Tag Archives: COVID-19

Physicians’ Increasing Digital Proficiency And Its Implication

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At a time, when an unexpected and unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic struck a catastrophic impact on human lives, livelihood, and the global economy the healthcare sector continued surging ahead. This is being fueled by exponential advances in medical science, and the pandemic-triggered explosion of digital technologies, data access, analytics – besides emergence of more informed and empowered consumers with new expectations and aspirations.

Echoing this, Deloitte’s paper - ‘2022 Global Health Care Outlook’ articulated: ‘The global health care sector continues to rise up to the new challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic, which continues to dominate health care systems’ attention and resources.’

No more than just a couple of years back, none could predict that a pandemic in these modern days, would have the power to initiate the unforeseen changes so quickly. This is especially applicable to – mostly tradition bound and slow to change – the pharmaceutical industry, even in India, which gets reflected in the growth of this sector. That too, amid sporadic disruptions in the operational areas of many companies.

As reported on December 29, 2021, Indian Pharma Industry registered a growth of 15% in 2021 led by growth of Covid-19 products, against a growth of 3% last year. The report emphasized that the challenges posed by the pandemic gave rise to new opportunities for the pharma sector to evolve quickly under changing circumstances.

Which is why, many players are being compelled to adapt newer digital processes and practices to survive and excel – while navigating through this uncharted frontier. These will call for growing investments for paving a high-tech digital pathway, primarily for an effective customer engagement, besides refinement of the product life cycle through digitization.

To give a sense of perspective on strategic implications of increasing digital proficiency of physicians, particularly in the context of an effective, patient-centric engagement by pharma companies, I shall focus on this development, in this article.

HCPs digital proficiency poses a fresh challenge – it’s real:

Increasing digital proficiency of HCPs during Covid-19 pandemic poses a fresh challenge to pharma marketers for several reasons. It’s so real, which will invite many fundamental strategic changes, as Covid-19 isn’t going anywhere, at least, anytime soon, contrary to what many people are expecting.

The emergence of Delta and Omicron like variants that infected a large number of fully vaccinated people, as well, is expected to continue. For example, as reported on January 27, 2022: ‘Just as the omicron surge starts to recede in parts of the U.S., scientists have their eye on another coronavirus variant spreading rapidly in parts of Asia and Europe.’

Increasing digital savviness of HCPs is now unstoppable. It is expected to keep rolling at faster a faster pace now than ever before. Endorsing this trend, an article published in the Pharmaceutical Executiveon January 20, 2022, made some interesting observations.

The author underscored that the trend of the digital shift of HCPs in their professional space, is an outcome of a catalytic effect of the pandemic. It poses a new challenge for the life sciences industry, requiring a complete revamp of the content strategy and customer engagement channels, for each specialty. It further said: ‘The wave of consumerism led by digital natives has impacted HCPs when it comes to engaging with content on various digital channels for personal consumption.’  

A recent research study vindicates the magnitude of the challenge:

A recently published Indegene study, revealed some thought-provoking areas in this space. The research surveyed 984 physicians from the United States, Europe, India, and China for this study. All participants have >10 years of experience and represent a broad spectrum of specialty areas. According to Indegene, the process of surveying HCPs had started since 2014, to identify how their digital habits manifest and how do they change. Some of the key findings of the study include:

  • More HCPs, in general, are increasingly adopting digital channels to consume content.
  • 77% of HCPs use digital channels primarily for personal learning and development.
  • 68% of HCPs prefer short webinars or webcasts over other virtual
    engagement channels, globally.
  • Only 47% of HCPs prefer receiving communication through the marketing e-mail channel, although, marketing emails are among the top 5 channels used by pharma companies to engage HCPs. 
  • 62% of HCPs are overwhelmed by product promotional content pushed by pharma companies on various digital channels.
  • 70% of HCPs said that pharma representatives do not understand their requirements completely. Further, 62% of HCPs said that the most significant area where pharma representatives can add value is, by understanding the needs of HCPs and sharing only relevant content with them to make the interactions more insightful. The one-size-fits-all approach will no longer work, and pharma companies will have to invest in greater personalization at scale and build better content development and operations capabilities.
  • Pharma to consider using digital channels to provide HCPs on demand access to reps and content.
  • Need to map and implement geographic variations in HCP preferences for content, channels, device, and time.

This evolving trend sends clear signals to pharma marketers that need for professional engagement with the HCPs has to be on their own terms in the new normal

‘Engaging HCPs on their own terms’ – the need of the new normal:

This emerging need also came out clearly in another recent Global Physician Specialty Survey by Medscape - with over 12,000 participants in key specialties across Europe, Latin America, Canada, Asia, and MENA.

It provided some actionable insights, highlighting online content consumption habits of HCPs across the globe, in the new normal. This study also found: ‘The pandemic has had an undeniable impact on the interactions between HCPs and the pharmaceutical industry, with the shift towards virtual engagement and online events likely to be long-lasting.’

Based on this finding, it flagged a critical issue. This is, while the consumption of online medical content is growing and traditional in-person meetings are still not completely back on the agenda, how can pharma players reimagine the way they reach their target audience? This is indeed a primary business requirement to maintain respective drug company’s share of voice and foster relationships with their key customers. The key takeaway from this study includes the following:

  • Being incredibly time poor even now, HCPs mostly prefer to engage with the pharma companies on their own terms.
  • Compared to traditional in-person interactions, most HCPs feel, digital engagement channels offer them greater flexibility that they desire.
  • Over half of the survey respondents rated their online consumption of digital content higher, or much higher now than before the pandemic.

Conclusion:

On the positive side, during a short span of the last couple of years, Covid-19 pandemic has also triggered unprecedented advances in various critical areas of medical science and related areas. These include, remote healthcare services, digital technologies, ease of access to required data by all, the application of sophisticated analytics and above all emergence of an increasing number of digitally empowered customers. Consequently, aided by greater disease awareness and the need for prevention, the ‘self-care’ space also witnessed exponential advances.

Besides, the pandemic has also offered a fresh opportunity to the pharma and biotech sectors – to leverage the break in the cloud for accelerating all-round innovation – charting new frontiers of the modern digital world to remodel their business models for a faster growth in a new paradigm. Although, pharma customers have remained mostly unchanged, their expectations, behavior, practices, and preferences have undergone a metamorphosis. Some of these changes may be stark, and more may be a bit nuanced. Marketers, need to map all the changes, which are specific to their organizations, to excel in the new paradigm.

That said and, as pointed out above, results of expert surveys and syndicated studies in this area, send a clear signal about the pandemic-triggered – increasing digital proficiency of HCPs, even in India. This trend needs to be leveraged for a thorough overhaul of pharma’s customer engagement models. This is a new ball game of the new normal – having a huge impact on the business performance of drug companies.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Create Novel Marketing Pathways As Covid Mutants Keep Emerging

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The World’s battle against wave after wave unsettling onslaught of Coronavirus on human lives and livelihood continues, since December 2019. The first wave was triggered by the novel Covid-19 from Wuhan in China, the second by its deadly – Delta variant, and now – the third by Omicron. In India, first case of Covid-19 was reported on January 31, 2020.

