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Think Tank New Patient Starts
Betty Rhiew
Senior Director, U.S. Fumarates MS Marketing Biogen
betty.rhiew@biogen.com
A patient starting a new medication has many needs, including learning about the product, managing side effects, navigating insurance, creating a care team, staying on therapy (for a chronic condition), and overall assurance that they made the “right” decision by choosing the product.
Beyond the starter kit, many life sciences companies offer numerous services and tools to support new patients, such as:
• Patient Services Team, including coordination of product shipment, 24/7 live support, and copay assistance.
• Nurse Educators, providing supplemental support for treatment initiation, titration, adherence counseling, and in-home training visits for injectable products.
• Product websites, containing information about the product, doctor discussion guides, CRM opt-in, patient videos, and FAQs.
• Events, live and virtual, can include a talk by an HCP speaker and a patient ambassador.
• Educational brochures, given to the patient during the in-office visit.
• Adherence programs across multiple channels such as apps (can be product-specific or part of a multi-medicine management app); SMS opt-in (texts set up in a cadence to provide support at critical stages); in-home tools and technology (programmed devices to alert the patient when it’s time to take their medication).
The effectiveness of the tactics depends on many factors, including the patient’s demographics, the disease being treated, and leveraging any attitudinal and behavioral segmentation research. In general, patients get a better experience when a combination of the right tactics are used. For example, when marketing a drug that affects digitally savvy Millennials, using newer approaches, such as a QR code that plays a video to introduce key information about the product, along with a text adherence program, will likely be more effective than mailing a brochure or setting up scheduled calls.
Serge Loncar
Head of Patient Engagement OptimizeRx serge.loncar@optimizerx.com
Pharma is doing the right thing by focusing on the patient journey and delivering services based on a consumer-centric approach. The most successful pharma organizations also ensure their patient approach is a collaboration between the marketer, the agency, and the legal, medical, and regulatory departments. Plus, every brand should have an “empowered” patient advocate to ensure the optimal balance between compliance requirements versus a good patient experience.
Programs That Go Beyond the Pill
Pharma can use technology, in conjunction
with human interaction, to support
patients after their diagnosis, which for many can
be overwhelming. Therapy should not be just a pill.
It should include a program that “wraps” around the medication therapy to help guide the patient along
their personal journey. By providing such a program, pharma supports both the provider and the patient with a holistic approach to patient care that can lead to better outcomes and patient experience.
We recommend taking a holistic approach along the patient journey and having a suite of omnichannel technologies to deliver the right digital nudge at the right time that is contextually appropriate for patients and their support network. A customized approach is most impactful because patients appreciate receiving messages relevant to them and their therapy journey. Furthermore, when messages are uniquely combined with care coordination in which direct person-to-person communication occurs—it takes the experience to another level. It is most important to understand
what is the best and easiest experience for the patient and to give them some level of control.
48 pm360 magazine / September 2020