Prescriber Access to Drug Samples in Virtual Environments

SymmetryRx’s thought leadership piece from Pharmaceutical Commerce magazine.

Pharma manufacturers have traditionally relied on field representatives to drive the distribution of drug samples to prescribers. Though this tactic is very successful, there has been a shift in prescriber willingness or ability to meet with field reps. Between seeing patients and meeting modern documentation requirements, doctors are becoming less accessible to pharma reps.

Covid-19 exacerbates these accessibility issues even more. Prescriber engagement strategies and relationship management tools are among the investments made by pharma to address this crisis. Field sales teams, while a productive part of the marketing strategy, now operate with reduced numbers while focusing on accessible high prescribers. Non-personal access points such as brand and enterprise websites have replaced in-person pharma rep visits for many prescribers. This strategy offers pharma companies a convenient and economically efficient solution for reaching prescribers.

Going to many different websites is a non-starter for prescribers, however, and it shows in the numbers. SymmetryRx has operated drug sample request websites at brand and enterprise levels for many manufacturers while simultaneously giving prescribers sample request access through SampleCenterTM, the only scalable multi-tenant, one-stop sample request site designed for prescribers. SampleCenterTM is a force multiplier and has demonstrated delivering 3x to 28x more sample requests than pharma websites alone. The business rules to achieve the 28x multiplier are well understood by SymmetryRx.

SampleCenterTM is positioned as an “indirect extension of the pharma rep’s reach,” allowing pharma field reps the ability to focus more on their highest skillset as a brand education and patient resource expert. It allows for the natural handoff of managing the sample request transactions for tens of thousands of eligible prescribers to SymmetryRx’s hybrid personal/non-personal sample eligibility promotion model.

This model delivers value in balancing prescriber needs for pharma representative educational services and day-to-day sample request transaction management. It offers quantitative value in the terms you use to make business decisions (i.e., cost reduction, ROI, NPV, IRR, BE, expense-to-revenue). Learn more.