Patients are looking to pharmaceutical companies to offer healthcare services beyond just drug development, and, ideally, in the form of digital tools, according to a new report.
Nearly three-quarters of the more than 400 adults surveyed in January by ixlayer and Ipsos said they’d value help from drugmakers to eliminate the obstacles they face in accessing needed healthcare. Going even further, more than 80% agreed that pharmas should offer resources that make it easier to access care and treatments.
The people surveyed—who had at least one of several chronic conditions, including asthma, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, eczema and more—expressed support for digital tools to help manage their health. They reported high adoption, with 86% saying they’d used at least one tool like a patient portal, telehealth platform, pharmacy delivery service, health-tracking wearable or at-home diagnostic.
A majority agreed that digital options are convenient, cost-effective and have helped improve communication with their healthcare providers, but many reported having to use multiple platforms and experiencing technical difficulties—opening the door for pharmas to offer more reliable online services to better support patients.
Offering such tools would be a major boon to drugmakers’ reputations, according to the survey: 92% of respondents said their perceptions of the pharma industry would improve if companies made online health resources available. Fewer than 20% of those surveyed said they currently believe drugmakers prioritize their needs.
When asked to describe what role they see for pharmas in simplifying their access to healthcare via technology, one respondent said: “They have a role in helping people and patients get the medications and assistance they need; they should be constantly working to minimize the steps in between being prescribed and getting their medicines.”
Among the features that patients would like pharmas to offer are the ability to set up virtual or in-person doctor’s appointments, digital pharmacy ordering, easier access to lab testing and a secure way to share test results and other health data with care teams, plus insurance coverage for all digital services—the factor that the most patients said would improve their perception of the industry.
More than 70% of patients reported “a likelihood to use” each of the above digital tools.
The survey’s findings confirm that “patients don’t just want treatment from pharma—they want seamless, digital-first healthcare experiences that fit into their lives,” Pouria Sanae, co-founder and CEO of ixlayer, said in a statement.
A handful of pharmas have recently introduced digital platforms that aim to be something of a one-stop shop for patients—though some U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns about the prescribing practices of the platforms’ telehealth platforms.
Eli Lilly, for one, launched LillyDirect at the start of 2024. The platform is designed to help users set up virtual and in-person doctor’s appointments and access Lilly drugs at lower costs. Its services span diabetes, migraine, obesity, sleep apnea and, most recently, Alzheimer’s disease.
Pfizer followed suit, unveiling PfizerForAll last summer. In addition to connecting users with healthcare providers, it also offers digital tools to find vaccines and order tests and treatments from Pfizer and other makers.
The platform’s services span migraine, COVID-19, flu, RSV, pneumococcal pneumonia and atrial fibrillation, and Pfizer also recently added a link to the American Cancer Society’s CancerRisk360 assessment and unveiled a generative AI-powered chatbot to answer health and wellness questions.