More than half of prescriptions for novel specialty meds never get filled, according to data released by IQVIA late last year. Even across all branded therapies, almost 3 in 10 new prescriptions are abandoned at the pharmacy. These numbers represent real patients who needed your medication but didn’t benefit from it. Not to mention, revenue walking out the door and market share evaporating. It’s time to close the gap between prescribing and pickup with a more proactive prescription engagement strategy.
Most brand teams fight these problems downstream, but by then the patient may have lost motivation and moved on. What if instead of chasing patients after they’ve left the physician visit, your brand could reach prescribers and patients at critical moments to address onboarding and adherence barriers?
Here are five steps that make it work.
Step 1: Remove Specialty Medication Barriers at the Point of Prescribing
Physicians use their clinical judgment to make prescribing decisions. But when one therapy requires fewer administrative hurdles than another, it’s easy to guess which one gets prescribed. In fact, 42% of surveyed physicians said they opted not to challenge a non-medical request to switch medications, despite reluctance to make the change, to avoid a burdensome appeal process.
Prior authorization (PA) is not the only friction point that could tip the scales toward alternatives to your brand. Cost considerations and pharmacy selection can influence prescribing behavior too.
The TimelySM by DrFirst® platform embeds support resources inside the prescribing workflow. Physicians see patient-specific benefits, copay assistance details, PA requirements like a diagnosis code that could accelerate reviews—all without opening a portal or picking up the phone. The information appears where and when prescribing decisions happen.
Result: Your brand isn’t off the table because it’s complicated to prescribe.
Step 2: Engage Patients When Motivation Peaks
Patients may leave the doctor’s office ready to start therapy. But then specialty medication barriers pop up. Insurance coverage can be difficult for patients to figure out. When they run into delays or high out-of-pocket costs, patients may have second thoughts, leaving the prescription unfilled.
The Timely platform closes that gap. Within minutes of physicians sending a prescription, patients receive a text from their provider’s office. Educational information about the prescribed therapy, financial support options, and even direct links to help with hub enrollment or nurse navigators are delivered while the doctor’s recommendation is top of mind, and the patient’s motivation is highest.
Result: Timely achieves 73–85% engagement with these messages. Traditional outreach methods typically hit 15–20%.
Step 3: Personalize Support Based on Real-Time Barriers
A patient facing a PA denial or high copay has different needs than a patient worried about managing a self-injection or proper inhaler technique. But one-size-fits-all support programs send everyone the same welcome materials and conduct the same follow-up calls. This approach burns budget on irrelevant help while missing the obstacles each patient faces.
A smart prescription engagement solution reads the situation and responds accordingly. The Timely platform knows the prescribed drug, the patient’s insurance, and whether prior authorization applies. It tailors messages to the barriers each patient may encounter.
Result: Prescription fill rates increase up to 10%.
Step 4: Track the Metrics That Matter
Patient engagement metrics tell you about activity. Business metrics tell you about results. Opens, clicks, and program enrollments measure whether patients interact with your content. But do those interactions translate to filled prescriptions? Do patients stay on therapy? Does your market share grow?
Most programs can’t answer these questions because they get involved too late in the patient journey. They don’t have visibility into what happened before the patient enrolled or what happens after the patient leaves.
End-to-end prescription engagement changes this. It follows the complete arc from prescribing to refill, so you can see which interventions move the needle on fills and persistence. It empowers pharmaceutical brand professionals to adjust tactics based on what actually works rather than what you hope works.
Result: Timely campaigns improve visibility into prescribing and adherence behavior across the full patient journey.
Step 5: Build Real-World Evidence (RWE) as You Go
Payers demand proof of real-world patient adherence, and that clinical outcomes match trial results. Traditional RWE studies cost millions and take years. Meanwhile, your formulary position deteriorates while you wait for answers.
Prescription engagement programs can generate this evidence as a byproduct of supporting patients. Each message, interaction, and intervention creates data. Track who fills prescriptions, who adheres to therapy, and who achieves positive outcomes. Structure the information properly, and it becomes the foundation for convincing payer conversations.
Result: Evidence accumulates continuously from first fill through long-term adherence.
The Bottom Line
The growth in specialty medication means barriers will multiply. Downstream fixes, like support programs that activate after patients are already struggling, will keep losing ground because problems happen faster than less robust approaches can address them.
Upstream strategies work differently. They prevent barriers from derailing therapy by integrating support into decision-making moments. They personalize help based on a patient’s prescribed therapy. And they measure what drives business results while helping patients achieve better health outcomes.
Brands adopting this approach aren’t just defending their position. They’re gaining share in therapeutic areas where competitors are still fighting yesterday’s battles.
Ready to assess your approach?
Use this interactive scorecard to show where your prescription engagement strategy can strengthen its impact.
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