The goal of market access is to ensure that innovative drugs not only exist but also reach the patients who need them most. But achieving this is no simple task—patient access is a complex, strategic journey that starts early in clinical development. Access teams act as the bridge between science and real-world settings. They build plans that transform clinical trial data into value for payers and healthcare systems. Effectively demonstrating value during price and reimbursement is frequently a challenge due to insufficient evidence, an unclear narrative, or difficulty proving superiority over existing treatments. Pricing pressures, reimbursement hurdles, and launch delays can determine a drug’s success or failure.

Within this context, patients can constitute a powerful ally for pharma and biotech companies to facilitate product launch. By integrating patient insights early, the development process results in better outcomes, while companies can strengthen evidence, refine value propositions, and set realistic expectations for product adoption. Recent publications show that drugs developed with patient-centric data are 21% points more likely to launch, as payers increasingly prioritize treatments that align with value-based healthcare models. ¹ Research demonstrates that investment in patient engagement in clinical phases leads to expected net present value increases, which are the equivalent of accelerating a pre-Phase II product launch by two and a half years.²

This article explores how leveraging patient insights can help companies overcome market access barriers and improve their chances of success.

Definition of Patient Insights

Patient insights, or patient-informed evidence, refers to valuable information, both qualitative and quantitative, gathered directly from patients about their experiences, preferences, perceptions, and behaviors related to healthcare. These insights, gathered through various methodologies, help healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and policymakers better understand what patients need, expect, and value in their treatment and care.

Patient-informed evidence can include:

• Patient experiences/journeys—information about how patients feel about their interactions with the healthcare system, including their experiences with diagnosis, treatment, communication with healthcare providers, and overall care as well as adherence, behaviors, and barriers to care.
• Patient preferences—information about what patients prioritize or value most in their treatment, such as convenience, effectiveness, side effects, or cost. Patient preference data increasingly shapes HTA decision-making, with 82.5% of surveyed HTA bodies and affiliated organizations formally incorporating them into their evidence review process.³
• Patient-reported outcomes—information directly reported by patients about how they feel in relation to their health conditions and treatments, including symptoms, quality of life, functional status, and overall health.
• Psychosocial insights/emotional journeys—information about the emotional, mental, and social aspects of the patient’s healthcare experience and how this affects their approach to treatment.

Patient-informed evidence is generated using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods. Through surveys and patient preferences studies, companies can gather quantitative direct feedback from patients about their healthcare experiences, preferences, and outcomes. Another method for gathering quantitative data is to use patient-reported outcome measures, standardized tools that allow patients to assess their own health status, such as pain levels, functional ability, and quality of life. Companies can also conduct patient interviews and organize meetings with patient advisory boards, resulting in in-depth qualitative information on patient attitudes, needs, and challenges.

Why Leverage Patient-Informed Evidence

Accelerated Time to Access

Patient-informed evidence shortens the time to access by providing concrete perceptions of a drug’s expected benefit and value for patients. In fact, patient-informed data can enhance value demonstration, reducing uncertainty and accelerating time to launch when included in the evidence dossier to payers. When implemented early in the development process, e.g., in study design, patient-informed evidence can accelerate launch by an average of two and a half years.

Higher Chances of Positive Health Technology Assessment Outcomes and Reversing Initial Non-Favorable Decisions

Companies can gather patient-informed evidence on the perceived value of new treatments.  Presenting a compelling, patient-driven story about the burden of illness and unmet needs can strengthen the value proposition for payers. Additionally, patient advocacy groups (PAGs) can also be involved in the health technology assessment (HTA) process to appraise new technologies and emphasize how new treatment fulfills the current clinical unmet needs.

Better Reimbursement Outcomes

Carefully developed endpoints in randomized controlled trials or evidence development using real-world data set the foundation for evidence-backed value discussions. Drugs developed using patient-centric methodologies are more likely to achieve early payer adoption and increase the likelihood of favorable pricing and optimal reimbursement. An understanding of unmet patient needs helps shape study designs and value communications that align with payer requirements, maximizing access strategies. Patient-informed evidence generation can address both clinical and economic value, showing how a therapy improves patient outcomes while remaining cost-effective and/or providing cost savings to health systems. Companies can then leverage this information during price and reimbursement processes at national and local levels. Patient engagement ensures that new treatments provide clinically meaningful quality of life improvements and reduce disease burden—factors that payers consider when determining pricing and reimbursement levels.

Stronger Relationships With PAGs

Pharmaceutical companies benefit from collaborating with PAGs in a mutually beneficial and compliant way which offers real-world insights into unmet needs and strengthens the case for burden of disease, leading to more effective and patient-focused product launch strategies.

PAGs can also advocate for more patient-centric pricing models and equitable access to therapies. They do this through patient access schemes, patient access agreements, early access programs, and compassionate use programs.

Conclusion

As payers and regulators increasingly expect patient perspectives to inform their decision-making, patients are now key contributors to a successful market access strategy. When companies engage with patients to gather insights, they not only increase their chances of market access success but also strengthen their commitment to serving patients and health systems.

How Alira Health Can Help

Our Patient Access and Evidence Solutions team has direct patient engagement and advocacy expertise and is experienced in gathering valuable patient-informed insights that support our clients’ evidence packages and meet payer and regulator needs. This cross-functional team can help shape your access and value strategy, present a compelling, patient-driven story about the burden of illness and unmet needs, and demonstrate the true value of treatments through improved quality of life for patients. The result is an increased likelihood of optimal price and reimbursement process.

References

1. The Economist. The Innovation Imperative: The Future of Drug Development Part I: Research Methods and Findings. 2018.
2. Levitan B, Getz K, et al. Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science. Assessing the Financial Value of Patient Engagement: A Quantitative Approach from CTTI’s Patient Groups and Clinical Trials Project. 2018
3. Hiligsmann M, Liden B, et al. Cambridge University Press. HTA community perspectives on the use of patient preference information: lessons learned from a survey with members of HTA bodies. 2024.