Trade & Channel Strategies 2024: Patient-Centric 3.0 — How Direct-to-Patient is the New Commercialization Model

Image Credit: Don Tracy

Continuing the first day of this year’s Trade & Channel Strategies Conference, a general session, “Patient-Centric 3.0 — How Direct-to-Patient is the New Commercialization Model” explored how drug manufactures are closing the gaps when it comes to patient access, affordability and adherence. As part of the session, Kevin O’Meara, VP, patient services, Eversana, and Jim Burke, general manager, revenue management, Eversana also discussed ways that direct-to-patient models shorten the time to diagnosis and therapy to improve patient outcomes.

Kicking off the conversation, O’Meara discussed the number of challenges that the industry is facing on a daily basis.

“There’s so many challenges that we all face daily,” he began. “From trying to help patients get out of therapy and trying to help them stay out of therapy. What can we do to simplify that? Right now, the patient experience is tough. It couldn’t be more complicated because it’s hard to get access, it's hard to afford therapy, and it’s hard to understand what’s happening.”

O’Meara then spoke of the difficulty that comes with helping provide patients with the healthcare that they need.

“We're all under pressure to help support patients and get them on therapy, but how do we make a profit,” he asked. “We're losing more than half the scripts on the way to the pharmacy. What's there in the pharmacy? It’s a challenge to get patients off of that side and onto the therapy side of things. How do we make sure the script is routed to somewhere that’s going to support the patient? Hopefully, it goes somewhere where it’s going to be covered by the contract it's going to be hopefully in stock, and the patient's going to get that therapy in a timely manner at a price point they can afford so they can be supported.”

According to O’Meara, the primary goal of direct-to-patient (DTP) models is to streamline and accelerate the journey from diagnosis to therapy, ensuring patients receive treatment faster and with better outcomes.

Burke then dove into the motivations behind DTP models and why it has been moving forward at such a rapid pace.

“I think everyone here has heard about DTP,” said Burke. “Lily and Pfizer are doing it, it’s everywhere. When it comes to the big why behind this, I don't think anybody here would argue the point that the current reimbursement access model is an absolute mess, between the different insurance programs, the different wholesalers, steps in the process, and the different layers involved that stand between patients and their therapies.”

Burke broke down the idea of a pharmaceutical therapy event to its key players.

“First, you need to have manufactured product,” he explained. “From there, you need to have a patient with a condition, and you need a prescriber to prescribe that drug. If you look at those three groups, you’ll see that they’re in a never-ending sea of frustration.”

The duo surmised that key aspects of DTP include:

• Patient Finding and Diagnosis: Leveraging awareness campaigns and self-assessment tools to help patients identify potential health issues and connect with appropriate care providers.
• Access and Onboarding: Reducing delays by enabling access to telehealth providers, supporting diagnostic steps, and ensuring quick onboarding for treatment.
• Reimbursement and Affordability: Addressing systemic inefficiencies like prior authorizations and complex insurance models to streamline therapy access and affordability.

Reference

Patient-Centric 3.0 — How Direct-to-Patient is the New Commercialization Model. December 10, 2024. Trade & Channel Strategies, Philadelphia. https://informaconnect.com/trade-channel/