Below you will find an e-mail we received from Astellas with the request to send it out to our member organizations. There is no vested interest for WFIPP. We are merely acting to reach out to patients to obtain some genuine and direct feedback from patients in the form of ‘quotes’. This to highlight just how bothersome and impactful OAB is.

Astellas is looking for patients who are suffering from Overactive Bladder (OAB) and, if relevant, high blood pressure and are willing, completely anonymously, to respond to these few questions.

The anomized quotes received from you or your patients will be used during the Astellas’ satellite symposium at the EAU23 Congress in Milan, Italy,10th to 13th March and will definitely make the symposium much more meaningful.

“Dear All,

I hope you are well. We have been invited by Astellas Pharma Europe to help create a short video (around 3 minutes) to increase awareness and understanding of the experiences of people living with, and managing, overactive bladder (OAB).

To do this, Astellas would like to gather written quotes from different people living with OAB about how it impacts their life. The quotes will be collected and made into a video which will be shared with different audiences, such as:

• Healthcare professionals at international medical conferences, including the European Association of Urology conference in March 2023
• People that work at Astellas, as part of internal events or communications about OAB
• The public and patient organisation representatives, for example on Astellas’ social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and corporate website

The reason Astellas would like to show this video to these audiences so that people can better understand what it is like to live with and manage OAB. Astellas would like the video to help overcome some of the myths that surround OAB, so are hoping to receive answers from people of different genders, people from different age groups, and people who are managing other conditions alongside OAB (such as high blood pressure).

How can you be involved?

If you have overactive bladder and want to join the project, please send your answers to the questions in this email to Chelsea Moran, Associate Director, Patient Partnerships at Astellas ([email protected]) by Friday, February 17th. You only have to answer the questions that you feel okay with, and you will be asked to confirm that you are okay with Astellas sharing your experience in the video. Please only write answers that you would be happy to be used in the video.

Questions – please do not mention any specific medicinal products or treatments in your answers

• About you

• • How old are you?
  • What is your gender?
  • How long have you been living with OAB?
  • How does OAB affect your daily life (e.g., work, exercise, family, friends, travel)?
  • Are you being treated for any other health conditions (such as high blood pressure)?

• About OAB

• • Before your diagnosis, what did you think OAB meant and who would it affect?
  • What do you wish your doctor knew about how OAB affects you?
  • What would you like to ask your doctor, but haven’t had the chance to?

• About OAB and other conditions

• • Do you have any concerns about managing OAB (including its treatment) because of other health conditions?
  • Do you give more attention to managing/treating one condition more than the other? If yes, why

Please describe in a few words how OAB affects you.

If you have any questions, please contact Chelsea Moran, Associate Director of Patient Partnerships at Astellas ([email protected]) who is working on this project.”