"The days of just selling the pill are over." Debraj Dasgupta, Head of Specialty Commercialization and Adherence at Novartis and Meike Wenzel, Associate Partner at Executive Insight examine the big questions surrounding the 'Beyond the Pill' movement and offer up a few solutions.

1. Going Beyond The Pill:
The Big Questions
Debraj Dasgupta, Head of Specialty Commercialization and Adherence at Novartis
and Meike Wenzel, Associate Partner at Executive Insight examine the big
questions surrounding the 'Beyond the Pill' movement and offer up a few
solutions

2. Going Beyond the Pill: The Big Questions
“The days of just selling the pill are over”
- Adele Gulfo, President, Primary Care, Pfizer US
The challenges currently facing the While the theoretical case for ‘beyond the
pharmaceutical industry are numerous, well pill’ is becoming well established, it is still a
documented, and have led to a re- relatively new concept for the industry to
evaluation of the strategic approaches actually put into practice. As a small group
companies need to adopt in order to of passionate pharma employees continue
successfully commercialize their brands. to find their way in this area, we look at
some of the main questions being raised as
At the forefront of this re-evaluation is the
they try to come up with practical ways of
concept of going ‘beyond the pill’ – in other
getting there.
words, offering services that address
stakeholder needs along the patient
pathway, leading to better health outcomes
Q1) Is ‘Beyond the Pill’ the same as
while at the same time providing a source
adherence?
of competitive advantage and higher value
to patients, physicians and payers. When considering the types of benefits and
services beyond the pill could potentially
“While the theoretical case for ‘beyond the
provide, improving adherence will always
pill’ is becoming well established, it is still a
be near the top of the list. Adherence to
relatively new concept for the industry to
medication has been an issue for as long as
actually put into practice”
people have taken pills; the World Health
Pharmaceutical companies are beginning to Organization estimates that between 30
accept the benefits of this approach and and 50% of medicines prescribed for long-
some are already starting to commit to this term illness are not taken as directed, so it
strategy. By focusing on the unmet needs continues to be a huge unmet need.
of the stakeholders who regulate,
Better adherence would benefit everyone –
reimburse, prescribe and take the
patients, payers and yes, the drug
medicines they produce, companies can
companies. But while this is certainly a big
provide targeted solutions which both help
opportunity and a fundamental aspect of
to contribute to better health outcomes,
many beyond the pill initiatives, it is not the
and create the optimal environment for
only one.
their own products to thrive.
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3. It is vital that patients are at the center of a While it doesn’t fit naturally into any one
beyond the pill strategy to make it existing job categories, marketing may
meaningful in terms of outcomes, but there seem like the most natural fit as many of
are several ways in which patients can the types of services provided in ‘beyond
benefit beyond an increased likelihood to the pill’ have traditionally been considered
take their medicine. Beyond the pill marketing-type activities.
strategies can encompass several aspects
A poll on the Beyond the Pill LinkedIn group
such as disease and therapy awareness,
posed this very question, with marketing
diagnosis, initiation of therapy, improving
receiving 30% of the vote, compared to 54%
access to medications and general patient
for the executive level, with the remainder
support.
shared between R&D, sales and other.
When the support is there and addresses a
From the poll it is clear that committed
key gap in the patient pathway, the link to
leadership is a prerequisite for success,
therapy is tangible for patients. A recent US
however, the functional lead probably lies
survey revealed that 75% of online
elsewhere within the organization.
consumers who used pharma patient
Ultimately, who leads it is probably less
support programs said they feel confident
important than establishing a cross-
the prescription they have is right for them,
functional team that has the principal
or for those they take care of, because of
responsibility of owning and driving the
these services.
beyond the pill programs.
Some beyond the pill programmes will of
Marketing and medical should certainly be
course focus primarily on stakeholders
represented within this team and legal /
other than patients, most commonly
compliance input is essential. External
healthcare professionals such as nurses, or
partners may be required to ensure any
payers, but the overall strategy should keep
gaps in knowledge are filled (for example on
the patient – but not necessarily just patient
the latest service developments, logistical
adherence – at the center.
and technical requirements, and cross-
country implementation support).
Q2) Whose responsibility is it anyway?
Probably one of the most common Q3) How do we know which services to
questions companies have around ‘beyond provide?
the pill’ is where the planning and strategy
A beyond the pill approach should have a
should originate from within the
central strategy at its core which underpins
organization.
all services offered. The service strategy
should include in-depth customer analysis
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4. as well as disease, brand and competition “The beyond the pill concept is changing
mapping, resulting in a detailed assessment from something ‘nice to have’ to something
of stakeholder needs throughout the essential”
patient pathway. The completed mapping
An example approach to this mapping
forms the basis from which the service
process is the service model archetype (see
model strategy can be developed, involving
image), which allocates certain service
prioritization of the service model
approaches based on the types of factors
components and development of the
listed above. This can support decision-
proposed solutions.
making in terms of the breadth and depth
of your beyond-the-pill strategy.
Service Model Archetype
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5. Q4) What is the return on investment of with improvement of health outcome,
the beyond the pill approach? which would justify the sale of the product.
Measuring return on investment with Indeed Joseph Jimenez, CEO at Novartis,
provision of services can be notoriously recently stated his belief that pharma
difficult. Yet the question will be asked companies in the future “are going to be
again and again, until their financial value is paid on patient outcomes” rather than on
proven. just selling prescription drugs. This idea is
gaining some traction, and it is almost
There are certainly quantifiable outcomes
certain that measuring patient outcomes
for many services beyond the pill, whether
will become more and more central to
its numbers of patients entering a support
reimbursement.
program or completing a course of
treatment, or number of app downloads by
healthcare professionals. There are also
Debraj Dasgupta, Head of Specialty
outcomes which are much more difficult to
Commercialization and Adherence at
measure, for example the added confidence
Novartis
of doctors, payers and patients in a brand or
company, but they are none the less Meike Wenzel, Associate Partner,
important for that. Some of these can be Executive Insight
translated into ROI, many cannot.
www.executiveinsight.ch
Either way, the beyond the pill concept is
changing from something ‘nice to have’ to
something essential, which will likely
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become an everyday part of expected
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pharma industry provision. Therefore it is
likely that measurement will become more
and more tangible and more directly linked
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6. Contact
If you would like to discuss further or need more information, please contact:
Meike Wenzel
Mobile: +41 79 322 12 39
m.wenzel@executiveinsight.ch
Marc Pesse
Mobile: +41 78 639 52 43
m.pesse@executiveinsight.ch
Executive Insight AG
Metallstrasse 9
6304 Zug
Switzerland
Tel. +41 41 710 71 63
info@executiveinsight.ch
www.executiveinsight.ch
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