For pharma companies, securing approval and launching an innovative therapy is only the first milestone. The harder, ongoing challenge is ensuring patients can actually access, afford, and stay on that therapy once it reaches the market. In the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment landscape, patients are still facing challenges around therapy cost, complex reimbursement processes, limited awareness, and gaps in ongoing support that make it difficult to initiate or remain on therapy. As competition increases, patient access initiatives are becoming a key differentiator. Leading pharmaceutical companies, such as AstraZeneca, Merck & Co, Roche a.k.a. Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Novartis, among others, are using co-pay assistance, patient support programs, treatment navigation, and financial assistance to overcome barriers across the treatment journey.
Why Isn’t Having a Patient Access Program Enough?
Simply having an access program is not enough. Pharma companies need to understand which initiatives genuinely influence patient behaviour, where competitors are outperforming, and when patients are most vulnerable to treatment discontinuation. Without these insights, investments in patient access can become fragmented, difficult to differentiate, and disconnected from the needs of patients and caregivers.
Turning Competitive Intelligence into Measurable Impact
We helped a global biologics manufacturer identify these critical gaps and translate competitive patient access intelligence into actionable recommendations for its NSCLC portfolio. We observed a measurable impact once the client followed our recommendations. By adopting our suggested co-pay strategy, we observed the average therapy duration increased from three months to five months without the risk of early treatment discontinuation. Patient enrollment in the on-call nurse educator program grew by 15% within four months. Implementation of both co-pay and nurse educator intervention programs led to reduced time to first dose by 5 days.
These results highlight how patient access initiatives can move beyond being support mechanisms to become strategic drivers for accelerating therapy adoption and improving the overall patient experience.
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