• 2005: Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM)Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM) is made up of health care professionals, researchers and consumer representatives that belong to Cochrane, an international, non-profit organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining and promoting reviews on the effects of health care treatments. They produce reliable, up-to-date reviews of interventions for the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders in the form of systematic reviews. CM is also dedicated to making our systematic reviews available to those interested in treatments for musculoskeletal diseases (dissemination). In 1993, they formed a Consumer Group (CMSG), enlisting patient systematic reviewers to join health care professionals and researchers belonging to Cochrane. Canada musculoskeletal.cochrane.org develops guidance for systemic review authors and for building partnerships in research.Consumer‐driven health care: Building partnerships in research, 2005. Shea B, Santesso N, Qualman A, Heiberg T, Leong A, Judd M, et al. Consumer-driven health care: building partnerships in research. Health Expectations 2005;8(4):352-9.
  musculoskeletal.cochrane.org
  Download PDF
• 2006: Cochrane Musculoskeletal Consumer Group (CMSG)The CMSG formed in 1993, enlisting patient systematic reviewers to join health care professionals and researchers belonging to Cochrane. “The feedback provides a layperson’s perspective to complement the feedback provided by our clinical experts.”musculoskeletal.cochrane.org develops initial recommendations to aid knowledge translation and exchange between clinicians and consumersSantesso N, Maxwell L, Tugwell PS, Wells GA, O’connor AM, Judd M, Buchbinder R. Knowledge transfer to clinicians and consumers by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group. J Rheumatol. 2006 Nov;33(11):2312-8. PMID: 17086612.. These were updated in 2014.
• 2008: Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International SocietyAssessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society is an international group of experts in the field of spondyloarthritis.
  asas-group.org/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) aims to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases.
  eular.org (ASAS/EULAR) collaborated with patients to translate recommendations for the management of ankylosing spondylitis for the first time into a language easily understood by patients.

CoPI: Advisory panels, consumer reviewers

Tools: Guidance documents – patient-researcher engagement; Recommendations – dissemination

Context: Systemic literature reviews, lay summaries, guideline development, dissemination (knowledge translation)

• 2011: Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR): Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canadian Institutes of Health Research played a prominent role in the launch, implementation, and oversight of SPOR, but represents only one in a multitude of partners.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.html establishes a Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research SPOR is a collaboration of researchers, patients, provinces and territories, health care professionals, and others – all working in partnership to integrate research into patient care, ultimately improving the health of Canadians. cihr-irsc.gc.ca (SPOR) to integrate evidence in all levels of the health care system.
• 2012: Patient Research Partner (PRP): Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) GRAPPA is organized exclusively for non-profit, educational, and scientific purposes, specifically to facilitate the sharing of information related to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, networking among different medical disciplines that see psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients, and to enhance research, diagnosis, and treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
  grappanetwork.org invites Patient Research Partners for the first time. In 2015, a team of Patient Research Partners was permanently added to round out their perspective first report from Patient Research Partner perspective:
  De Wit M, Campbell W, FitzGerald O, Gladman DD, Helliwell PS, James J, et al. Patient Participation in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Outcome Research: A Report from the GRAPPA 2013 Annual Meeting. The Journal of Rheumatology 2014;41(6):1206-11.
• 2013: Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET)COMET brings together people interested in the development and application of agreed standardized sets of outcomes, known as ‘Core Outcome Sets’ (COS). These sets represent the minimum that should be measured and reported in all clinical trials of a specific condition, but COS are also suitable for use in routine care, clinical audit, and research other than randomized trials.
  comet-initiative.org & the International Dermatology Outcome Measures (IDEOM)(IDEOM) is a non-profit organization seeking to develop and validate measures throughout dermatology with an initial focus on psoriatic disease. They strive for the establishment of patient-centric outcomes to enhance the research and treatment of dermatological conditions. Launched in 2013, IDEOM seeks to bring together physicians, researchers, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, payers, and patients from around the globe to develop and validate measures throughout the field of dermatology with an initial focus on psoriasis.
  dermoutcomes.org collaborate with Outcome Measures in Rheumatology OMERACTOMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.
  omeract.org to adopt the patient-centered approach of developing core outcome sets with full involvement of patients.

