PharmaVoice, United States: Cognizant’s Chief Digital Officer, Life Sciences Discusses Moving Beyond the Pill

The pharma industry is focusing on value beyond the pill on multiple fronts,” says Pratik Maroo. “There is now a focus on outcome commitment as well as health management services.”

“Beyond the pill” refers to pharma companies creating digital treatments and supplemental services to improve and provide evidence of value to payers, providers and patients. These services began with patient call centers to help with reimbursement and have grown to include support for onboarding and adherence to treatment programs, affordability, matching to clinical trials and coordination of care. Excerpts:

“‘Now the industry is starting to evolve into health management services, which will entail pharma playing a larger role in health management,’ Mr. Maroo says.

Pharma is collaborating with medical and digital technology companies to develop connected health solutions. For instance, a diabetes medication developed today may now include insulin, a smart device and dosing algorithms to deliver the best possible outcome to the patient.

‘For the majority of specialty products, it is now a clear expectation that manufacturers will commit to programs to improve outcomes and that link to health benefits,’ says Maroo.

The value-add of these digital and mobile services can impact payers’ willingness to reimburse drugs, physicians’ willingness to prescribe treatments, and patients’ ability to adhere to treatments in the appropriate manner — all leading to more positive healthcare outcomes.”

Click here to read more.