Initially, global experts contemplated vaccines to prevent and contain Covid-19 and were the best hope for ending the pandemic. However, the effectiveness of existing Covid vaccines apparently declines against its subsequent mutants. This is evident even in India when the next variant Omicron commenced its onslaught.

The good news is, AstraZeneca has now claimed, a third booster shot of its Covid-19 vaccine willsignificantly boost antibody levels against the Omicron variant. However, Omicron may not be the last Covid-19 variant, as it appears today.

As the world grapples with the highly mutated Omicron, scientists have identified another new strain of the COVID-19 causing virus – in Southern France – known as ‘IHU’. This B.1.640.2 variant was reported by researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee Infection in at least 12 cases. However, it is too early to speculate on how this variant behaves as far as infection and protection from vaccines is concerned. This process is likely to take, at least, some more time.

Thus, in the current situation, when increasing numbers of even fully vaccinated individuals are getting re-infected caused by emerging mutants of Covid-19, and some more than once, the focus expanded towards more effective disease treatment. Some countries, such as the US, have decided for the 3rd booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine. Israel has even gone for the 4th booster shot of Covid vaccine. Be that as it may, in this fast-evolving scenario, even bright pharma marketers have been experiencing new strategic challenges, as we move on. Against the above backdrop, this article will delve into that space, focusing on some of the new trends of the new normal.

Pharma’s focus expands towards more effective Covid specific treatment:

Visualizing the way Covid-19 pandemic could possibly pan out in the foreseeable future, several global pharma and biotech companies have started focusing on specific treatment for this virus, ensuring speedy patient recovery.

For example, on November 21, 2020, the U.S. FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a cocktail therapy of casirivimab and imdevimab for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients.

Just a month later, on December 22, 2021, the U.S. FDA issued another emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets, co-packaged for oral use). This was also for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients.

A day after Pfizer’s the first oral COVID-19 treatment, approval, on December 23, 2022, the U.S. FDA issued one more emergency use authorization (EUA) for Merck’s molnupiravir. This is the second antiviral pill authorized in the U.S, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults. Nearer home, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has also given EUA to Molnupiravir for the treatment of adult patients.

Interestingly, French regulators rejected Merck’s molnupiravir pill for low efficacy. They found other therapies were much more effective than this molecule. Even in India on January 06, 2022, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also expressed safety concerns on Molnupiravir. Thus, it has not been included in the national list of Covid treatments in India. That said, such brilliant initiatives by several pharma companies in the battle for saving lives and livelihoods against Covid-19 pandemic, made those companies household names like never before.

Covid made several pharma companies household names, but not brands:

This point was restated in a recent article, published in the Fierce Pharma on December 22, 2021. It emphasized, Covid-19 ‘has brought the words of the pharma industry into people’s lives like never before: Moderna, Pfizer, BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Merck have become household names.’ One may not remember the names of their Covid products, but will mostly know the company.

Many people have now started referring to Covid vaccines and drugs in generic names. As from the very beginning we started hearing people saying, like – I got ‘AstraZeneca Vaccines’, ‘Remdesivir’, or ‘Covid Cocktail therapy’. Company names usually followed the generic names in most cases. Although, ‘that’s been good for pharma’s reputation, but has left marketers in a bind about branding, commented the above article.

Most Covid-19 drugs and vaccine brands are on ‘emergency use approval’

In the Covid dominated year of 2021, drug and biotech companies managed to get USFDA approval for 55 new drugs. However, many of those drugs and vaccines got only Emergency Use Approval (EUA) and only under emergency use basis. This basically means, under EUA these companies did not get full marketing approval and were handicapped to go whole hog with the usual new brand marketing campaigns.  This critical issue is expected to remain even in 2022.

In a situation, such as this, when the full scale branding initiatives can’t be undertaken, intenseCorporate Branding Campaigns, I reckon, would pay a rich dividend. This process will be quite different from creative new brand marketing in the old normal. Some global innovator companies are using even the mass media to promote their respective vaccines, albeit differently.

Such promotions include, Open Letter from the Company CEO, creative use of TV shows, messages of the head honchos through twitter or word of mouth campaigns – creating a snowballing effect. Alongside, healthcare marketing professionals are also intensifying their Covid-vaccine ad campaigns, sans brand names, to increase awareness and persuade more people to get vaccinated, soon.

To move in this direction, at least, during EUA period for Covid drugs and vaccines, hybridization of pharma marketing will be necessary in many cases, which won’t be an easy task for all, though.

Hybridization of pharma marketing – necessary – but not an easy task:

Based on experience of almost the last two years, many drug companies have realized that virtual-only customer engagement models have some serious shortcomings to fetch desired outcomes. This issue was studied and well-articulated in an article, published in the Reuters Events on November 30, 2021.

It found: “Virtual-only engagement can make it harder to create a real connection.” Further, as the paper articulated: “Even if HCPs share their video, we are losing the third dimension, hence losing out on parts of that personal component.’ Besides, although, online meetings are flexible regarding timing, if a doctor doesn’t dial-in, there is only a small chance the meeting will happen later that day, unlike waiting in a clinic for the interview to take place.

To address this issue, pharma players are now in various stages of creation and adoption of their respective hybrid marketing models. However, the process offers its own challenges. Working out customer-specific hybrid engagement models are a different ball game altogether- requiring very different skill sets, continuous training and above all a very different mindset.

Conclusion:

As reported on January 06, 2022, rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the novel Coronavirus threatens to rewrite the business recovery timelines, even in India. Even recently, many CEOs and top executives have opined, businesses would have to live with Covid-19 uncertainty. The article further added: ‘Many companies have suspended their return-to-work plans and are reassessing business continuity measures as a third wave of the pandemic starts to surge.’ Most CEOs also expressed one of their top priorities was to ensure Covid-19 protocols were being followed and all employees were safe.

Similar situation arises for all Covid drugs approved under the EUA by the Drug Controller general of India, and are being marketed by Indian companies against non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with the innovators. Thus, an analogous marketing issue exists surrounding all such EUAs, as the company concerned can’t undertake a full brand marketing campaign. This constraint is likely to pose a major marketing challenge for several potential Covid blockbuster drugs in India, at least in 2022, which marketers need to overcome, creatively.

From the above perspective of Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, companies would need to create novel and effective strategic pathways for performance excellence. At least, as long as Covid-19 mutants will continue to emerge, causing operational disruptions in the pharma business.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

Enhance Customer Experience By Enhancing Employee Experience

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Pharma is slowly but surely realizing that enhancing their customer experience can help reap a rich harvest by maximizing the business Return on Investments (ROI), significantly. However, the key architects behind creating a roadmap for the same are employees of the organization, at various levels of the hierarchy. They ferret out the cutting-edge and data-based inputs. This may, therefore, prompt a very pertinent question for many – what could then be the key drivers for enhancing the customer experience?

A Gartner research paper on ‘customer experience’ found, two-thirds of the drivers for customer satisfaction are related to “feel factors,” or how customers feel during and about their experience. It suggested that ‘leaders should take a similar approach to employee experience, focusing on influencing and improving employees’ feelings about their overall experience through the use of psychological, motivational and social principles. Improving the way the experience feels, can lead to a boost in employee engagement and support a positive company culture.’

