Consider the following profile for patients

Hypothetically, imagine a future scenario where a treatment is available:

This medication is used to treat adults who have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. It works by blocking a protein in your body called TNF-alpha, which is involved in inflammation and immune responses. You will receive this medication through an intravenous infusion (a drip) in the hospital. Initially you'll get a dose of 30mg at the start and then another dose after one month. After that, you'll receive a dose of 30mg every two months.

Studies have shown that this treatment is potentially more effective than the standard treatment with methotrexate. About 60% of patients experienced improvement in their symptoms after one month, and this improvement was continued for up to two years. Additionally, 30% of patients achieved clinical remission, meaning their disease activity was very low, by the end of one year.

Key takeaways

If profiles are to be shown to patients:

• The depth and wording of information displayed should be appropriate to the audience (e.g. clinical endpoints are unlikely to be appropriate)
• Additional care should be taken to ensure the profile and discussion does not raise unfounded patient expectations (e.g. patients leaving the discussion feeling a cure for a condition is in development)