CoPI: Patient Research Partner (PRP), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR), Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), conference participant

Context: Clinical trials, assessing grant applications, Core Outcome Set (COS)

Patient testimony in the regulatory process expands in the second half of this decade and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) evaluation of new medicines (United States). During clinical trials, researchers study whether new medicines are safe and effective for patients and whether the medicine’s benefits outweigh the risks.
www.fda.gov and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) EMA is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision, and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU www.ema.europa.eu join forces!

In addition to the European Medicines Agency EMA recently revising their original framework for interaction between the agency and patients and consumers and their organizations (2014) :

• 2015: The FDA launches the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC)Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) committee providing advice to the Commissioner or designee on complex issues relating to medical devices, the regulation of devices, and their use by patients.
  www.fda.gov/patients to provide advice relating to medical devices . CoPI: Patient Preference Information (PPI)PPI: Qualitative or quantitative assessments of the relative desirability or acceptability to patients of specified alternatives or choices among outcomes or other attributes that differ among alternative health interventions. is established to describe this patient engagement. PPI framework and guidance released for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)(CDRH) recognizes that scientists, clinicians, device developers, and regulators play critical roles in evaluating and communicating the benefits and risks of medical devices. However, only patients live with their medical conditions and make daily choices regarding their health care. Their voice and perspective are critical to understanding the impact of medical devices.
  www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-organization medical device decision-making.
• 2016: FDA and the EMA create a new workgroup on patient engagement called the FDA/EMA Patient Engagement ClusterWork group that allows FDA and EMA to share best practices involving patients along drug and biologic regulatory lifecycles. Information that is discussed is covered by confidentiality agreements signed by the FDA and EMA.
  www.fda.gov/patients to share best practices involving patients along with drug and biologic regulatory lifecycles.
• 2017: FDA launches Patient Engagement Collaborative The Patient Engagement Collaborative (PEC) is a group of patient organizations and individual representatives who discuss how to achieve more meaningful patient engagement in medical product development and other regulatory discussions at the FDA. The PEC was established by the FDA and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public-private partnership that brings together organizations and individuals representing academia, clinical investigators, government and regulatory agencies, industry, institutional review boards, patient advocacy groups and others to develop evidence-based solutions to clinical research challenges. www.fda.gov/patients with the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI)The FDA, together with the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, established a group of patient organization and individual representatives to discuss topics focusing on enhancing patient engagement in medical product development and regulatory discussions at FDA.
  www.ctti-clinicaltrials.org/ to develop guidance materials for including patients in the R & D continuum. This collaborative was modeled after the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s Patients’ and Consumers’ Working PartyEMA is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision, and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU. The Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party (PCWP) provides a platform for exchange of information and discussion of issues of common interest between EMA and patients and consumers. www.ema.europa.eu/en/committees.
• 2017: EMA involves young people in their activities and establishes the principles for the involvement of young patients, consumers, and their carers, in the Agency’s scientific committees and working parties in a consistent and efficient manner .
• 2017: EMA begins holding public hearings to give European citizens a voice in the evaluation of the safety of medicines and empower them to express their views on issues related to the safety of certain medicines and the management of risks.
• 2017: EMA expands opportunities to acquire patients’ perspectives on benefit/risk considerations within the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP)(CHMP) is the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) committee responsible for human medicines. The CHMP replaced the former Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in May 2004.www.ema.europa.eu/en/committees meetings.

