- It is a pleasure speaking to you Janice. Can you please shortly present yourself to the audience?
It’s a pleasure to speak with you and thank you for having me. I’ve spent the past 35 years working across global life science companies, from big pharma to biotech and med-tech, helping teams shape ambitious commercialisation strategies for their innovations. Along the way, I’ve developed a particular passion for unlocking cross-disciplinary collaboration — creating the kind of shared thinking that helps great ideas truly take flight and ensures that commercialisation strategies are cohesive, grounded, and ready for scrutiny.
I’m also the founder of Nmblr, a new strategy platform built to help teams move as one to develop a commercialisation strategy that maximises the value of an asset or innovation. When I talk about value, I mean it in the broadest and most meaningful sense: ensuring the right patients receive the right treatment; generating system-level value through payer, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and guideline integration; and ultimately supporting strong financial outcomes, through Net Present Value (NPV), peak sales and payback. My work — and now Nmblr — is all about bringing those dimensions together so innovations can reach their full potential.
- In your view, why is achieving multidisciplinary alignment critical to the success of digital health and patient safety initiatives?
For me, multidisciplinary alignment is absolutely essential because the challenges we face in healthcare today are simply too complex for any one group to solve alone. Digital health and patient safety initiatives touch clinical practice, technology, operations, reimbursement and patients’ experiences. That means siloed expertise isn’t enough; we need collective ambition and a shared sense of purpose.
When diverse stakeholders come together around a common goal, they unlock solutions that reflect the full spectrum of patient needs and operational realities. The result is innovation that’s not only more impactful, but also more durable in real-world settings. By contrast, if even one stakeholder group is out of step, we see the familiar consequences: slow adoption, risky workarounds, underused data, or promising pilots that never scale.
When I talk about alignment, I don’t mean universal agreement. It’s about having clarity on the shared purpose, the critical assumptions, and the trade-offs we’re willing to make. When that clarity exists, decisions move faster, resistance drops, and digital health and patient safety initiatives have a far greater chance of truly improving outcomes, rather than adding another layer of complexity.
- Can you elaborate on the concept of “moving as one” in the healthcare ecosystem, and how it reshapes the way biopharma companies approach commercialisation and patient outcomes?
For me, the idea of moving as one in the healthcare ecosystem is about creating a coordinated rhythm across every player – from discovery at the lab bench to decisions made at a patient’s bedside. In biopharma, it reframes commercialisation as a journey of aligned intention, where patient outcomes are achieved through synergy rather than fragmented effort.
It also encourages everyone involved in shaping a commercialisation strategy to see themselves as part of a broader movement. Individual strengths aren’t just added together, they’re amplified through purposeful collaboration.
In practice, this means developing a shared mental model of the patient and their journey across R&D, medical, safety, access, commercial teams and external partners. It means making joined-up decisions by bringing critical perspectives to the table earlier, so design, evidence, access and adoption are shaped in concert, not in sequence. It also means creating coherence in the value story we tell to ensure that what a payer hears aligns with what clinicians experience and what patients feel. And it requires continuous integration, using real-world data, patient feedback, and frontline insights to refine decisions on an ongoing basis rather than waiting for an annual review.
When biopharmas take this approach, success stops being defined by “Did we launch?” and is replaced by a far more meaningful question: “Did we activate the ecosystem – providers, digital tools, data flows, and services – in a way that measurably improves patient outcomes?
- Could you share real-world examples where lack of stakeholder alignment led to setbacks in patient safety or digital health adoption—and conversely, examples where synergy created measurable success?
There are vivid examples across the industry that illustrate just how pivotal stakeholder alignment is. When it falters, digital solutions typically fail to match the realities of clinical workflow, or patient safety protocols unravel due to miscommunication.
For instance, a pharma company I once worked with launched an app designed to support adherence in a chronic condition. The commercial team was focused on features, the safety team was anxious about potential liability, and the IT group was preoccupied with integration challenges. Each function had legitimate concerns, but no one was accountable for the holistic patient experience. As a result, adoption was low and the app quietly disappeared – despite the original intent being genuinely patient-centred.