Consequently, better the employee experience with the organization, more productive is expected to be the customer experience with the Company’s brands and services.

Against the above backdrop for the pharma industry, this article, besides exploring further developments in this area on a contemporary critical need of today’s pharma leaders. This, I reckon, is - focus on enhancing the employee experience for enhancing the customer experience.

Enhancing employee experience - more important in the new normal:

A recent McKinsey & Company article on employee experience, published on September 30, 2021 – nearly two years after the workplace upheaval by the Covid-19ew pandemic, echoed the same. It reiterated: ‘In an era of workplace upheaval, companies that create tailored, authentic experiences strengthen employee purpose, ignite energy, and elevate organization-wide performance.’

McKinsey research also found, while most people have felt supported by their organizations throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many have struggled. This continues to linger as some companies are exploring hybrid working models, while many are expecting a full return to the office. Consequently, a gap is getting created between employees’ new concerns and employers’ expectations from them. Some of the major concerns and related expectations of many employees in the new normal, need to be addressed, expeditiously.

Some major ‘employee expectations’:

The McKinsey survey to assess employee views on work and how it has changed, commenced since the Covid-19 disrupted the world, included almost 1,000 individuals. The experience of most respondents was personal in nature and specific to an individual. However, there were several common threads, which include employees’:

  • Desire clear responsibilities and opportunities to learn and grow
  • Expect their personal sense of purpose to align with that of their organization.
  • Want an appropriate physical and digital environment that gives them the flexibility to achieve that elusive work–life balance.

The challenge, therefore, is how do leaders create a win-win situation between an employee’s new expectations and the business interest of the organization while creating a new pathway for business excellence? The researchers opined, this process would provide the leaders a unique opportunity to listen to employees on an ongoing basis and engage them on what matters most for organizational excellence—both near and long term.

Employee experience to occupy the center stage as the pandemic fades:

Based on emerging data, many experts now believe – continuously enhancing the employee experience is a prerequisite to continuously enhancing customer experience, for any sustainable business excellence in the new normal. Thus, organizational focus on the quality of employee experience is expected to occupy the center stage as the pandemic fades.

Several research findings have even gone a step forward. For instance, the Harvard Business Reviewarticle, published on January 14, 2021, on – trends that will shape the work in the new normal, pointed to an interesting area. It said: ‘Employers will shift from managing the employee experience to managing the life experience of their employees.’

Elaborating this point the author reiterated, the Covid-19 pandemic has given the business leaders significantly more visibility in the personal lives of their employees. Particularly in the last two years, as they navigate through unprecedented personal and professional challenges. The study also emphasized: ‘It’s become clear that supporting employees in their personal lives more effectively enables employees to not only have better lives, but also to perform at a higher level.’

Obviously, the question that will follow: Is there any tangible evidence to establish that enhancing the employee experience will improve organizational performance?

Focus on enhancing employee experience improves business performance:

Among studies in this area. I shall quote here a study that was conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This one is Gartner’s 2020 ReimagineHR Employee Survey, which found, among others:

  • When employers develop deeper relationships with their employees there is a 23% increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health and a 17% increase in the number of employees reporting better physical health.
  • Employers who support their employees more holistically realize a 21% increase in high performers.
  • At typical organizations where employees work a standard 40 hours per week in the office, only 36% of employees were high performers. When organizations shift from this environment to one of radical flexibility where employees have a choice over where, when, and how much they work, 55% of employees were high performers.
  • The researchers concluded: “Offering employees more choices, over when, where and how many hours they work, is not only better for employees, but also better for employers who end up with more high-performing employees as a result.”  

Positive employee experience creates 16 times more engagement level:

Another McKinsey survey noted, enhancing employee experience would basically entail what they value in the life stages they are. Different propositions may attract different people. Thus, an organization needs to ascertain by talking to them on an ongoing basis, how they view their employee journeys, for delivering well-tailored interventions to maximize satisfaction, performance, and productivity. It’s worth noting that some employees now may be happier feeling a powerful sense of being able to influence outcomes that matter to them—allied with a strong sense of identity and belonging.

It also found, people with a positive employee experience have 16 times the engagement level of employees with a negative experience, and that they are eight times more likely to want to stay at a company.

Conclusion:

Another article - ‘The future of work after COVID-19’, published by the same Company, on February 18, 2021, reported something that’s worth pondering. It said, ‘that jobs in work arenas with higher levels of physical proximity are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic, triggering knock-on effects in other work arenas as business models shift in response.’ Many pharma marketing related activities will fall in this category.

Hence, the bottom-line is, enhancing the customer experience by enhancing employee experience, will be imperative for business excellence in the new normal. However, successful accomplishment of this task on the ground by pharma leadership may not be a piece of cake. They need to walk the talk, jettisoning the traditional top-down model in most organizations of the industry.

By: Tapan J. Ray        

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

Deliver The Best Patient Outcomes With Right High-Tech-High-Touch Combo

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Healthcare is regarded as an industry where high-quality technology and high-quality human touch can’t possibly be separated from each other, ever. Since long, this is considered essential in delivering better treatment outcomes – the core value most patients desire, and buy – directly or indirectly.

Why high-quality technology helps make treatment of various diseases increasingly more effective, is no-brainer. However, amid high decibel ‘digital’ buzz during Covid-19 pandemic, some may also wonder how does ‘high-touch’ help improve treatment outcomes? Against this new backdrop, I shall explore in today’s article: why high-touch is so important for most patients alongside high-tech, and the critical need of striking a right balance between high-tech and high-touch in most areas of healthcare delivery. Let me start with a brief recap of the same in the pharma industry perspective. 

Balancing high-tech and high-touch in pharma – a brief recap:

In a similar context – against the  contemporary market dynamics, I discussed about Pharma’s new and still evolving pathway for digital and F2F customer engagement on February 15, 2021. This is primarily because, today’s patient-centric marketing model has to be on Omnichannel platforms to deliver patient-expected value, effectively – and more.

In this mix, F2F customer engagement process is just one among several channels – but a critical brand demand generation tool, though – giving a feel of ‘high-touch’ – in-person interactions to many key customers. Many studies show, alongside acceptance of ‘high-tech’ digital channels, customer expectations for ‘high-touch’, by and large, continue to exist, even today. Thus, one of the key responsibilities of pharma marketers is to arrive at the optimal combination of in-person F2F engagement channel, and high-tech digital channels for remote engagement.

However, this isn’t the unique need of the new normal. On April 29, 2019, I wrote about the evolving new pathway is a hybrid business model. It is customer-centric and helps create a right blend of high-tech and high-touch approaches. Striking an optimal balance between the two is critical to successful business outcomes. This brings me to the point of the relevance of ‘high-touch’ in healthcare.

The relevance of ‘high touch’ in healthcare:

Since time immemorial, a strong bond of trust-based doctor-patient relationship has remained pivotal in the disease treatment process, across the world. This still exists regardless of the socio-economic status, and degree of patient literacy, including digital – particularly for moderate to severe ailments.

