DPE2024: Unlocking Opportunity with HCP+DTC Marketing Alignment

The NIH estimates that over 2 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2024, and more than 600,000 people will die from their disease. But despite these overwhelming numbers, the overall cancer death rate has declined since the early 1990s – thanks in part to the tireless work of the pharmaceutical industry, and their commitment towards improving patient care and outcomes. 

At the recent Digital Pharma East conference, these stats were top-of-mind for me as I moderated a panel session on Unlocking Opportunity Through HCP+DTC Alignment in Omnichannel Oncology Marketing. Joined by my OptimizeRx colleague Mike Rousselle, along with two other panelists, we discussed how oncology and other life science marketers can use artificial intelligence to increase HCP and DTC marketing alignment, helping more patients start on life-changing therapies. 

For those of you that missed the session or attended and want to explore opportunities at your organization, here are the key takeaways from our discussion. 

Aligning HCP and DTC Marketing to Focus on (and Empower) the Patient 

HCP and direct-to-consumer marketing are often siloed due to internal organizational structures. But when these teams partner together to synchronize around patient brand eligibility, they can better communicate time-sensitive, relevant information to individual patients and their healthcare providers. This leads to more informed, aligned HCP-patient conversations, which in turn streamlines care and leads to better patient outcomes, along with other benefits:  

• By centering marketing around the time when specific patient becomes brand eligible, pharma empowers patients by giving them their trusted resources to better advocate for their needs.  

• This approach respects the physician workflow and the substantial demands on their time by focusing marketing on content that is truly relevant to their current patients – building brand relationships and trust. 

As my colleague Mike commented, “It’s the rare instance when the “moral” action, meaning helping patients start on the best therapy, is also the action most in line with pharma’s commercial goals.” 

Artificial Intelligence Is Necessary for Predicting the Patient Journey… 

If the objectives of HCP and DTC marketing alignment are to orient around the patient journey, drive more informed care conversations, and streamline treatment start, the first step is determining when patients become brand eligible. And this is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play. In fact, AI is the only way our industry can accurately predict the patient journey. Here's why: 

• As my colleague Mike also pointed out, all the healthcare data we might use to understand when a patient is brand-eligible is either “spotty, anomalous, or lagged.” 

• Commercial claims data tells us what was true previously, but to make informed marketing decisions, we need to know what is likely to be true now and in the future – and that data doesn’t exist. 

However, because AI technology synchronizes data faster, we can use it to predict future patient eligibility with accuracy, which allows us to be more deliberate in our marketing and take more precise “shots on goal.”

…And Gives Us a Platform for Cross-Organizational Partnership 

AI’s ability to predict future brand eligibility offers more than just a lodestone for marketers; it also creates a unifying thread within pharma organizations. For example: 

• AI-generated insights can enable and improve partnerships across traditionally siloed functions, pulling together internal and external data – not to replace “human intelligence,” but to give us a shared understanding so we can make better decisions, together. 

• Organizations that educate and unite cross-functional groups around AI as an extension of their patient-centric viewpoint are those that are most likely to succeed in their goal of improving outcomes. 

What a difference a year makes. At DPE 2023, AI was an abstract concept, and today we’re at a place where the “AI rubber is meeting the AI road.” However, it’s on us to turn the knowledge it generates into meaningful action.  

The insights AI generates can enable and improve partnerships across traditionally siloed functions, pulling together internal and external data – not to replace “human intelligence,” but to give us a shared understanding so we can make better decisions, together. 

Turning AI-Driven Marketing Alignment from a Goal to a Reality 

It’s easy to agree about the benefits of coordinating HCP and DTC marketing around the moment a patient becomes brand eligible – but making it a reality is hard! There’s no pharma organization launching an AI program without the input of many, many groups and individuals across the business, which can slow or even stop the process. Here’s what can make a difference in your success: 

• Have a “champion” for the hard work of navigating organizational siloes, red tape, etc., to improve marketing alignment and patient outcomes – either an internal advocate or an external vendor 

• Prioritize education and upskilling by involving stakeholders (brand, HCP, DTC, MLR, etc.) early and often, meeting them where they are in terms of their comfort and knowledge 

• Establish and articulate KPIs that reflect the sophisticated nature of AI solutions and allow your wider team to align on success metrics then track progress 

• Over-communicate and continue the dialogue throughout implementation, to reflect not only the complexity of AI projects, but also the numerous new “decision frontiers” that are being creating through the technology 

• Start iteratively, with a focus on impact, to help build stakeholder confidence and gain buy-in through tangible results and metrics. 

Pharma is not an industry that adapts to change quickly – for both organizational and regulatory reasons. But there’s a real, untapped opportunity to make a meaningful difference by aligning HCP and DTC marketing to the patient journey. It takes the right technology, strong cross-functional relationships, clear objectives, and measurable KPIs, but together we can enhance our support of the patients and physicians who rely on us to provide information about life-changing therapies. 

Ready to join us on the journey to improved patient outcomes and better marketing impact? Learn more about our approach to AI-driven HCP and DTC alignment.