Contrastingly, synergy between stakeholders – such as unified clinical, regulatory, and patient advisory teams – can fast-track solution uptake, improve safety metrics, and generate measurable patient benefit. An example that springs to mind is when I supported a cardiovascular remote monitoring programme that brought cardiologists, specialist nurses, IT, procurement, patient representatives and payers together from day one. They aligned on a single shared outcome: reducing avoidable readmissions and easing anxiety for high-risk patients. Together, they co-designed the data flows, escalation protocols, and patient education. Within the first year, the programme saw a meaningful reduction in readmissions and exceptionally strong patient satisfaction. The solution didn’t “belong” to one champion, it belonged to everyone.
The difference in every case comes down to a simple question: are we optimising for the needs of one function, or are we optimising for the patient and the health system as a whole?
- How can patient journey mapping be used as a strategic framework to identify key intervention points for digital health solutions?
Mapping the patient journey enables teams to pinpoint critical moments that matter, guiding digital health innovation to where it can truly change outcomes.
When used well, journey mapping doesn’t just inspire ideas; it becomes a strategic tool that crystallises opportunities for targeted intervention, whether at diagnosis, treatment initiation, or ongoing care – ensuring digital solutions are not simply promising, but also practical and timely for those who need them most.
The real impact comes when the journey map becomes a shared, living artefact across disciplines. When clinical, medical, safety, commercial, digital and operational teams all work from the same picture of the patient experience, they can prioritise investments where they genuinely move the needle – rather than where the technology happens to be most exciting.
- What are some of the most impactful “collaboration hotspots” you’ve observed where clinical, commercial, and patient insights effectively converged to solve healthcare challenges?
For me, true collaboration thrives at the intersection of clinical insight, commercial perspective and the lived experience of patients. That’s where ideas become grounded, balanced and genuinely impactful. Collaboration hotspots emerge when three conditions come together: a shared sense of urgency, shared data that anchors decisions in reality, and psychological safety that empowers people to speak openly.
When those elements align, something powerful happens. The distance that typically exists between functions, between organisations, between ‘strategy’ and the realities of patient experience collapses. Environments are created where people move faster, understand one another more deeply, and design solutions that resonate in the real world.
- How does Nmblr facilitate this kind of cross-functional alignment from early development through to market introduction?
Nmblr was created after seeing smart, committed teams struggle to think together effectively, especially across silos and geographies. It addresses this challenge by making purpose visible and by giving teams a shared framework that connects everyone from the earliest stages of ideation through to market introduction and beyond. With this approach, each function can contribute its expertise with clarity and move forward in concert rather than in conflict.
Practically, Nmblr does three things particularly well. First, it creates a shared “thinking space,” where everyone sees the same evolving picture rather than disconnected slide decks. Second, it surfaces misalignment early by making assumptions visible and showing where perspectives diverge. This is incredibly valuable, as it’s in the space between perspectives where the most important conversations live. And third, it connects strategy to day-to-day decisions. As teams move from idea to pilot to scale, Nmblr supports them to track learning, refine priorities, and stay anchored in the original purpose: improving outcomes and safety for specific patient groups.
In doing so, it empowers biopharma companies to reach peak sales faster and with greater confidence.
- As personalised medicine and value-based care evolve, what shifts do you foresee in how organisations must work together to develop and implement health innovations?
Personalised medicine and value-based care both require a different kind of collaboration, not just more of the same. We’ll see a shift from volume-focused conversations, around uptake and share, towards truly value-focused ones where teams across functions and geographies work together around outcome metrics, like fewer hospitalisations, improved function, and reduced complications.
We’ll also move from episodic care to continuous relationships. As therapies combine with digital tools to generate longitudinal data, biopharma, providers, payers and patients will need new, responsible, and transparent ways of sharing data, insight and even risk – responsibly and transparently.
