In the life sciences industry, we often form our view of a patient journey as a series of binary check boxes that derive into a neatly, well-defined decision tree.

The reality is that a patient’s journey is complex and multi-dimensional, reflecting tests, diagnoses, and treatments, but also emotions and behaviors that change over time. Different factors affect how a person approaches treatment: age, gender, ethnicity, affordability, etc. Equally important are the people who are involved in supporting the patient along their journey, who may also be impacted by the condition and can play a role in influencing treatment decisions.

While there are risks and responsibilities, when it comes to collecting and acting on patient information (e.g., adverse events) or patient requests (e.g., an expensive support program), there are many benefits to understanding patients and forming a relationship with them.

With different definitions of patient centricity and its multiple implications, one may wonder what patient centricity truly means, and whether incorporating it into the business plan can create value. Can life science companies utilize what they learn from patients to improve the patient experience and improve brand equity?

Patients are empowered to influence and manage their own journey

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major driver of growth in telehealth and is prompting many patients to manage their own treatments. However, data shows that even before COVID-19, patients were already looking for ways to influence and manage their own journey. In 2019, patients were already

• Informed: 4 in 5 used online health information
• Empowered: 3 in 5 made suggestions to physicians about their care plans
• Connected: 1 in 5 used health communities

The younger the patient, the more likely they are to use online information and feel more enabled to influence their treatment, including choice of Rx. With the use of digital and remote options expanding further, patients have become even more empowered. One trend has become clear: when patients are better informed, they are more capable of influencing physician decisions, how they access medicines, and how they connect with the overall healthcare environment.

Creating brand equity through patient centricity

With the increasing involvement of patients in their own treatment, it is also clear that the life sciences industry needs to be patient centric to improve value for patients as much as for the corporation. Creating a positive experience for patients builds trust and preference over time. Sharing experiences around the benefits, especially when there are similar treatment options, leads patients to discuss issues they see as important for their adherence with their healthcare professionals, potentially influencing the final prescription decision. A patient’s belief in the treatment they receive from the company translates into a higher likelihood that they’ll discuss and recommend it to other patients. This level of brand equity spans much longer than the time a patient spends on any drug, as patients move through lines of treatment and continue to share their experiences.

The key to deploying worthwhile patient support, however, is knowing where it’s needed and where it pays off. Predictive analytics can identify not just patient diagnoses, but also forecast where and when patients will emerge, as well as what their needs might be. Understanding patients beyond the window of disease relevant to a pharma company’s brand also supports a more general understanding of where future patients might surface. Some companies already use predictive analytics to conduct better trials, publish more convincing results, and plan a more informed launch strategy. This typically requires existing clinical data sets, but more and more, digital data can be leveraged to provide valuable insights to shape these predictions.

How to become a leader in patient centricity

IQVIA has identified three major trends in patient centricity that pharma companies should pay attention to: intelligent patient identification, supporting patient communities, and telemedicine.

It is commonplace to use data to understand and qualify the market for your treatment. However, data can be instrumental in demonstrating patient centricity as well. When you’re able to find data to describe where patients are, what diagnoses and prescriptions they received, etc., and enrich that data with what patients are saying, where they’re going, and what they’re experiencing - you can start predicting what patients might actually appear. By predicting patients’ needs and where they’re likely to be, pharma companies can deploy support programs where the patients are, not just the prescriber.

In addition, IQVIA believes applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to this data enables prediction of the right types of patients for a treatment. As the industry continues to accumulate data over time, the ability to make these predictions improves. This could change the approach to a lot of forecasting, but also benefits the industry on both the R&D level and at the patient level. Predictive data can

• support the identification of sites for trials and where to focus efforts on patient recruitment
• boost the ability to profile prescribers based on their patient makeup to increase the speed of adoption of a new treatment
• improve the overall patient experience

thus, supporting not only the perception of the treatment, but also ensuring that more convincing real world evidence is generated to support the value of a brand.

With access data layered on top, companies can understand what different types of access issues patients might face, and then target various types of support programs where they make the most sense (e.g., rebates where there is a cost issue, versus reimbursement process support where many claims are rejected by payers).

Pharmaceutical companies can develop a trusted relationship with patients through a virtual, online health community. On these platforms, people can engage with one another and even speak to doctors for additional support. The level of engagement happens on each member's terms, and the solutions “go beyond the pill” to support the person holistically throughout their treatment journey. This approach accommodates individual preferences while respecting patient privacy, and also provides a comfortable, connected environment where other members understand what the patient is going through and engage in the forum by sharing their own personal experiences. Online platforms also provide an opportunity for patients to seek professional advice from an alternative source or ask questions that are better answered by a different type of professional than their own physician. The convenience is further enhanced by the ability to access this type of support and services from home.

While pharma companies sponsoring the patient communities can use them to support clinical and R&D processes through pre-launch, post-launch, and beyond, they should also consider how patients can support and engage each other, particularly if the patient is being treated for a chronic condition. Engagement is about helping patients feel less alone and access good advice.

At the same time, the type of data collected through these communities can support even greater patient understanding to feed the predictive analytics described earlier that are not always possible to carry out if the syndicated data isn’t available.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine—virtual doctor visits that serve a patient when they can’t or don’t want to visit a physician in person—has become a major means for patients to access treatment. Telehealth has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, telemedicine has reached a stable level 38x higher than pre-pandemic levels, further validating that telehealth is here to stay. The reason that telehealth is able to grow so quickly is that the investment was there already. As early as 2019, telemedicine was receiving 1.8 billion dollars globally in investments. The overall market is expected to grow at least 20% over the next few years.

Telemedicine isn’t simply a means for doctors to see patients directly. It also allows for other personal conveniences. For instance, patients can complete questionnaires that inform their appropriate prescriptions. Pharmacies will even offer both home delivery and pharmacy pick-up options, further supporting the patient experience. Whether through collaborations or stand-alone offerings, the pharmaceutical industry will see a great growth if they collaborate and invest in telehealth.

Becoming more patient-centric

Patient centricity is a two-way relationship where pharma companies must give to get. For success in patient centricity, IQVIA recommends that life science companies take heed to a patient's unique journey, while recognizing and engaging in the new movement toward intelligent patient identification, patient communities, and telemedicine.

With a strong patient-centric strategy in place, pharma companies will be better positioned to pivot with healthcare’s changing landscape and remain competitive while nurturing their brand equity.