Digital content to support prescribing decision-making for blood cancers – unmet needs and improvements
Immune-based therapeutic strategies have drastically changed the landscape of hematological disorders, and this space continues to grow. As of 2022, more than 800 new cell therapies are being developed for five blood cancers1 and the global cancer marker is forecast to grow from $61.26 billion in 2022 to $89.75 billion in 20262.
This landscape is packed with multiple major pharmaceutical players, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Celgene, and Roche. In such a competitive market, how do companies stand out and provide value to oncologists? To answer this question, Bryter surveyed almost 200 haem-oncs across the US and Europe to understand how digital content from pharmaceutical companies who promote these treatments can be optimized in the post COVID landscape.
We assessed 4 leading brands: Calquence (acalabrutinib) (AZ), lmbruvica (lbrutinib) (AbbVie), Revlimid (lenalidomide) (BMS / Celgene), and Gazyva (Obinutuzumab) (Roche). Haem-oncs were asked about their current usage of these four established immunotherapies in the treatment of hematological cancers and their perceptions of the digital content received from these pharmaceutical companies.
Currently, the vast majority of haem-oncs are prescribing all four agents, though Revlimid and lmbruvica are most likely to be prescribed 'regularly'. Being newer to the field, just under half are regularly prescribing Calquence, which falls just behind Gazyva.
Digital is the new normal, but offerings from pharma are far from optimized
In today's landscape, digital communication from manufacturers is vital. Two-fifths (42%) of haem-oncs agree that having good information provided digitally by pharma companies is now essential for them to consider their products.
The dramatic shift towards digital communication we saw as a result of COVID is having a lasting impact on how physicians both want and expect pharma to communicate with them. In fact, haem-oncs anticipate 50% of their interactions with pharma companies to be digital moving forward. In an increasingly digital-first world, over half (55%) reveal they have prescribed drug products for the first time without direct communication with the manufacturer.
Interactions with pharmaceutical companies
Despite this demand from physicians for digital content, we found that almost half (49%) of haem-oncs report that they feel they are receiving too much digital content from companies.
The answer to this apparent paradox is not necessarily that pharma is providing too much digital, but rather too much of the wrong content. In support of this we found a surprising number of haem-oncs who believe there has been little value in the content provided by the manufacturers of all four agents: approximately half feel the content they receive from Revlimid, Calquence, and Imbruvica is valuable in helping them to make treatment decisions or manage patients, with this falling to just 40% for Gazyva.
What is driving physician satisfaction with digital content?
he traditional method to assess physicians' needs is to simply ask them what they want. However, people often struggle to give meaningful responses when asked this question directly. As a result, the scores of each factor are often undifferentiated, which means insights are difficult to act upon.
At Bryter, we utilize innovative methods to better assess physicians' needs. Rather than directly asking haemoncs how satisfied they are, we analyzed which underlying factors are driving their satisfaction with the digital content they receive from pharma companies.
Among haem-oncs, the most important driver for satisfaction is receiving information that helps to inform their treatment decision making. While this may appear obvious, it points to a need for pharma companies to provide information that helps physicians differentiate agents in a complex landscape with multiple therapies available, and more on the horizon.
There is also a desire for engagement that facilitates the collaborative nature of their clinical work, by provision of content they can easily share with colleagues.
Anyone navigating online spaces will expect information to be made available with minimal effort. This is intensified by physicians' time-scarcity and need to avoid information overload. This is why we also see content being delivered proactively and information that is easily digestible also being key in driving satisfaction.
Overall, these drivers highlight haem-oncs' current need for pharma to deliver content that is both meaningful, and in a way that is easily accessible.
Factors driving satisfaction with digital content (ranked by relative importance)
1st Informs my treatment decisions
2nd Is easy to share with colleagues
3rd Is provided to me proactively (I do not have to seek it out)
4th Is easily digestible
5th Is tailored to me
6th Is all in one place
7th Information is tailored for use with patients
8th Is visually engaging (e.g. uses pictures, diagrams, videos)
Which companies are meeting the needs of physicians?
The most established agent, lmbruvica, consistently performs best across each of the top drivers of satisfaction. However, there is ultimately little differentiation across all four products; in fact, fewer than half are giving any of these brands a top score.
Despite performing best, just 46% believe lmbruvica is effectively delivering information that informs their treatment decisions, despite being identified as the most important driver of satisfaction.
Rating of digital information attributes
Having the right type of content, however, is still not enough if not effectively delivered to physicians through different channels.
When looking at how these manufacturers perform across three key digital channels, we see there is no clear winner. lmbruvica demonstrates a slight lead over competitors in the delivery of digital meetings, but there is little differentiation for hosting of webinars. Most surprising is that across these channels almost half of haem-oncs do not give any company a top score. There is a clear unmet need for pharma to optimize both the type of digital content provided, and the way the content is delivered.
Conclusion: Optimizing delivery of digital content requires pharma to better understand the digital needs of their customer base
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The digital transformation seen within pharmaceutical marketing is rapidly shifting towards an omnichannel model and ensuring physicians are able to access information as and when they need it. To execute this effectively, pharma companies must ensure they are designing and delivering digital content that resonates with their specific physician audience.
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These insights demonstrate a clear unmet need in the way that pharma is currently delivering digital content to haem-oncs, particularly in a way that reflects their changing needs in a post-COVID landscape. It's also important to understand how these needs change throughout the product life cycle, especially as new agents enter the field.
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Ensuring that digital content delivers on the key drivers of satisfaction identified for different physician types will help to maximize the effectiveness of digital communications.
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Learn more about how Bryter helps healthcare and pharmaceutical brands by reading our guide 'digital marketing to physicians' to learn how research and insights can help to shape digital strategy
