Why This Brand Sought to Launch a Managed Channel Strategy

As the brand neared FDA approval to launch its flagship migraine therapy in early 2021, the brand’s commercial team carefully evaluated its commercial strategy. In clinical trials, the proprietary compound paired with a novel mechanism that provided a fast-acting nasal delivery for acute migraine sufferers. It had demonstrated promising clinical benefits, and the safety data appeared to position it as an attractive therapy to migraine sufferers and neurologists. The team, optimistic that the drug had high potential, believed that the combination of an efficacious treatment and differentiated commercial strategy would result in significant adoption.

Despite their compelling science, the brand understood that a successful launch of their novel therapy was not a guarantee. In a crowded category featuring many of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry leveraging the likes of Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian as brand ambassadors, they knew that they needed a differentiated go to market strategy to drive adoption, coverage, and adherence. They engaged in a rigorous search for commercial partners that could help them address these competitive dynamics and the challenges they faced in the ever-evolving drug channel.

To support a successful launch, they needed a partner that could help them:

1. Deliver a Modern Patient Access Experience To eliminate friction points, they wanted to deliver a seamless access journey on par with the customer experiences their target patients are accustomed to in other “digitally transformed” industries - banking, retail, and technology

2. Lay the Foundation for Covered Dispenses

   While they expected to launch without significant formulary placement, it was essential to partner with a company that had the right systems in place and pharmacy relationships to ensure that they could effectively convert formulary placement to covered dispenses when they secured access

3. Generate Lasting HCP Loyalty

   In order to unlock sustainable growth, they needed to raise awareness with HCPs while also offering confidence that patients could successfully adhere to their novel therapy with effective patient support and an e-commerce like home delivery option

4. Provide an Alternative to Retail Channel

   For a specialty-lite product like their own, they recognized the potential for patient experience and prior authorization challenges in the retail channel that could threaten adoption and erode their Gross to Net economics

5. Respond to Payer Coverage Behavior They sought data to make informed adjustments to their business rules and dispense logic based on payer behavior at key intervals during the launch phase that could unlock incremental coverage and growth.

Partnering with PhilRx to Commercialize the Therapy

The brand recognized that it would be unwise to go it alone and that a strategic, value-added partner could improve their prospects for reaching their expected value post launch. As they looked to develop their partner ecosystem, their experienced launch team recognized that legacy access partners would be ill-equipped to help them address the challenges that the modern drug channel presents.

And as they planned to target a diverse patient population with varying types and levels of payer coverage, they needed to ensure that any solution implemented could differentiate dispense workflows to respond to various patient insurance types– Commercial, Government, and Uninsured.

Ultimately, they selected Phil because of our ability to deliver an exceptional patient experience, the comprehensive and integrated nature of the PhilRx platform, and Phil’s proven ability to drive new patient starts while addressing core challenges related to converting formulary access to covered dispenses.

Together, we set out to support a successful launch by:

• Simplifying the HCP & Patient Access journey

  By offering an efficient, simple method of prescribing the therapy to PhilRx within existing HCP workflows, easy smartphone-based enrollment, and complete script visibility throughout the medication journey

• Simplifying Prior Authorization Processes 

  By leveraging technology to conduct real-time benefits investigations, applying a parallel dispense workflow, and pre populating forms to make PAs easy to submit

• Collecting & Responding to Channel Data

  By analyzing how HCPs, patients, and payers were responding to the product to present payers with a body of evidence of demand to support formulary access and adjusting business rules to facilitate improved access

The PhilRx Patient Access Platform

To bring the program to life, Phil consulted with launch teams to implement a customized patient access program powered by Phil’s integrated commercialization platform.

Phil provided a solution that was easily integrated into existing brand assets and was launch ready in a matter of weeks.

The launch solution included:

1. Seamless Digital Enrollment

   after receiving a prescription, patients received a text to enroll in minutes on their smartphone before leaving the doctor’s office

2. Differentiated Dispense Workflows

   by insurance type inclusive of an uncovered option, a patient assistance program, and government waivers

3. Intelligent Pharmacy Routing

   after receiving an eRx and benefit information, the prescription was routed to the pharmacy with payer contracts with the patient’s insurance

4. “1 Click” PA Submissions

   the platform extracted information from the eRx to populate required forms to make it easy to submit PAs & FEs to show evidence of demand

5. Informed Auto Refills

   patients opted into auto refills and were notified regarding upcoming refills to allow them to act

6. Wholesale Distribution

   Phil’s subsidiary Western Wellness Services managed distribution providing meaningful savings, enhanced visibility, and improved demand planning

7. Payer Coverage Data & Insights

   the manufacturer team was provided access to information on how payers responded to their product to inform market access

Driving Brand Outcomes with PhilRx