Puppy Parks and AI Agents: September Pharma Events

Navigating the evolving landscape of pharmaceutical patient support requires staying ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends. In this illuminating conversation with Cathy Zaremba from Medisafe's Marketing team, we dive into key takeaways from two major industry conferences—Hubs West and Fierce Pharma Week—where changing regulations, digital innovation, and artificial intelligence dominated discussions.

The pharmaceutical conference landscape itself is transforming. Fierce Pharma Week's ambitious combination of four previously separate events created a high-energy environment but revealed growing pains as exhibitors faced logistical challenges with sessions and exhibition halls on separate floors. This raises interesting questions about whether bigger always means better when it comes to industry gatherings.

Artificial intelligence has moved beyond buzzword status to practical implementation discussions. Pharma companies are now asking critical questions about using AI safely within a regulated environment. We explore how Medisafe is answering these questions through patient-facing applications like VIA, an AI assistant that helps patients with medication adherence, education, platform onboarding, and benefits verification—all while maintaining strict regulatory compliance.

The transformation of patient support services through digital tools represents a paradigm shift similar to online banking's evolution. Secure document exchange capabilities now allow patients to upload verification documents directly through support platforms rather than relying on faxes. These innovations streamline processes during high-volume periods like "blizzard season" when many patients need to reaffirm their eligibility for assistance programs.

Ready to discover how technology is transforming patient support while maintaining regulatory compliance? Listen now to gain valuable insights that will help you navigate the future of pharmaceutical patient engagement.

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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome to Postscripts, thepodcast exploring what happens
after that first prescription.
We cover the latest innovationsin patient access, support,
digital tools, hcp engagementand pharma marketing that we all
hope drive better outcomes forpatients.
This podcast is forinformational purposes only and
does not constitute any medicaladvice, nor should it be used to
influence any clinicaldecision-making.

(00:20):
Patients should always consulttheir healthcare professionals.
Welcome to the podcast.
My name is Brian Carr.
I'm from the Medisave team,although any opinions expressed
here are my own and notnecessarily those of Medisave,
its partners or the guests.
So let's talk real quickly.
I'm thrilled to bring in KathyZaremba from the Medisave team,
who is just back from twoconferences.
I'm going to have her tell youall about it.

(00:41):
So, kathy, tell us about HubsWest and also Fierce Pharma Week
.
How did it go?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Brian, great to be with you, and I couldn't be more
thrilled about the outcome ofboth conferences.
It was a whirlwind.
So it was Hubs West and thenFierce quickly following that
and the trends that we heard atboth conferences.

(01:07):
I mean it was really adiscussion about what is
happening in pharma world.
There have been a lot ofchanging regulations that impact
the industry, so everythingfrom what's happening in DTC,
what's happening with theregulations with the IRA and
things like that, and then AI,of course, was a topic.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
And this is the first time Fierce Pharma actually
combined a bunch of conferencesinto one larger and they called
it Fierce Pharma Week, right,yes, so how did that go?
What were the pros and cons ofdoing that?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, okay, a pro, I will say is that high energy?
I mean definitely you canalways count on that conference
and the team to create a buzzand an energy, and that was
definitely present.
I think that there were somegrowing pains in combining four
in one.
We walked in with a heavyexpectation that we're going to
be adding like doubling the sizealmost of the audience and so

(01:54):
the leads that we wereanticipating, the conversations
we were hoping to have.
We were very excited about that.
Very excited about that.
The con would be the way thatthe audience then was laid out.
We actually had sessions on onefloor and the exhibit hall on
the other floor, and the net ofthat is that the booth traffic

(02:18):
was nowhere near what we hadlast year when it was just
Digital Pharma East and where wewere capturing.
We were at a Viasc and we werecapturing everybody as they
walked back and forth.
They saw us multiple times aday as they were going to
sessions, this time being on adifferent floor, even with a
larger booth, we just didn'thave the organic foot traffic we

(02:39):
were looking for.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, so that's what happened.
Some of these conferences,particularly Fierce, they merged
it together.
So the good news is there's,you know, more than 2,000 people
or so going to it where it wasbefore.
The problem there is sometimesyou lose that intimacy of the
hey, it's a fewer number ofpeople, but you can really
really engage with them more.
You don't need a separate floorfor all your exhibitors, things
like that.
So you know it's a pro ofinterest in the space.