A recent article – ‘High-Touch Telemedicine’, published by CFHA on June 04, 2020, also highlighted, “Touch has been central to the physician-patient relationship for as long as there have been physicians. Patients allow their doctors to touch them in places and in ways that they would allow to no one else.  The gentleness and the carefulness that doctors are trained to use on this touch is a bonding experience that supports healing.  If this trust is violated, if a doctor is unduly forceful or disrespectful, this can be a cause for grievance and even litigation.”

The scientific pertinence of physicians’ high touch for patients:

This point was lucidly elaborated in the above paper. It said, the doctor’s comforting physical touch, and interactional touch, have impacts on the Neuroendocrinology of the patients involved. Thus, physicians’ high touch when used in a benevolent conversation, releases the neuropeptide oxytocin in the brains of both participants. This, among others, helps to improve recognition of emotions, increase mutual trust, so compliments and the recognition of a person’s efforts and successes.

Covid-19 propelled ‘high tech’ in healthcare to a new high sans ‘high touch’:

The Covid-19 pandemic, undoubtedly, propelled healthcare into a virtual world. It triggered the development of a plethora of ‘high tech’ innovations to deliver prompt healthcare to patients suffering from various ailments, even from remote locations. One such example is telehealth. Many healthcare providers, including the Government of India realized that leveraging the potential of ‘Telemedicine’ can effectively address the healthcare needs of a large population, across the world.

That said, I reckon, although, healthcare can’t survive without high tech. But, a high-tech-healthcare, like telemedicine, can’t totally replace high touch, at least, in the treatment process of several moderate to severe ailments.

The Best and the worst-case scenario for only high-tech healthcare:

As studies indicate, only high-technology based healthcare sans high-touch, in the best case scenario, would facilitate affordable access to treatment for more patients, bringing down administrative time and cost, in tandem. Which is why, when Covid-19 pandemic posed unique challenges to providing health care, India’s health policy makers revised the nation’s Telemedicine Practice Guidelines on March 25, 2020. They acknowledged in the manual, high-tech Telemedicine ‘increases timely accessto appropriate interventions, including faster access and access to services that may not otherwise be available’.

Whereas, in a worst-case scenario, only digital access to healthcare may create some barrier to direct physical examination of the patient by the doctor, and their interaction. This may impact patient emotion – so important in the disease treatment process. Thus, although high-tech is essential for the advancement of healthcare, but can’t totally replace a patient’s need for high touch care.

High tech is essential, but can’t replace high touch-based trust:

Several recent papers deliberated this point with umpteen evidences. One such paper was published in the Harvard Business Review on October 30, 2019. The article is titled, ‘AI Can Outperform Doctors. So Why Don’t Patients Trust It?

The research points out, ‘patients are reluctant to use health care provided by medical artificial intelligence, even when it outperforms human doctors. This is because, patients believe that their medical needs are unique and cannot be adequately addressed by algorithms. To realize the many advantages and cost savings that medical AI promises, care providers must find ways to overcome these misgivings.’

The study also found that when health care was provided by AI rather than by a human care provider, patients were less likely to utilize the service and wanted to pay less for it. They also preferred having a human provider perform the service even if that meant there would be a greater risk of an inaccurate diagnosis or a surgical complication.

Given a choice – ‘patients will always highly value and seek out human touch’:

This point was also deliberated in another study, published in the MedCity News on January 14, 2021. Acknowledging: ‘Effective, modern medicine cannot survive without technology,’ it brought to the fore an important finding: ‘Regardless of how intuitive the software – or how advanced the technology – patients will always highly value and seek out human touch’ because of several reasons. Some of which are as follows:

  • Patients believe that their medical needs are unique and cannot be adequately addressed by algorithms. Patient experiences aren’t meant to be 100% digital. And despite the accuracy of computers, humans prefer to seek care from other human beings.
  • Different patients have different emotional needs. Life-altering diagnoses and unforeseen outcomes are best delivered by a living, breathing, feeling individual who can fully understand and address these needs.
  • Physical examinations by a doctor are more reassuring and restorative for patients.

The author concluded, high tech is absolutely necessary for the progress of health care, in general. However, in the foreseeable future, high touch would remain an instrumental part of patients’ healthcare experience.

I believe, one can even experience it as the Covid-19 safety restrictions will start easing, or even now – to some extent. Therefore, ‘healthcare professionals must find a way to blend the sophistication of technology with the power of touch in order to continue improving patient experiences, care, and outcomes’, the paper underscores.

Conclusion:

Just as in the pharma business, a right-mix of high-tech and high-touch is also necessary in overall healthcare space, to deliver the best health outcomes to patients. After initial disruptions, a similar trend is emerging even in the new normal. No doubt, usage of high-tech digital platforms is here to stay, and further improve in the years ahead. But, digitalization alone in the healthcare space, should not be construed as something that can make high-touch totally irrelevant or redundant in a patient’s journey for disease treatment.

The mindset of mutual exclusiveness of high-tech and high-touch, if any, either during patient-treatment or in the customer engagement process needs a revisit. As it appears, it is neither desirable in customer engagement, nor in patient treatment processes – akin to one approach suits all. This is because, healthcare is very personal to patients – more than most other areas. A lot of individual feelings and emotions are involved in patients’ end-to-end journey for treatment, where only high tech-based solutions may not meet all patient expectations – sans high-touch of physicians, as I deliberated above.

Thus, effective integration of high-tech-healthcare with high-touch of physicians, nurses, and some technicians, is evolving as the right way to deliver patient expected values, for better health outcomes. From this perspective, alongside most other stakeholders, astute marketers are realizing that high-tech digitalization isn’t a panacea for effective pharma marketing. Delivering the best patient outcomes with the right high-tech-high-touch combo, is the name of the game.

By: Tapan J. Ray       

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

Focus On All 3 Areas of Innovation For Affordable Access To Innovative Drugs

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Medical treatment has made astonishing advances over the years. But the packaging and delivery of that treatment are often inefficient, ineffective, and consumer unfriendly. This was articulated in an article on innovation in healthcare, published in the Harvard Business Review, way back, in its May 2006 issue.

Highlighting soaring healthcare cost, including ‘out of pocket’ health expenditure, and its impact on public health, the paper recommended innovative solutions for every related aspect of health care. These encompass – healthcare delivery, unleashing the power of technology, and customer-centric business models. Interestingly, despite enormous investment in drug innovation, the access to affordable health care for all, continued over the years.

The consequential scenario was well articulated in another paper on rising consumerism among healthcare consumers, published in the Deloitte Review issue 16, 2015. It noted, the existing business models are increasingly being challenged by all concerned. The aim is to find new sources of value – as expected by patients and deliver them effectively with innovative approaches for better outcomes. This has, initiated a recalibration of the healthcare system, as it were, in many parts of the world, including many -both developed and developing countries, across the globe.

In this article, I shall try to explore this area, especially from the perspective of relevance of innovative business models for affordable access to innovative drugs in the new normal. Let me start with three basic innovation needs in the pharma business that may help chart out a meaningful pathway to attain this goal.

3 innovation areas to make health care better and cheaper:

In pharma industry, people mostly talk about product or treatment innovation. Although, this is of paramount importance to make healthcare more and more effective with time, but may not help save or heal more patients, commensurately.

