"Patient groups with an entrepreneurial bent have become the drug industry's new power brokers," proclaimed Forbes magazine in 2008. More and more patient groups are deploying their limited capital more strategically, building collaborations, and sharing information, driven by their mission to get new treatments to their patients faster. These practices are the hallmarks of groups that are part of FasterCures' TRAIN (The Research Acceleration and Innovation Network) and will be the spotlight of this panel discussion. Why is it important for patient groups to be more deeply engaged in the R&D process, and why now? How are patient groups are accelerating the research process and "de-risking" the involvement and investment of other players such as government, academia and industry.