ISSUE: When multiples compounds are in development for the same condition, companies face an incentive to collaborate to establish an evidence base that will benefit all parties whilst reducing costs. There are issues around companies working together however including divergent aims, competitive positioning, and competition law. This issue panel will discuss how these different factors can come together in shaping how collaborative companies can be in developing evidence to support market access, and will outline examples of successful collaboration most notably in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. OVERVIEW: David Pearce will discuss the difficulties inherent in collaboration from the perspective of pharmaceutical companies - these include practical concerns around the speed of development of materials, as well as more strategic concerns. David will also discuss the difficulty from an individual company perspective in committing to joint working due to the number of stakeholders involved within each company. Klair Bayley will then talk about the frustrations in access to novel medicines from a patient perspective and the desire for companies to focus on developing medicines, and making those available as soon as is practical. She will also cover the topic of multiple companies in the same area engaging with patient groups - in 'competing' for the same group of patients, the resulting quality of studies can be lower which does not necessarily help gain market access. Anthony Hatswell will then outline the benefits of collaboration to companies including reduced costs and higher quality. He will then discuss the example of project HERCULES, a collaborative evidence development effort.