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August 12, 2025 8 mins

The pharmaceutical landscape is shifting dramatically beneath our feet. With the US government recently demanding drug price reductions of up to 60% from major pharma companies or face potential reimbursement restrictions, the industry faces what CNBC calls "one of the most dramatic reshufflings of commercial pharma strategy in decades."

This perfect storm – innovation surging while margins tighten – creates urgent questions for pharma marketers, patient support teams, and innovation leaders. How do you maintain growth when prices fall? The answer increasingly lies in what happens after the prescription is written. When medication non-adherence wastes nearly $300 billion annually in US healthcare spending, closing that gap even incrementally represents massive opportunity.

Digital companions that support patients throughout their medication journey are proving their value through hard data. Users experience 17% better adherence across therapeutic areas and 37% improved refill persistence over six months. Some brands achieve up to 4:1 ROI through these platforms. These aren't vanity metrics – they directly impact market share, script lift, and patient outcomes.

As the competitive landscape evolves, three key metrics are becoming central to pharma success: adherence impact on lifetime value, conversion rates from triggered interventions at critical therapy points, and the cost-benefit analysis of human support versus digital automation. Brands that excel in these areas protect revenue even as prices fall.

Looking ahead, digital support isn't optional – it's a competitive necessity. The strongest pharmaceutical brands will be those that build loyalty through patient relationships, demonstrate measurable outcomes, and partner with platforms that scale engagement across therapeutic areas. When every script counts more than ever, how are you measuring what happens after the first prescription?

Ready to discover how digital companions can protect your brand's market share in these challenging times? Subscribe to Postscripts for more insights on innovations driving better outcomes for patients and pharma alike.

PostScripts Rx is not intended to constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to influence prescribing decisions or any other medical or clinical decision-making. All medical and clinical judgment and decision-making, prescribing decisions, and all related considerations remain exclusively the responsibility of providers and patients.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 0 (00:00):
Welcome to Postscripts, the podcast
exploring what happens after thefirst prescription.
We cover the latest innovationsin patient access, support,
digital tools, HCP engagementand pharma marketing that drive
better outcomes for patients.
This podcast is forinformational purposes only and
does not constitute medicaladvice or should be used to
influence any clinicaldecision-making.

(00:20):
Patients should always consulttheir healthcare professionals.
Welcome to the podcast.
My name is Brian Carr from theMedisafe team and although any
opinions are expressed here aremy own and are not necessarily
those of Medisafe or itspartners.
So right now we're seeingpharma getting a bit of a
pressure cooker.
Roi is crucial right now in atime of cost cuts, when we see

(00:41):
the industry is a bit of acrossroads.
On the one side, we're seeinginnovation continue to surge
with novel therapies,personalized medicine,
data-driven targeting.
On the other, we're seeingintense regulatory and market
pressures that are squeezingmargins and they're having
shifting market dynamics.
For example, just recently theUS government under President
Trump made headlines last weekwith its ultimatum in letters to

(01:04):
17 pharma companies that theymust reduce drug prices for most
favored nation status for allAmericans, so that that could
mean a reduction in prices by asmuch as 60 percent, or they
could face broader access andreimbursement restrictions from
the federal government.
According to CNBC, this maytrigger one of the most dramatic
reshufflings of commercialpharma strategy in decades.

(01:25):
So where does it leave pharmamarketers and innovation teams,
patient access and supportleaders?
Well, one thing's going to beclear the ability to deliver
measurable return on investmentand defend market share if there
are tighter budgets.
It isn't just important, it'sreally mission critical and,
from my perspective, proven ROIreally starts with proven
engagement.
In the high stakes environmentwe're in right now, pharma

(01:47):
companies are turning toplatforms that deliver
measurable impact throughout theentire patient journey.
For years, medisafe have beenstepping into that gap.
We offer a full suite of reallyevolved digital tools, not just
to support patients but reallyto empower industry leaders with
the analytics, insights andoutcomes that prove value and
real outcome and impact forpatients.

(02:08):
At the heart of the solution isour digital companion.
It's branded, scalable.
It supports patients from theirfirst fill throughout ongoing
medication management.
We drive adherence, engagement.
Ultimately, we drive toclinical and financial outcomes
for the entire ecosystem.
For example, our data showsthat users of Medisave can see,
on average, 17% increase inmedication adherence across

(02:31):
therapeutic areas and we've seen37% increases in refill
persistence over a six-monthperiod and some of our partners
have seen up to a four-to-oneROI, depending on the brand
portfolio and patient retentiontargets.
And these aren't you know,forgive me, these aren't vanity
metrics.
These really do directlyinfluence market share, script
lift, long-term value and impactfor patients.

