Patient centricity: How is the pharma industry addressing patient reach?

Arecent report from Access to Medicine Foundation assesses current approaches adopted by some of the largest pharma companies to measure and report patient reach, mapping the existing landscape and highlighting interventions that are critical to ensure more patients benefit from increased access to medicine. Excerpts from the report

Pharmaceutical companies play a pivotal role in ensuring that their products reach patients worldwide. However, despite comprising 80 percent of the global population, people in low- and countries middle-income (LMICs) still face significant challenges in accessing essential healthcare products. Reaching patients in these underserved regions is a central component of advancing overall healthcare equity.

Several essential health products are produced by only a few companies or even single suppliers, and in certain markets, there is little to no availability of quality products. As demand for these essential products increases in LMICS, there is now a pressing need for pharmaceutical companies to optimise their efforts to expand access to their products and focus specifically on how many people are benefitting from them. By determining how many patients are being reached through their access efforts, companies face a unique opportunity: they can address critical health needs while also unlocking significant growth potential in these emerging markets.

This report from the Access to Medicine Foundation assesses how companies are approaching patient reach. across their businesses. By outlining how the 20 pharmaceutical companies within the scope of the upcoming 2024 Access to Medicine Index are tracking patient reach, this first-of-its-kind analysis provides comprehensive overview of current industry practices to establish a baseline for measuring progress. In identifying examples, as well as areas that require more action, the report outlines opportunities for companies to learn from existing approaches and scale up their expansion efforts.

Key findings