12:00 ? 13:00 Registration and lunch / networking 13:00 ? 13:45 How is PATIENT ENGAGEMENT changing the pharma industry? Presentation by: Mitchell Silva, co-founder of Esperity There is more and more evidence that involving patients in all phases of the lifecycle in drug development can have a measurable impact, not only for patients, but for all stakeholders involved. There are several initiatives ? patient-led, governmental-led and industry-led ? that are creating an ecosystem that encourages patient participation, trying to turn patient-centricity into a reality. However, from an internal organisation perspective there is need for more effort to truly involve patients in a structural way. One of the blocking factors is that industry profiles are trained to be careful when interacting with patients, leading to a lot of misconception on ways to collect patient insights. To be innovative, the industry needs to develop patient solutions that matter. Mitchell Silva is co-founder of Esperity, a platform to encourage patients to find peer support, find clinical trials and to promote self-tracking. He also is a patient expert for patient organisations and the pharmaceutical industry to support organisations to develop a clear patient engagement strategy and turn this into reality. Mitchell is also the chair of the Belgian EUPATI national platform. He has a PhD in bio-engineering from the KULeuven. 13:45 ? 14:30 Q&A