About OPR
Who we are
Founded in 2013, Olshan Patient Relations (OPR) is a boutique patient engagement consulting firm that helps pharmaceutical companies integrate patient and caregiver perspectives throughout drug development and commercialization. Our team works globally, bringing an international perspective to every engagement. We serve as a strategic partner to clients, delivering work that is decision-enabling, scientifically responsible, and respectful of patients, caregivers, and patient advocates.
Our approach
OPR works at the intersection of patient experience and drug development, connecting patients, caregivers, and patient advocates with the teams making development decisions. Our approach is grounded in long-standing relationships, deep disease-area expertise, and a consistent commitment to empathetic, patient-centered engagement.
Meaningful engagement
Strong relationships, specialized expertise, and a patient-centered mindset ensure the patient voice is not only heard but acted on.
Relationship-led and empathetic
As a boutique consultancy, OPR prioritizes human connection in every interaction. We recognize that patients, caregivers and patient advocates often manage complex health needs alongside work, family, and other responsibilities, and we design our engagements with flexibility and sensitivity.
Built on trust
OPR is well known and trusted within the patient advocacy community. This foundation allows us to engage patients, caregivers and patient advocates in a credible and respectful way, ensuring their perspectives are shared openly and meaningfully. Much of our team built their careers in patient advocacy before joining OPR, giving us firsthand insight into what genuine engagement looks like from the patient side of the table.
A transparent feedback loop
After collecting and synthesizing patient insights, we work with drug development teams to decide how feedback can be incorporated. We then develop clear, concise impact summaries for patient advisors that explain how their input informed decisions. This structured approach reinforces trust, demonstrates respect for patient expertise, and ensures that participants understand the impact of their involvement.
- Lived experience
Patients, caregivers and advocates share what the disease actually involves.
- Insight synthesized
OPR turns it into decision-ready findings.
- Decisions informed
Development teams decide what the feedback changes.
- Impact returned
Advisors receive a summary of what their input changed.
…and back to the community.
The importance of patient-centered drug development
Pharmaceutical companies that embed the perspectives and lived experiences of patients throughout the product lifecycle can develop therapies that are not only scientifically innovative, but also more meaningful, accessible, and effective for the people who use them.
Patient centricity is no longer an optional enhancement, it is an expectation of regulators, payers, providers, and the patient community, and a source of real competitive advantage. An integrated patient-centered approach enables pharmaceutical companies to:
- Improve clinical outcomes
- Strengthen regulatory submissions
- Optimize product design
- Build stronger relationships with the communities they serve
OPR helps companies realize that value, bringing the relationships, disease-area expertise, and patient-centered approach that turn patient insight into action.
Involving patients in the health innovation process benefits all stakeholders. It ensures relevant research priorities & methods from the outset, improves clinical trial recruitment & retention and results in therapies and health interventions that are better tailored to patients’ needs. This saves time, budget and resources not only for developers and payers but for the overall health system in general – everyone wins!
Patients have direct experience in living with a disease. They have firsthand knowledge of the impact of the disease on their life and on how they feel and function. They bring unique and valuable perspectives to drug development that cannot be provided by the clinical, scientific, legal and other experts.