The end-to-end journey for a patient starting treatment on branded pharmaceutical products is often complex, time consuming, and unpredictable, leading to high levels of dissatisfaction among health care providers (HCPs), patients, and caregivers alike. Biopharma companies have a unique opportunity to leverage new sources of patient data and technology to create more personalized and seamless patient experiences that have the potential to deliver better health outcomes.

The Push Factors

A number of forces are converging that make now the right time for biopharma companies to take a fresh look at where and how they invest in processes, systems, and people.

• Patients today expect more than just access to medication—they want more integrated, personalized care that they can be confident will lead to improved health.
• For many HCPs, the quality of patient support provided by a pharmaceutical company is a primary driver of what products they select for their patients—especially for disease states with multiple products and similar clinical profiles.
• Medication nonadherence is becoming an ever-bigger problem, leading to poorer health outcomes and representing tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue for US pharmaceutical companies.

The Opportunity Space

Biopharma companies now have the opportunity to create end-to-end patient experiences that are more seamless, predictable, and positive. There are three key enablers:

• Exploiting richer and more diverse data sets.
• Using AI and advanced analytics to deliver much more personalized patient experiences.
• Embedding GenAI technologies into ways of working and core processes.

Collectively, these three capabilities can transform how patient journeys are activated, providing much more tailored, data-driven interventions in a cost-effective manner.

How Companies Are Acting on the Opportunity 

For the most forward-thinking biopharma companies, this evolution of patient services has become reality.

Consider one pharmaceutical company that recently worked with BCG to transform its personalization process for engaging with patients using AI. The company was able to reduce content creation time by 98% and associated process steps by 50%, and achieve its vision for “segment of one” level targeting. The client recognized that a barrier to unique content was a burdensome creation process. BCG helped the company identify 20 priority use cases for personalization and embed GenAI into workflows to enable much faster content creation timelines. Armed with next-generation tools, the company was able to rapidly reshape processes to deliver a more targeted patient experience, helping patients feel more supported in their treatment journey, increasing medication adherence, and driving improved outcomes.

At another biopharma organization, BCG helped to design an innovative patient engagement model through enhanced journey navigation, improving the care pathway for patients and strengthening the company’s differentiation from competitors. The company wanted to transform its patient experience and integrate cooperation with other stakeholders, including HCPs and payers. BCG worked to analyze and cocreate future patient journeys with those external stakeholders, delivering an end-to-end activation of the ecosystem in service of the patient and bringing the ecosystem closer to a digitally driven future.

Three Immediate Actions

Biopharma companies can take some actions now to improve the patient experience and streamline the patient journey:

• Use AI tools to deliver personalized support after treatment has been started, such as medication reminders and support for adverse event monitoring.
• Collect patient data more systematically to both enable the delivery of higher quality care and demonstrate real-world benefits to patients.
• Enhance copay assistance, reimbursement programs, and digital education platforms to provide more tailored experiences, specific to disease states.

Longer-Term Investments: Three Big Bets

To capture the full potential of delivering better patient experiences, biopharma companies should make three programmatic investments:

• Redesign processes and programs around the patient. Collaborate with providers and pharmacies to create an integrated ecosystem centered on patient experiences.
• Create true omnichannel engagement capabilities. Combine telemedicine, in-person care, and digital platforms for a unified patient support system.
• Invest in data-driven personalization. Develop AI-driven insights to address barriers to adherence and provide ongoing, tailored patient engagement.

Biopharma companies must act now to enhance patient services, not only improving outcomes but also building stronger relationships with health care providers and payers.