Going by the ‘health care innovation catalog,’ as charted by the above Harvard Business Reviewarticle, ‘three kinds of innovation can make health care better and cheaper.’ These innovations are primarily related to:

  • Use of ‘technology’ to develop new products and treatments or to improve care
  • Bringing in innovative changes the ways ‘consumers’ buy and use healthcare.
  • Generating new ‘business models’, particularly those that involve the horizontal or vertical integration of separate health care organizations or activities.

As I have deliberated in the past, related to the first two areas, this discourse will deliberate on the third type of innovation to explore the above specified area. Let me hasten to add that several studies published in the later dates, echoed similar approach.

Subsequent studies reinforce the point:

One such example, is the paper titled ‘Innovative Approaches to Increase Access to Medicines in Developing Countries’, published in the Frontiers in Medicine on December 07, 2017. This study also captured: ‘Access to essential medicines is problematic for one third of all persons worldwide. The price of many medicines (i.e., drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics) is unaffordable to the majority of the population in need, especially in least-developed countries, but also increasingly in middle-income countries.’

The paper highlighted, several innovative approaches, based on partnerships, intellectual property, and pricing, can further stimulate innovation, promote healthcare delivery, and reduce global health disparities, significantly. It underscored: ‘No single approach suffices, and therefore stakeholders need to further engage in partnerships promoting knowledge and technology transfer in assuring essential medicines to be manufactured, authorized, and distributed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in an effort of making them available at affordable and acceptable conditions.’

Changing business model concept gaining steam during Covid pandemic:

The issue of affordable access to innovative medicines drew attention of all stakeholders, even the common man, during the Covid pandemic – more than ever before. Several publications raised a flag on this barrier to public health, especially amid a pandemic or epidemic like situation.

One of these papers, titled ‘COVID-19 and the global public health: Tiered pricing of pharmaceutical drugs as a price-reducing policy tool’, was published in the Journal of Generic Medicines, on October 07, 2020. The paper emphasized, COVID-19 has raised serious concerns about affordable and equitable access to critically needed innovative medicines and other health technologies. It pointed out: ‘Patent exclusivities add to the cost of healthcare by allowing supra-competitive prices of protected technologies’, it commented. At the same time, ‘the prices and availability of drugs also depend on certain other factors that are not related to IP protection.’

Here comes the concept of ‘differential pricing’ or ‘tiered pricing’. This is a voluntary price-reducing policy option of the innovator to sell innovative drugs at lower prices in developing countries – compared to developed nations. The study articulated, more and more innovators imbibing this option in the future, could be a way forward to address for the future. Could it be a win-win solution for this critical issue?

Is it a win-win solution to this critical issue?

Since, at least, the last decade, the concept of differential pricing or tiered pricing ‘has received widespread support from industry, policymakers, civil society, and academics as a way to improve access to these life-saving products.’ This was also noted in the paper - ‘A critical analysis of tiered pricing to improve access to medicines in developing countries,’ published in the journal Globalization and Health, on October 12, 2011.

Even at that time, the paper said: ‘International tiered pricing has been proposed as an alternative to high prices when separable high- and low-to-middle-income markets exist for a medicine and when the seller exerts significant power over pricing, such as when there is limited or no competition due to patent protection, data exclusivity, or other market-entry barriers.’

Interestingly, despite above findings, tiered pricing has not been a widely followed concept in the old normal to ensure affordable access to life-saving innovative drugs, for all. One of its reasons could possibly be commercial considerations. Company specific business threshold of tiered pricing may not necessarily be able to offer a price that is equitable or affordable for all. That said, there are a few laudable initiatives of some major innovator companies in the past.

Some laudable past initiatives for affordable access to innovative drugs:

Since the beginning of this millennium, one can witness some laudable pricing initiatives for affordable access to critical, innovative drugs to save lives in developing countries and poorer nations. Let me give a few reported examples below:

  • Abbott Laboratories – the patent holder of lopinavir and ritonavir had initially announced a tiered price of $650 in 2001 for African countries and 16 non-African least developed countries. In 2002, the Company reduced the price to $500 for these countries and in August 2009 dropped it to $440 – slightly below the lowest generic price.
  • In 2001, Novartis offered “at-cost” tiered price of $2.40 per adult treatment course for artemether-lumefantrine FDC to WHO for developing countries After 5 years when a generic version of the same was available, Novartis decreased its tiered price to $1.80, thereafter to $1.50.
  • Eli Lilly’s two key DR-TB drugs, capreomycin and cycloserine were not widely available from other suppliers even after it went off patent. In 2002, Lilly transferred the drug manufacturing technology to several generic drug companies in TB-endemic countries. Eli Lilly’s tiered price has consistently remained below the generic prices for these drugs.

More examples of voluntary licensing during Covid pandemic:

Gilead signed non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers based in Egypt, India and Pakistan to manufacture remdesivir for distribution in 127 countries that face significant obstacles to healthcare access.

Notably, the licenses are royalty-free until the World Health Organization declares the end of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern regarding COVID-19, or until a pharmaceutical product other than remdesivir or a vaccine is approved to treat or prevent COVID-19, whichever is earlier.

On May 11, 2021, several media reports revealed that ‘US pharma giant Eli Lilly has issued royalty-free, non-exclusive voluntary licenses to three Indian drug makers – Cipla, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Lupin – to manufacture and distribute Baricitinib, which is being used to treat Covid-19.

As announced on October 27, 2021, the global drug major MSD and Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) entered into a voluntary licensing agreement to facilitate affordable global access for molnupiravir, an investigational oral COVID-19 antiviral medicine. This agreement will help create broad access for molnupiravir use in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) including India following appropriate regulatory approvals. The Indian companies, reportedly, include, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Emcure Pharma and Hetero Labs.

On November 16, 2021, Pfizer Press Release stated: Pfizer and MPP has signed a voluntary license agreement for Pfizer’s COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate PF-07321332, which is administered in combination with low dose ritonavir (PF-07321332; ritonavir). Under the terms of the license agreement, qualified generic medicine manufacturers worldwide that are granted sub-licenses, will be able to supply this combination drug to 95 countries, covering up to approximately 53% of the world’s population.

Conclusion:

Covid Pandemic, which apparently, is refusing to vanish anytime soon, makes the issue of making affordable access to critical innovative drugs for all, more intense. Since long, researchers, academicians, practitioners, and the stakeholders involved in addressing this healthcare challenge for the majority of the population have suggested several innovative approaches.

These include, focus on three kinds of innovation simultaneously, and with similar zest, can make health care better and cheaper. One such area is changing pharma business models for critical innovative drugs. The good news is a few pharma players have already charted on this pathway in the past, successfully, by extending royalty-free, voluntary licenses to manufacturers in the developing countries and poorer nations. Some of them even tried to match their tiered pricing with equivalent generic drug prices. But the overall response was rather lukewarm in the old normal. Interestingly, the new normal signals a mindset change in this regard within a larger number of global innovators.

The current trend gives a hope to many that an increasing number of global innovators will sincerely explore – not just one, but all the three areas of innovation for affordable access to innovative drugs. This could possibly reduce, if not eliminate the future need for the grant of compulsory licenses for such drugs, as happened during the peak of Covid pandemic, especially in India.

