Furthermore, 78 (37%) patients described the Turkish approval process to be of a lower standard compared to that of the US and EU. However, 81% of patients were not aware of the regulatory review process with 73% being unaware of approval timelines. Most patients in this study (84%) seemed to know that medicines had to be approved by the government. Overall 210 (60% response rate) completed the PPQ (51% males) with the mean age of 56, median of 54 and range of 18-75. Data processing and analyses were carried out using SPSS version 23 statistical software. In addition, 22 patients were randomly selected from the cohort for face-to-face interviews in order to obtain further insights about the relevance of the PPQ, and to help with formalising a set of recommendations for the involvement of patients in both processes. A total of 350 patients were recruited consecutively into the study from hospital outpatient clinics, general practice, community pharmacies, patient organisations in 28 different districts of Istanbul receiving treatment for chronic conditions.

The aim of this study was to explore patients' knowledge and perspectives in Istanbul, Turkey about the pharmaceutical regulatory review and reimbursement processes with respect to patients' access to new medicines.įor the purpose of this study a tailored made paper-based questionnaire, Patient Perspective Questionnaire (PPQ), was developed and subsequently piloted in the target population.

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