OBJECTIVES

: Patient support programs (PSPs) are initiatives that improve access to, usage of and adherence to prescription drug treatments. In many therapeutic markets PSPs have become a de facto “cost of entry” for new therapies. As PSPs strive to address the concerns of patients, practice stakeholders and manufacturers, an overwhelming collection of tools and processes have become available. The objective of this study is to provide a methodology of applying “Design Thinking” techniques to optimize feature selection and testing in PSPs.

METHODS

: We applied the methodology of Design Thinking to provide a case example of how a manufacturer can (1) Empathize with PSP stakeholders, (2) Define the problem, (3) Ideate, (4) Prototype, and (5) Test solutions. As a starting point and key data source, stakeholder input – which is essential to empathize and define the problem – was drawn from Ipsos Market Access’ interactions with a variety of practice settings, personnel types, and active PSPs.

RESULTS

: Insight drawn from Ipsos Market Access’ exposure to PSPs allowed us to define a key problem – understanding how PSPs impact stakeholder perceptions of therapeutic brands. Findings indicate that PSP features designed to help patients initially gain access to therapies are crucial in generating the perception of the PSP having tangible clinical and/or economic impact, while features that help patients stay on therapy are more likely to impact humanistic perceptions. This insight is a crucial input for ideation, whereby we provide stakeholder strategies for prototyping and testing.

CONCLUSIONS

: Direct stakeholder interviews are crucial in a design thinking approach to empathizing as well as testing of solutions. In contrast, problem definition, ideation and prototyping is an analyzed reflection of that feedback. Together, design thinking provides a methodology compatible with standard market access techniques to explore custom PSP solutions, rather than settling on a single “optimal” PSP design.