(02:51):
So let's take a bit of a closerlook at some of the impacts
we're seeing.
When we talk, and you know,market leaders really now
explicitly are starting toprioritize script retention as a
proxy for long-term value.
We're also seeing real-worldevidence of patient impact to
support access teams and digitalcompanions really to power
patient comprehension, adherence, engagement and longevity with

(03:14):
brands.
They are also looking for areduced dependency on in-person
HCP engagement.
It's starting to be replacedwith scalable digital tools.
We talked at length in aprevious podcast about AI voice
agents and how that can reallyhelp on HCP engagement freeing
them up from paperwork and otherrote phone calls that need to
be made by patient care teamsand really free them up to do

(03:36):
some of the human-to-humaninteraction.
We did see that the US Institutefor Clinical and Economic
Review, estimatinginefficiencies and not inherence
, can waste $290, $300 billionor more annually here in the US.
You know that's nearly 10% ofall national health expenditures
.
Really closing that gap, evenincrementally, can help farmers
reclaim lots of lost ROI.

(03:57):
In the face of blurry marginsand wins and discount pressures.
Every fill is really going tostart to come when prices drop,
if that's a scenario that comesto the fore.
When it comes to the forefrontwhen the US administration's
deadline they had set September29 as a deadline to really have
most favored nation status,although we may see that, I
imagine, extend, whether throughlitigation or just in pharma

(04:18):
companies coming forward andsaying here's what they can do
to reduce prices.
But when prices do drop, brandsneed to differentiate on patient
outcomes.
Consider a scenario where afirst-to-market product builds
early awareness but thisprice-reduced alternative enters
the market under governmentguidance.
Which brand do you think isgoing to win?
The answer often lies who cansupport patient persistence,

(04:43):
manage barriers, really showoutcomes.
And you look at digitalsolutions like Medisafe that
have helped brands retain up to12 to 20% more patients at those
key inflection points intherapy by proactively
identifying when disengagementtrends are starting to come
forward and really drive actionto offset some of those trends.
Well, they small percentagewins maybe, but in aggregate
they really do protect revenueand business margins at scale

(05:05):
and market share.
So you know, for brand markersand innovation teams this next
year could prove verychallenging with some
conventional business cases.
There are really three leversthey are going to really start
to lean into.
One is the adherence, long-termvalue impact and lifetime value
impact.
By analyzing script duration,lift per cohort APIs like that,
there definitely will be a valueplaced on interventions,

(05:27):
conversion rates tied totriggered messages or nurse
events that really come atcritical points that have been
identified by AI and othertrending tools and digital
platforms, such as MetaSafe, asthe pivotal times to reach out,
contact patients on their termsmore than just on support team
terms.
Right, when and the ways thatpatients want to be contacted.

(05:48):
Do they want to be called, dothey want to be texted?
Do they want to have an emailnotification?
Doing it that way that you knowis going to be most successful
as a way to do it and you knowthe cost of complexity.
That's going to be KPI.
They're going to need toquantify support cost versus
digital automations, behavioralcoaching programs and those

(06:10):
outcomes.
So combining these metrics willreally create a compelling
internal narrative that thesecompanies, with every dollar
spent on support, improvingpatient outcomes and buffering
against market share or revenueloss.
So the challenge there aredigital solutions that you're
looking at are they ready toscale?
Medisave, for example, has over13 million people who've
installed the platform acrossmultiple dozens therapeutic
areas with engagement rates thatreally really rival most

(06:31):
consumer platforms.
You're going to want to makesure that if you're partnering
with a digital vendor, they'vegot experience on engaging
patients at scale.
You know a typical Medisaveuser comes in, has multiple
medications and is persistentfor years, not months on the
Medisave platform.
Let's put it this way of thepeople who come in on a monthly
basis, at least seven out of 10are coming in at least once a

(06:53):
day, often more than once a daybecause they're taking so many
multiple medications.
You know we see ourselves notonly as a companion but really
as an engine of engagement onthe whole platform, whether
pharma teams are looking toreduce drop-off or increase
their speed, to fill, improveand enhance specialty onboarding
for those rare meds that maytake really complex titration

(07:14):
schedules, or even to layer onbehavioral insights.
You want to get an ecosystemlike Medisafe that really
evolves with the brand's lifecycle.
This can be everything fromlaunch planning to the loss of
exclusivity strategy withpatents.
You know digital support it'sreally not going to be optional
anymore.
It really is a competitiveadvantage.
So, in conclusion, really Ithink what we're seeing with

(07:35):
some of these trends is thatpharma companies are always
going to have their traditionalKPIs, but they're also going to
start measuring a little bitmore of what matters after the
script, right?
So you know margins going to beunder siege.
Market dynamics are volatile.
You're going to be measured bygross revenue, but also patient
stay rates.
You're going to hear aboutlower cost of access retention
through loyalty.
You're going to hear a lot more.

(07:55):
I think about that as a metricand finding those digital
platform tools that give dataflexibility to deliver on all of
those is going to be key forpharma companies as they go
forward.
So regulators are continuing toreshape the playing field.
You may see a surge in generics.
The strongest allies are goingto be that loyal brand loyalty
and relationships not only withpatients, but with HCPs and

(08:16):
partners who know how to scaleand impact and not just features
.
This is what we mean here atMedisafe by just delivering ROI
and engagement that matters.
I want to thank you so much forjoining us on Postscripts.
If you found this valuable,follow or subscribe for more
insights on the intersection ofpharma tech no-transcript.
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