By: Tapan J. Ray      

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Expand Market Share Unleashing Digital Health Potential For All

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“Advancement in digital health is currently restricted mainly to economically and socially privileged populations. Those having access, resources and basic digital skills, are reaping disproportionate benefits from the technology and other associated infrastructure available for this purpose. Unfortunately, underserved population, mostly in rural hinterland and in some urban areas, still do not have much access to this technical advancement in the healthcare space. Ensuring affordable access to “Digital Health” in digital India, would help augment quality healthcare support with equity, to all in the country.” I wrote the above in my article on digital health, published in this blog, way back on March 09, 2015.

About two years down the line from that date, the IQVIA report – ‘The Growing Value of Digital Health’, published on November 07, 2017, also reported: ‘The impact of Digital Health on patient care is accelerating with the increasing adoption of mobile health apps and wearable sensors.’ It highlighted, among others, the following important points:

  • Health-related mobile applications available to consumers nearly doubled from the number available just two years ago, with increasing clinical evidence on app efficacy – supported by 571 published studies in 2017.
  • The use of Digital Health apps with proven reductions in acute care utilization include, diabetes prevention, diabetes management, asthma, cardiac rehabilitation, and pulmonary rehabilitation.
  • ‘Digital health’ signals a high potential in reducing overall health care cost for both patients and the providers – reducing huge burden on the health system, significantly.
  • Efforts by patient care organizations to fit ‘’Digital Health tools into clinical practice have progressed with 540 current clinical trials in the U.S. incorporating these tools, and an estimated 20% of large health systems shifting from pilot ‘Digital Health’ programs to more full-scale rollouts.
  • However, despite progress to date, several barriers still exist to widespread adoption by patient care institutions, and only an intermediate level of adoption has yet occurred.

In this article, I shall explore – how pharma marketers can expand their respective brand market share by unleashing the full potential of digital health, for all, and equitably, while formulating their marketing strategies of the new normal.

Digital health accelerated effective response to COVID-19 challenges:

Never has extensive operational overhaul been more urgent in health care than in the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic – emphasized the article on ‘Digital health during COVID-19’, published in the February 2021 online issue of The Lancet (Digital Health). The paper underlined – the urgency of the pandemic prompted new models of patient treatment, providing medical professionals tools to respond effectively to the unprecedented crisis, with the advances in digital health.

However, the authors cautioned, ‘to ensure sustained adoption, it is necessary to not assume that digital solutions will naturally assimilate into clinical practice, and instead adopt participatory approaches that regularly involve stakeholders.’ Meanwhile, a confused signal is causing delay in the speedy adoption of digital health.

Is a confused signal delaying speedy adoption of digital health?

As Covid vaccination process gaining steam, the pandemic, apparently, is coming under control in many places of the world, just as it is in India. Alongside, several optimistic health care facilitators, providers and even regulators are probably awaiting the old normal to return – especially, F2F customer services.

Whereas, the above The Lancet (Digital Health) study finds – the clinical demand for digital services are gradually picking up – mostly because of the sudden surge in patient demand during the pandemic. Intriguingly, amid this situation, weak governance of digital technologies and platforms, is increasing health inequities and compromising human rights, which I wrote in my article on digital health, published in this blog, on March 09, 2015.

Weak governance of digital health results, increasing health inequities:

That weak governance of digital technologies and platforms, is increasing health inequities, was reiterated by yet another contemporary article titled – ‘Digital technologies: a new determinant of health,’ published in the November 2021 issue of The Lancet (Digital Health).

The article revealed, ‘The Lancet’ and ‘Financial Times’ Commission on governing health futures 2030’ has made important recommendations for successful integration of digital technologies in health. The bottom line of which is, weak governance of digital technologies is causing health inequities and compromising human rights. The study also emphasized, the future governance of digital technologies in health care ‘must be driven by the public purpose, not private profit’.  

Points to ponder for pharma marketers:

As iterated in the article of the November 2021 issue of The Lancet (Digital Health), the following facts needs to be considered by all, especially I reckon, by astute pharma marketers:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruptions within health care, both directly as a result of the infectious disease outbreak, and indirectly because of prompt public health measures to mitigate against transmission.
  • This unprecedented disruption has caused rapid dynamic fluctuations in demand, capacity, and even contextual aspects of health care.
  • Therefore, the traditional face-to-face patient–physician care model has had to be re-examined in many countries, including India.
  • To rapidly tide over the crisis, and thereafter to avoid similar possible situations in the future, digital technology and new models of care are being rapidly deployed to meet the challenges of change, triggered by the pandemic.
  • The new models include remote digital health solutions such as telehealth, artificial intelligence – decision support for triaging and clinical care, and home monitoring of several ailments.
  • Operationalizing these new models will be based on the choice of technology support, clinical need, demand from patients, and manpower availability – ranging from pre-hospital to out-of-hospital models, including the hub-and-spoke model.

Conclusion:

It is widely believed today, the pan-industry shift toward digital health of different types is here to stay, in varying degree, though, and accelerate further for several strategic reasons. These include, adding more flexibility in attaining greater efficiency and effectiveness for customer engagement, and patient-perceived brand value delivery to them.

That said, as I wrote before, customer engagement may call for a hybrid business model of virtual and in-person F2F engagements. However, going back to the old normal of in-person F2F engagements for all doctors could probably be a far cry. Similarly, the initial success of e-customer engagement is unlikely to replace in-person and in-clinic F2F engagements of sales reps completely.

From the above perspective, I reckon, pharma marketers may now wish to expand their brand market share, significantly, by unleashing the full potential of digital health for all, and equitably, particularly, in the new normal.

However, in that process, they need to be vigilant for not deviating from the key purpose of digital health for the end users. This must reach across all socioeconomic strata, regardless of patient demographics or their geographical locations. It’s, no doubt, easier said than done, but has to happen – for the sake of health-equity - augmenting healthcare for all in India.

By: Tapan J. Ray      

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

What Have And Haven’t Changed In Pharma’s New Normal?

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While navigating through the challenge of disruptive changes, several pharma marketers are now focusing more on creating, connecting, and leveraging all market and customer related data, across the organization. Astute ones are using state-of-the-art tools, platforms, and techniques to gain actionable insights on new demands of pharma markets. I wrote about it in my article - ‘Data: the new ‘Magic Wand’ For Pharma Business Excellence,’ published in this blog on October 01, 2018.

This process is helping them to fathom what areas the pandemic has changed and what it hasn’t. Their aim is to draw cutting-edge strategies accordingly for market effectiveness – outperforming competition. This article will explore that space with contemporary examples. Let me start with a few illustrations of some hits and misses for the treatment of Covid – as the world started learning to live with this menacing virus. This was enviable, as the requisite scientific date wasn’t readily available at that moment of truth. But the time has changed now.

Some hits and misses:

As the pandemic overwhelmed the world, and no well-documented treatment for infection caused by the brand new virus – Covid-19 was available, many drug players were given quick emergency approval by country regulators for some repurposed drugs. But most of those weren’t found effective as fresh clinical data started pouring in. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO), have, reportedly, indicated that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients.

