, and what long-term benefits do you expect?

The bio-pharma sector relies on data and evidence to support the communication of all new assets. Yet communications are often chosen by a matter of habit. Using behavioral science correctly will change this for the better. The communications will be built on behavior change techniques, which means they will be more effective at achieving the desired behavior change.

Our process is very straight forward. We set out with clients the behavior changes that we wish to see, then through the methodology we have determined we review the barriers that may prevent that change. These barriers are then analyzed to determine the behavioral components, which then in turn leads to determining the behavioral interventions. These behavioral interventions show you which behavior change techniques to employ in the communication tactics and are proven to work. This will mean the communications can achieve more effect with less effort, demonstrate RoI and ultimately be able to ensure the right medicines reach the right patients at the right time.

How did you approach ensuring the successful launch and adoption of this project

Alpharmaxim has strong belief in the ability of the bio-pharma sector to improve the lives of many patients, as well as their careers and families. We defined our purpose within this sector.  We want to make a real difference to patients, families and professionals by helping healthcare clients fulfil their promises through great narratives that will challenge and change behaviors.

Having this resolve with us, enables the teams to translate that into the work we do across the sector and brings a focus to what we do.

What advice would you give to aspiring business leaders looking to innovate and drive change in their industries?

Define your purpose, your “Why” and hold on to that. While it may not end up being the same as you first thought it is what you can hang onto.

Thank you William!