CoPI: Regulatory reviewers, working groups, advisory panels, Patient Preference Information (PPI)

Tools: Frameworks – regulatory; Guidance Documents – patient engagement

Context: Regulatory process, clinical trials, Research & Development, health technology assessment (HTA), decision aids, young adults

• 2015: Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT)OMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.https://omeract.org publishes recommendations for collaborative research Cheung PP, et al. Recommendations for the Involvement of Patient Research Partners (PRP) in OMERACT Working Groups. A Report from the OMERACT 2014 Working Group on PRP. The Journal of rheumatology 2016;43(1):187-932015
  https://omeractprpnetwork.org.
• 2015: With funding from European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe. As such, they have always had their own educational program at the annual EULAR Congress meeting, but in the earlier years, the symposia they organized was mostly independent of the other congress sessions. eular.org, a mixed task force of researchers and patient research partners from over ten European countries develops a new patient derived Health Related Quality of Life instrumentde Wit MPT, Kvien TK, Gossec L. Patient participation as an integral part of patient-reported outcomes development ensures the representation of the patient voice: a case study from the field of rheumatology. RMD Open 2015;1:e000129. doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2015-000129
  www.eular.org for rheumatoid arthritis (RAID) and psoriatic arthritis (PsAID) .
• 2016: European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI)EUPATI is a pan-European project implemented as a public-private partnership by a collaborative multi-stakeholder consortium from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, not-for-profit, and patient organizations. The Academy was started, developed and implemented as a flagship project of the Innovative Medicines Initiative and continues to be led by the European Patients’ Forum (EPF). EUPATI has already trained 96 patient experts on medicines development, clinical trials, medicines regulations, health technology assessment. Additionally, EUPATI offers and maintains the Toolbox on Medicine Development, and coordinates a network of national platforms for patient advocates.https://eupati.eu offers and maintains the Toolbox on Medicine Research & Development and Patient EngagementLearn more about this tool at https://toolbox.eupati.eu/.
• EUPATI coordinates the network of national platforms for patient advocates National Platforms bring patient, academic, and industry partners together to discuss patient education and patient involvement in medicines research and development (R&D). Working together, National Platforms raise awareness about the important role of patients, and members identify challenges and opportunities for joint action.
  https://www.eupati.eu/.

CoPI: Patient Research Partner (PRP)

Tools: Recommendations – patient researcher engagement; Instruments – patient-researcher engagement

Context: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs), Research & Development

With the onset of the global pandemic of COVID-19COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that emerged in December 2019. www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus , rheumatology registries – come existing and some forming solely for this reason – began focusing strongly on tracking cases in rheumatology patients. Some of these registries included the patient voice in various phases of data collection.

• 2020: COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance (GRA)The mission of the GRA is to collect, analyze and disseminate information about COVID-19 and rheumatology to patients, physicians, and other relevant groups to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease.
  rheum-covid.org/ was developed to collect, analyze, and disseminate information about COVID-19 and rheumatology to patients, physicians, and other relevant groups to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease. In addition to establishing a Patient Board, patients were invited to submit and review questions as part of the Patient Experience Survey and help develop lay summaries. International
• 2020: The Arthritis & Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 Project From conception to development and launch, the Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 project included patients during all phases of the project, which began by learning about the impact of COVID-19 on people who are living with underlying chronic disease through multiple conversations. Patients also collaborated with researchers and clinicians to help develop and refine the survey, prioritize survey questions, provide input on the study timeline, and strategize on dissemination efforts.
  rheumcovid19project.org/ – A patient-powered study of the Autoimmune Research Collaborative, from conception to development and launch, the Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 project included patients during all phases of the project. Respondents are asked to participate at multiple time points to better understand concerns, behaviors, and the pandemic’s overall impact on them over time. The study will also inform the preparedness of patients and clinicians for future pandemics and provide a better understanding of concerns with infection in general among patients with autoimmune disease. Led by Global Healthy Living Foundation/CreakyJoints. United States, Canada

CoPI: Advisory panel, working group, co-production of stakeholder groups

Context: Registries, lay summaries, dissemination (knowledge translation)