More recently, Gilead Sciences Veklury – a failed Ebola drug, repurposed for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, suddenly became a blockbuster drug, according to a September 17, 2021 report. However, in less than a year, alongside more research data - a study from Europe, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, showed that Veklury has no real benefit. The report also highlights: ‘Aided by a ringing endorsement from then-president Donald Trump, Veklury rang up sales of $2.8 billion in 2020, including $1.9 billion in the final quarter. But those sales slid this year to $1.5 billion in the first quarter followed by $829 million in the second quarter.’

Similarly, there are several areas that are seemingly getting transformed, triggered by the pandemic and the time for resorting to a hit or miss approach, is now virtually over. From pharma marketers’ point of interest, it will now be at one’s own peril for not challenging the pre-Covid business traditions, rules, and well-tried strategies on customer relationships and brand building models. This brings us to the question on what specifically have changed in the new normal as the pharma industry navigates thorough the Covid pandemic – for close to two years now.  

Pandemic-triggered changes in the pharma marketing area:

Changes are many and are being studied across the world. One such recent analysis, articulating how the pandemic triggered changes have redefined marketing, was published by the Harvard Business Review (HBR), on March 10, 2021. This paper came more than a year after the pandemic overwhelmed the world. This article listed some interesting macro-level changes, including the following:

  • Old normal: You are competing with your competitors.
  • New normal: You are competing with the last best experience your customer had.
  • Old normal: Customers hope you have what they want.
  • New normall: Customers expect you to have exactly what they want.
  • Old normal: Courting customers is just like dating.
  • New normal: Courting customers is just like online dating.
  • Old normal: Customers must sit at the heart of your marketing strategy.
  • New normal: Customers must sit at the heart of your customer journey.
  • Old normal: Agility is a technology process.
  • New normal: Agility is a modern marketing approach.
  • Old normal: Your brand should stand behind great products.
  • New normal: Your brand should stand behind great values.

To illustrate the point, let me now give a few examples of some micro-level changes in the same space.

Some transformation trends:

I am citing a few examples related to pharma’s traditional sales and marketing models. One such area is, quite a few companies are adopting connected data based and analytics-supported Omnichannel approach for customer engagement. The key objective is to deliver coherent and high-quality customer experience.

The need for new commercial models for the changing life sciences market, was also highlighted in an interesting article, published in the Pharmaceutical Executive on September 16, 2021. The authors identified six health care macro trends, demonstrating the value of transforming care delivery and shifting market behavior that prompt to reframe customer value propositions.

Taking a cue from this paper, I am listing below some of the current trends – as I see these and wrote before in this blog. Each one of these calls for well-connected data with analytics support:

  • Fostering a new genre of ‘customer-brand relationship’ to drive more targeted go‑to‑market strategies, enhanced agility/mobility of resources and highly personalized customer interactions.
  • Meeting the growing demand for value‑based care with novel risk‑adjusted and outcome‑based Price-Value-Models, supported by ongoing innovation in this area and sophisticated approach to value, affordability and outcomes.

Interestingly, despite Herculean constraints, many pharma players continued creating and delivering value, as the customers were expecting with changing situations.  

Drug-price sensitivity is increasing:

In the new normal, drug price sensitivity of customers is increasing manifold, for various reasons. A June 18, 2020 study, flags: ‘Nine in 10 Concerned About Rising Drug Costs Due to COVID-19.’ Although, this particular study (Gallup Poll) was conducted in the United States, general public apprehension is no different in other parts of the world, including India.

In my article of September 14, 2020, I also wrote that the concept of ‘fair pricing a drug’ is being deliberated by many experts around the world, since quite some time, till today. But it continues. Most recently, as reported on September 22, 2021, for different reasons related to its new Alzheimer’s drug - Aduhelm, including its hefty price tag of $56,000 annually per patient, ‘Biogen reps banned from D.C.-area neurology clinics.’

Regardless of such customer reactions, the pharma industry, as reported on September 17, 2021, continues to advocate – drug pricing pressure will stifle innovation, blocking patient access to needed medicines and dry up investment in important R&D on new therapies. Curiously, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), is spending more than $1 million on TV ads as part of a massive lobbying and communications campaign emphasizing the potential harm to patients seeking cures for deadly diseases, as the report highlights.

Innovation – remained mostly unhindered from old to new normal:

Customers’ expectations can’t be ignored indefinitely. Interestingly, the world has also witnessed it with Covid drug and vaccine innovation continuing even during the most trying times during the pandemic, even in India. It is, therefore, quite understandable why unfettered access to drug innovation is considered an oxymoron, by many.

The good news is, despite shrill voices over pricing measures, the quest for adding meaningful value to the healthcare space continues unhindered. As reported on September 19, 2021, both Pfizer and Merck are advancing oral antiviral candidates targeting Covid-19 into late-stage testing. Thus, I reckon, regardless of jarring noise from pharma lobbyists, drug innovation, willy-nilly, has to satisfy the diverse demand of health care customers.

Innovation needs to satisfy demands of diverse healthcare customers:

That, increasingly, drug innovations will need to be based on their ability to satisfy the demands of life sciences companies’ diverse customer-perceived value-based, was also echoed by the Pharmaceutical Executive article of September 16, 2021.

While doing so, companies will need to structure innovation in terms of health outcomes, affordability, and personalization, as the paper emphasized. It further added, ‘broader definition of innovation means products are no longer the central driver of value.’ Instead, innovation will be powered by an increasingly diverse stream of data that resides outside the confines of the traditional health ecosystem.

Covid pandemic accelerated the transition of this process of innovation, drawing its new focus on providing a seamless and holistic customer experience in the disease treatment process – supported by advanced analytics and this deeper understanding of customer segments.

Conclusion:

Many pharma marketers have possibly undertaken a sophisticated and credible market scanning exercise in the new normal, to assess by themselves what have or haven’t changed in their customer preferences and market dynamics. If not, I would encourage them to initiate it, at least, now.

Equally noteworthy, as the above HBR article wrote, in the post pandemic period: ‘Beyond geography, marketing messages need to be personally relevant, aligned to an individual’s situation and values, as opposed to demographics, such as age and gender.’

The objective is to create a personal connection between the customer and the brand promotional content, aiming to influence the prescribing and purchasing behavior, based on their psychographic to attitudinal characteristics. This process would require creating and screening lots of customized data, supported by sophisticated analytics.

From the above perspective, I reckon, deep insight on what have or haven’t changed in the healthcare environment alongside its customers, would be of fundamental importance for pharma marketers, in the new normal.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Why Pharma Need To Connect Better With Patient Organizations Now?

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A good number of patients (63%), especially those with chronic ailments would look for Patient Support Services, revealed a survey by Human Healthcare Systems, released on February 25, 2020. Alongside, drug companies are also, reportedly, investing billions of dollars in every year, for several types of patient support programs, according to the Fierce Pharma article of July 06, 2021, on this subject. It emphasized: ‘Pharma companies spend more than $5 billion on patient support programs every year.’

Thus, it will be interesting to explore – when patients are looking for Patient Support Services (PSPs) and pharma companies are also trying to deliver the same, what’s really happening on the ground? Today’s article will focus on this area to help pharma marketers to get a ringside view of this area, and take necessary action in this area to make this investment more productive.

The aim is to help create a cutting-edge marketing strategy, while delivering best patient value and outcomes in the new normal. Let me start by recapitulating what exactly is a PSP to ensure that we all are on the same page, during this discussion.