(03:01):
Obviously, we're expanding theconference and doing two floors
when it used to be one.
You know, in Hubs Westhead, youknow, a few hundred people as
opposed to the 2,000.
So, and you know, upcoming isHLTH, right, so we love coming
to that conference as well.
And there's others that arejust so large you wonder.

(03:22):
You know we'd rather have morefocused on, you know, digital
and innovation teams.
Sometimes you can have betterconversations, but it's a
natural growing pain thing too.
So you mentioned ai cath.
Is it still all the buzzword?
Or, especially with fiercepharma week, a lot of it is
marketers and agencies, and whatthey're looking at is, you know
many of them like, oh, ai, thatwas five years ago, we're on to
something else, right, but?
But you have a mix of.
You know investors want to hearabout ai all the time, and then
some.
So is it a?

(03:43):
Is it a still a buzzword?
It is, or is it getting likeeye roll?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
You know, I think that it's getting a what does
that mean now?
Context.
So yeah, that was the buzz.
I've been talking about thatfor a couple of years now, but
now pharma is digging in andsaying what does that actually
mean and how can I actuallyutilize that in a regulated
environment?
So how are you going to make AIsafe for me to use?
Am I going to be able to rollthat out?

(04:09):
And I think that's one thingthat we were able to really
shine in terms of how Medisafeuses AI in our platform.
What does that do?
How does that really enhancethe patient journey?
And then, how do we work withpharma to make sure that we're
rolling that out in a safe wayfor them, so that we're abiding
their MLR processes and thingslike that, so that it's, you

(04:33):
know, the best of both combined?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Right, so we're on the patient side of AI.
So obviously, ai can be used bypharma companies and the supply
chain, the formularies andresearch but at the end of the
thing, how are patients using it?
Are patients taking thatadoption?
So, for example, medisave Via,for example, we have an agent
can make phone calls on behalfof programs, right, and I think

(04:57):
what's going to happen with AI,particularly for voice agents
for patients, I think you'regoing to see it's like we've
talked about in the past before.
It used to be online banking,right, yes, there's this banking
, right.
So you can imagine where peopleare like, oh, people aren't
going to want to talk to a AIvoice agent when they're going
to want to talk to a real humanbeing, when my take on that is

(05:26):
you know, when you call and youget that message that says Kathy
, you're number 24 in line to beanswered, right, or tap one and
you can talk to an AI automatedagent and get taken care of
right away, right, that to me,is going to be like, oh, yeah,
let me just do that.
I think you will see that thosebarriers somewhat break down
and then everyone, it's going tobe a cascade where, yeah, I
don't mind talking to these andyou know, these agents are
really, really human-like.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Well, that's what I was just going to say.
It's game-changing and Ichallenge you to know the
difference.
In some cases, that sounds veryreal.
So yeah, efficient and realsounding.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Right.
So how does Medisave what's thetime Like?
For example, give me an exampleof how a patient may get a call
from an agent from the Medisaveplatform for example.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
What would it be about?
Okay, so let's just say thatthey want help with adherence or
they want to get some education.
They could receive a call fromVIA and then VIA could help them
walk through an understandingfurther what's happening with
their medication.
Via could help them even in theonboarding process.
Let's say they're new to theplatform itself, so helping with
the onboarding process ofjoining the Medisave platform.