Finally, as care becomes more personalised, organisations will need to move from central control to empowering local teams. These teams, whether clinical or commercial, will need greater autonomy to adapt pathways and support to their context, within clear strategic guardrails.
Ultimately, success will rely on collaborative networks that can learn in real time and pivot quickly – embracing innovation not only in science, but in how we work together.
- What are some practical steps teams can take today to ensure better alignment across stakeholders in their digital health or patient safety projects?
There are a few practical steps teams can take right away to build stronger alignment across stakeholders in digital health or patient safety projects. The first is to agree on one simple, shared outcome statement – your winning aspiration. Ask, “If this project is successful, in 3–5 years what will patients, clinicians, or the system experience, measurably?” Then keep that question at the top of every meeting agenda.
Second, create regular forums for genuine cross-functional dialogue. These should focus on shared outcome metrics, collaborative behaviours and signals from pilots, real-world use or safety data – not just status updates. Alignment begins with deliberate listening.
It also helps to build ‘alignment champions’ within teams and to use digital platforms that track progress, keeping stakeholders engaged and accountable day-to-day and project-to-project.
And finally, run ‘a day in the life’ exercises. Asking how the solution will actually show up for a nurse, patient, or pharmacist on a busy Monday morning quickly surfaces misaligned expectations and brings the conversation back to real-world impact.
- Your recent messaging highlights synchronisation over siloed strategies. What are some of the most common cultural or structural barriers to this kind of synchronised thinking, and how can they be overcome?
The barriers to synchronised thinking are rarely technical; they’re usually human and structural. One of the most common is misaligned incentives. Functions are measured on their own KPIs, even when those conflict with the simple shared outcome the organisation is trying to achieve. Fear of transparency is another. Sharing data or assumptions can feel risky, so people tend to stay in their lanes. And legacy governance structures often make it hard to respond quickly to cross-cutting opportunities or risks because decision rights were designed for a very different era.
The organisations that overcome these barriers typically do a few things well. They redefine success around shared outcomes and align part of their incentives and recognition to cross-functional results, such as improvement in a pathway, not just hitting functional deliverables. Their leaders model vulnerability by sharing uncertainty, inviting challenge, and celebrating what can be learned from experiments that don’t go as planned – making synchronised thinking safe. And they create cross-functional ownership teams – small squads of people, with clear accountability for a specific outcome, that cut across silos and are supported by leadership.
Synchronisation is a culture and a discipline, not a slogan. It’s something teams build through consistent practice.
- Finally, how do you envision the future of strategy development in healthcare—especially in the context of integrating real-time data, patient insights, and agile cross-functional collaboration?
I see the future of strategy development in healthcare shifting away from static plans and toward stewarding living systems of learning. Strategy will be shaped through real-time sensing rather than periodic review, with teams continuously integrating real-world evidence, patient-reported outcomes, and operational data and adjusting course in weeks, not years.
Co-creation with patients and partners will also become standard practice. Patients, caregivers, providers, and payers won’t just be consulted at the end; they’ll be at the table throughout the process. And digital collaboration will form the backbone of how teams work. Instead of strategy living in slide decks, it will live in shared digital environments, like Nmblr, where assumptions, journeys, risks, and opportunities are visible and updated together as teams learn.
The future will belong to teams that can pivot as quickly as the information landscape changes, using technology and multidisciplinary expertise to build resilient solutions that keep pace with patient needs. In that world, ‘moving as one’ isn’t a luxury; it’s the only responsible way to harness the potential of digital health and patient safety innovations for the benefit of patients and society.
Interviewer: Prof. Atanas G. Atanasov
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Janice MacLennan is CEO of Nmblr, a collaborative strategy platform for Biopharma and MedTech. With 30+ years’ experience guiding companies through complex commercial challenges, she helps teams align, adapt, and deliver innovations effectively. Passionate about humanising strategy, through Nmblr, Janice empowers organisations to make better decisions and bring breakthrough therapies to market.