The NRx Crisis

According to IQVIA, new prescriptions for chronic therapies are at 80% of the pre-Covid-19 normal, only recovering with the start of 2021. We are further informed by these statistics:

• IQVIA: Approximately 10% of visits to prescribers are telehealth visits.¹
• SymmetryRx: 39% of telemedicine patients are appropriate to receive drug samples.
• Accenture: Pharma reps experienced a low of 35% in-person prescriber meetings during the pandemic.²
• Datamonitor: 30% of patients only fill their prescription when they get a drug sample, regardless of age, income, or gender.³

New Sampling Channels Are Needed

Drug sampling is a key driver for familiarizing prescribers with drugs, beginning patient trials and starting patient adherence. Pharma manufacturers have traditionally relied on field representatives to drive the distribution of drug samples to prescribers. Though this tactic is very successful, there has been a shift in prescriber willingness or ability to meet with field reps.

Untangling the Problem

Pharma reps provide critical services to prescribers, including:

• Education on proper use, risks and benefits of medications.
• Access to patient resources (educational & financial support).
• In-practice drug samples

The pharma representative’s efforts, supported by brand marketing programs, create demand and interest in the brand. Prescribers who use drug samples in their practice of medicine rely on a consistent supply of samples to serve their patients.

The problem is one of reach. Decreased prescriber reach by pharma reps and the increase in patient telemedicine encounters is reducing patient access to drug samples.

Maximizing Prescriber and Patient Reach

SymmetryRx’s prescriber self-serve SampleCenter™ eSample® request platform allows Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA)-compliant sample requests for ship-to-practice and direct-ship-to-patient from the manufacturer’s authorized distributor of record (ADR). The 4th-generation SampleCenter™ offers critical features that enable health systems and large group practices to easily manage sample requests in a PDMA-compliant, fully digital user experience that decreases practice inventory outages and inventory waste at the practice level. Of high importance, SampleCenter™ enables telemedicine patient access to drug samples. Additionally, practices that do not maintain sample inventory can serve all patients through the SampleCenter™ direct-ship-to-patient capability.

Access, Access, Access

SampleCenter™ extends the reach of pharma reps and creates the opportunity to reach more prescribers and to provide the complete service that those prescribers require. Our sample demand generation and patient medication adherence programs help our pharma clients increase new and total prescriptions and expand the success of medication treatment programs.

We integrate our service with your ADR for seamless execution in about eight-weeks. All request allocations, processing, and validation operate through data integrations with your ADR and allocation system.

SymmetryRx has operated drug sample request websites at brand and enterprise levels for 31 manufacturers while simultaneously giving prescribers sample access through SampleCenter™, the only true industry utility, one-stop sample request site designed for prescribers. The result for our clients is that we are consistently the second largest source for drug sample requests after the pharma’s direct or contracted sales force.

In an ever-changing healthcare landscape, pharma manufacturers need effective solutions to capture drug sample demand from prescribers in the way prescribers prefer. By partnering with SymmetryRx, pharma manufacturers can dramatically extend their reach within health systems, large groups, and directly to patients. SymmetryRx offers profitable access to prescribers in every decile and by all practice ownership types.

1. https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports/the-use-of-medicines-in-the-us
2. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/life-sciences/coronavirus-changing-pharma-hcp-engagement
3. Datamonitor, Introduction to eSampling Solutions, Published 2006