Patient Support Services (PSPs):

According to IQVIA, a key challenge in deliberating with PSPs is that they have broad definitions, and consequently, may often give rise to multiple interpretations, misunderstandings and even bias. Be that as it may, IQVIA defines PSP as ‘An umbrella term to describe initiatives led by pharmaceutical companies to improve access, usage, and adherence to prescription drugs. These programs can have a financial component, support clinical investments, focus purely on education, or a combination.’

As we also see around, such programs include – disease awareness campaigns, helping patients use their drugs at the right dose for the right duration for best outcomes, to help patients use their drugs with disease education, financial support and more.

Relevance of PSP in the new normal:

Although PSPs aren’t a new concept, studies unfold – value that PSPs deliver to the community is so significant that when created with a clear understanding of motivators and drivers of patient behavior, can fetch equally significant return on investments for the pharma players.

A recent IQVIA White Paper concludes by noting: ‘One of the major trends seen from the COVID-19 global pandemic, is an increase telehealth. As the point of enrolment into a patient support program goes digital, PSP programs need to adjust.’ This seismic shift in the way we seek and receive treatment will require companies to revisit and potentially update their actionable insight in this space, The paper further notes: ‘With an increase in digital enrolment there are now more opportunities to capture data points and utilize technology.’

Thus, I reckon, it will be worthwhile to fathom, when patients are looking for health care support services and pharma companies are also spending considerably towards the same, what exactly is happening on the ground.

Interestingly, according to the 2021 findings of Phreesia Life Sciences, which surveyed nearly 5,000 patients checking in for doctors’ appointments during the past February and March, found, ‘just 3% were using patient support programs (PSPs).’

Some key highlights of the survey findings:

The support programs in the above survey of Phreesia Life Sciences, broadly includes, services, such as, financial assistance, disease education and specifics about medicine – offered by pharma companies. Based on these, some of the key findings of the study were as follows: 

  • Just 3% of eligible patients are currently using support programs, and 8% have used them in their lifetimes.
  • 59% of patients have little to no knowledge of patient support programs.
  • 61% of patients feel that patient support programs of pharma companies would be “somewhat,” “a little,” or “not at all helpful” for them.
  • Most patients who had used support programs, used them either at first diagnosis, or when starting medication.
  • Only 10% of patients said they had learned about support programs online, but 44% said they’d like to learn about support programs online

Further, as one of the senior officials involved in this research, reportedly, said, ‘nine out of 10 qualified patients were not using the brand’s copay card—even though more than half (53%) said they would likely use one if they had it.’ Moreover, ‘two out of three patients reported it was the first time they were learning about it.’

Likely reasons for low usage of pharma’s PSPs: 

Some of the most likely reasons for low usage of pharma’s PSPs were deliberated in another article of Fierce Pharma dated December 04, 2020. A domain expert commented there, ‘pharma companies simply have missed the mark in developing useful, durable tools for patients. Elaborating this point further, she said, ‘Focusing just on specific adherence tasks, like medication reminders, isn’t providing enough value for patients over a long period of time.’

Another contributing factor could be, patients suffering from multiple diseases and those who are on multiple medications of different pharma companies, are unlikely to download four different apps to track each one.

One more reason could well depend on patients’ generally preferred sources to avail such services, which may not necessarily be pharma companies.

Patients generally preferred sources for patient services:

This point was discussed in the Accenture study – ‘Uniting pharma companies and patient organizations,’ published on August 07, 2019. This survey was done on 4000 patients and some broad findings of this study include the following:

  • Patients generally prefer services from patient organizations over those from pharma companies.
  • Patients feel that patient organizations have a better understanding of their emotional, financial, and other needs than many pharma companies.
  • Patients also want pharma companies to coordinate with patient organizations to provide better care.

The survey also captured details of patient preferences regarding availing required services from patient organizations, rather than the drug companies, as below:

  • Over 50% of patients have greater trust in and better experiences with patient organizations.
  • 64% of patients are willing to share their health data with patient organizations to get better care.
  • 52% of patients are willing to share their health data with patient organizations to get better care.
  • 72% of surveyed patients call or talk to someone at patient organizations on the phone.
  • 58% of patients attend in-person events hosted by patient organizations.

Are PSPs commercially useful to pharma companies?

The very fact that drug companies are currently spending over $5 Billion annually for PSPs, reflects their direct and indirect influence in pharma’s branding strategy and image building process. Otherwise, why would they spend so much? That said, the above survey details send a clear message to pharma marketers to maximize their marketing investments on PSPs, more than ever before. Consequently, the question arises, how to achieve that goal? 

Maximize marketing investments on PSPs:

Echoing and paraphrasing some points from the above IQVIA White Paper, let me highlight, especially for the marketers, 3 clear steps for maximizing returns from pharma’s investments on PSPs, as follows:

A. Gain beforehand deeper insights of patients’ PSP need and expectations: 

37% of patients surveyed said, pharma companies with actionable insights, will better understand their needs through collaboration with Patient Organizations (PO), leading to meaningful engagement in a more personalized way and more frequently.

B. Deliver patient expected value thorough close coordination with the POs:

This is because, 84% of patients think pharma companies – with closer coordination with, at least, a couple of influential patient groups or organizations (PO), will deliver greater value. This will also create a seamless and more cohesive patient experience, while filling gaps in the patient treatment process, to enhance end-to-end customer experience - in an unbiased way.

C.  Creating and delivering new and seamless patient experiences:

The newness is important – not just to delight the patients, but also for strategic differentiation in this ball game. This is possible by working closely with Patient Support Groups (PSGs) as partners, seeking ways to rethink for creating and delivering a unique patient experience from patients’ perspective, and outcome first basis.

Use of data, analytics and insights will be essential while creating care experiences that will better meet the patients’ needs, and would also help measure the impact of PSPs on an ongoing basis.

PSGs are helping to transform health care also in India:

Some PSGs are helping to transform healthcare with prudent use of PSPs in India, as they raise awareness about diseases, help people recover psychologically, and more, have been captured by Indian media, as well. One such report titled, How patient support groups are revolutionizing health care’ says: ‘Because of these networks, patients and their families have become better organized, and are equipped to handle emergency situations and advocate for access to treatment.’

Conclusion:

Echoing the ZS article, published on August 17, 2020, I too concur that COVID-19 has pushed the drug companies to define new ways to deliver care and reach patients. It is quite possible that patient organizations are moving faster in this direction than many pharma companies. Which is why, more patients, reportedly, prefer PSPs from patient organizations, over those from pharma companies.

Further, a course-correction in PSP, would also offer pharma marketers an additional opportunity. Because, PSPs have hidden potential to create an exceptional patient support base that marry brand’s key attributes with the new reality of patients, living with their conditions in the new normal.

Pharma companies will, therefore, need to move from typical reactive support programs – to delivering proactive patient experiences in a post-COVID-19 world, in partnership with PSGs. To ensure maximum number of patients use PSPs, it’s critical for pharma marketers to redefine – the “new normal” patient journey, and meet their current unmet needs in this space. That’s why, I reckon, to succeed in this ball game, pharma would need to effectively connect with patient organizations, more than ever before.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.