• A successful Pharma of the future requires a much different, authentic form of patient engagement
• Patient-centric leadership is fully embedded across CSL’s organization since its start 100 years ago

In a keynote address on patient-centric leadership at the eyeforpharma Philadelphia Summit, CSL Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Paul Perreault called on fellow industry leaders to do much more to connect with and learn from patients.

“We cannot sit in a conference room and understand what the needs are in healthcare if we haven’t actually gone out to talk directly with patients,” said Perreault.

Perreault noted an important paradigm shift in healthcare from doing “to” and “for” patients to a more engaging environment of doing things “WITH” patients. This shift is especially relevant in rare disease communities, where patients are often already well educated on their condition when they come in for an appointment with their physician.

“Our industry has the opportunity to step up and provide more robust and accurate information to educate not only our patient populations, but the healthcare community as well,” Perreault said.

This engagement involves educating patients, but also acting as a facilitator, adding value for the community. CSL Behring developed several platform programs based on direct patient input designed to improve patient well-being and their health outcomes. One example is the “Common Factors” program, a unique collection of educational events dedicated to bringing members of the bleeding disorders community together through live venues and online forums. It’s important because many patients with bleeding disorders have never met another person with the same condition. These patients often want to gain a better understanding of what others are going through. The events provide tremendous opportunities to engage and interact with patients and the community, and to gain valuable insights that could lead to the enhancement of current products and the development of new ones.

Listening to patients was the impetus for CSL Behring’s developing and delivering the first concentrated subcutaneous immunoglobulin. This revolutionized treatment by allowing patients to self-administer their medications according to their schedule at a time that was convenient for them versus having to travel to an infusion center or scheduling an appointment with a home care practitioner.

In April 2016, CSL commemorated 100 years of developing and delivering innovative therapies to treat people with life-threatening medical conditions and help them live full lives. “Because of the critical nature of our products and because we were created to serve the needs of people, CSL right from the start innately understood the importance of being patient-centric,” said Perreault.

Perreault encouraged fellow leaders to routinely make efforts to connect patients with staff at all levels, such as inviting patients to town hall meetings to tell their stories. “Our medicines are not discretionary -- they are a necessity. Patients rely on our biotherapies for their quality of life and, in many cases, for life itself. CSL’s 100-year track record would not have been possible without patients at the center of everything we do. I tell our people that they should work every day like a patient’s life depends on it because it usually does. I can’t think of a better motivator.”

About CSL Behring

CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader which is driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients’ needs by using the latest technologies, we develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn.

CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs more than 16,000 people with operations in more than 30 countries. For more information visit www.CSLBehring.com and follow us on www.Twitter.com/CSLBehring.

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Contact:

Natalie de Vane
CSL Behring
Office: 610-878-4468
Mobile: 610-999-8756
Email: Natalie.deVane@cslbehring.com