OAFI and Nestlé Health Science Sign a Collaboration Agreement to Include Patient Perspective in Joint Health Product Development

Last January, the OAFI Foundation and Nestlé Health Science signed a collaboration agreement whose main objective is to include the perspective of patients with joint health problems in the development of mobility products, as well as in the implementation of annual actions aimed at improving the quality of life of patients with joint problems.

Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that already affects more than 7 million people in our country, with a total of 500 million affected worldwide. With the advent of Covid-19, these figures have been aggravated: currently, patients with osteoarthritis face a delay in diagnosis of 3 years.
Faced with this reality, which highlights the need to seek effective solutions to a growing problem, Nestlé Health Science and OAFI have taken the initiative to create a link between the company and the affected patients.

A growing number of organizations and professionals are supporting the incorporation of the perspective of affected patients in clinical research, trials and other studies. “Patients live with and are experts in their ailments on a daily basis; this knowledge should be embraced and valued throughout the care process, as well as in the design and execution of research studies, involving patients in science”1. For this reason, the agreement between Nestlé Health Science and the OAFI Foundation will be a way to increase the voice of patients and give them the visibility they deserve.

The collaboration includes various communication and outreach activities to strengthen the relationship between the company and the patients during 2022: creation of educational content aimed at consumers and pharmacists, participation in OAFI radio programs, informative talks on joint health at congresses, symposia and other meetings. In addition, Nestlé Health Science will receive preliminary advice and expertise from the OAFI Foundation in the field of osteoarthritis and joint health in the early stages of product development to include the joint patient perspective.

About Nestlé Health Science
Nestlé Health Science – whose purpose is to develop pioneering projects to boost the value of nutrition by offering personalized nutritional solutions to address health problems – aims to respond to the nutritional challenges of the 21st century, while maintaining its commitment to R&D.

Nestlé Health Science is at the forefront of therapeutic nutrition and develops solutions adapted to the specific nutritional needs of people, always based on the best scientific evidence, which it makes available to them with the help of healthcare professionals.For more information about Nestlé Health Science and its brands, visit: https://www.nestlehealthscience.es.

Read the press release here

_{1 Vitaloni, Marianna. Promoting Patient and Public Involvement in the research process. BMC Series Blog. BMC. June 3rd 2021. Available here: https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2021/06/03/promoting-patient-and-public-involvement-in-the-research-process/}