(06:26):
It could even be that we'retrying to do benefits
verification and the patient istrying to understand hey, do I
have all the right documents?
How do I do this?
How do I really get re-verified?
You know, think of thatblizzard season.
So it's got multiple uses andways that patients can benefit
from utilizing it.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right, and if I'm pharma, I'm like well, wait a
minute.
You know we can't be giving outmedical advice.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Right.
And it's a full stop VIA doesnot do that.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Right.
In fact, if I you know, weshould probably demo a call at
some time on this, but you know,hey, listen, you know I have an
adverse event.
I have a.
For some reason I get nauseousevery time I take this.
Oh, full stop, and it says youneed to talk to your health
professional.
You mentioned incomeverification.
Yes, right, so blizzard season.
I got to reaffirm my copay card.
How does Mesa for these digitaltools really help with that to

(07:18):
expedite it versus sometimes youhave to send a fax?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
right.
Well, first of all, through theplatform we're able to do
secure document exchange.
So all in one place you don'thave to do the antiquated faxing
.
So patients are able to uploadtheir documents securely,
exchange those, and VIA is ableto offer them an option of
walking them through thatprocess.

(07:42):
They'll get a link within theplatform to upload those
documents and then you know,easy peasy done.
So makes it very streamlined.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
They upload, they take a picture of it.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
They take a picture of it, right, right.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
So people are doing that more often with a lot of
things now, right Even taxes.
Picture your taxes and deposityour check yeah.
You're coming to Indian banking, right.
You know banking is not justbanking, all right.
So a couple of things.
What did you learn?
Anything that we learned at thetwo conferences?
Something like, wow, that's new.
Or or even it could be that's abooth or exhibit or a marketing

(08:17):
tactic.
I now want to write down andperhaps use anything there.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well, I will tell you on the on the, you know, fun
cute side of things, the puppypark was back, so that always
gets, and they had a puppyparade.
You can't, you can't beat that,and I think all of them were
adapted.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
By the way, yeah, what is the puppy park?
For those that don't know fromour good friends at GoodRx,
right?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yes, yes, what is it?
That was a hit.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Tell people what it is.
What's the puppy park theyliterally have?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Literally, they have these adorable puppies that come
and you can go sit with them,you can pet them, you can adopt
them, and so and they do withpeople that are local to the
area.
This was in Philly, of course,so if you're drivable to Philly,
they'll let you adopt thesepuppies.
So it's just a fun little spotto go to at each of the
conferences.
And they did add several otherthings this year in terms of

(09:13):
engagement.
So they had a golf simulator,they had, you know, the coffee
machine.
They always have the headshots,so people kind of count on that
one.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
So the puppy's barking the whole time Is it
cute at first, but if you're inthe booth, that was interesting.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
The first day they must have had really big ones,
because it was.
I couldn't tell where it wascoming from.
The sound was bouncing off thewalls.
Is that over in that corner, oryou know, it was actually in
the middle.
But you know, the next day, notso much, they had smaller dogs.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Well, great, Anything else you'd want to add about
what's coming up next?

Speaker 2 (09:44):
I know HLTH, HPAT, others and you know what do you
expect to get out of those?
Yes, yes.
So HLTH, you know that is aninteresting conference as well,
because you really draw a lot ofdifferent stakeholders to that
conference.
So it's pharma, it's alsoregulators, so I think you'll
learn a lot more aboutregulation that's rolling out.

(10:04):
You'll hear directly from thoseFDA and others, and also
investors are there.
So I think it's an interestingmix of conversation for us, so
that one will be veryinteresting, and then there are
several in the access andpatient services side in the
coming months, and that is, ofcourse, one of our strong sweet

(10:25):
spots of focus on the legal sideof it.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Now You'll see more of those webinars or seminars,
right, the class.
It's kind of I don't want tosay they've caught up to it, but
it is getting adopted a lotmore and you're going to see a
lot more like how are you usingAI?
Again, and it's rightly so,because if you're a patient,
you're like I want to knowwhere's my data going and is
being used and how, andparticularly with strict
regulations about how anyone cantalk about a medication, a

(10:53):
branded med, a strict rule,right.
We don't want AI, what theycall hallucinations right?
That's the upcoming, soexciting times.
Great to hear from yourconference report, so we'll
certainly touch base with otherthings as we go forward.
So thank you so much forjoining us.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
And thank you everyone for listening to the
podcast.
Please like and subscribe andremember some of that hard work
really starts right after thatfirst prescription.
So thank you so much for coming.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Thank you, kat, thank you.