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Effective digital engagement for biopharma companies: Insights from Cencora on the NASP Podcast

Keeping the specialty pharmacy sector connected with the most pressing issues and latest developments, the NASP Podcast features insights and discussions from experts and thought leaders in this critical area of healthcare.

This episode¹ explores the frontier of digital engagement and the critical role it plays for biopharma companies that need to evolve beyond traditional communication. It outlines what makes an effective digital strategy and how that strategy ensures continuous communication across a product’s lifecycle—from pre-approval to post-approval and beyond. Listen to the full episode to learn how to:

Keep healthcare decision-makers (HCDMs) informed throughout the product life cycle
Create and sustain engagement
Optimize efficiency in getting critical information to key stakeholders

In this discussion, Sheila Arquette, President and CEO of NASP, welcomes two insightful guests:

Dr Bridgette Kanz Schroader, PharmD, MPA, BCOP, Director, Medical Affairs Strategy & Publications, Cencora
Laurie Fazio, Head of Manufacturer Strategy, FormularyDecisions

The three foundations of effective digital engagement strategy

The panel discussed effective digital engagement meets healthcare decision-makers and patients where they are—acknowledging there are humans with specific needs on the other end of any point of communication, and providing information that's easy to access and timely across the product life cycle. Biopharma companies should examine and outline their stakeholder audience, then tailor information for each audience group.

This requires a multi-channel communication strategy that balances the demands of compliance with strict industry regulations and individual communication preferences of HCDMs. Dr. Schroader explains, “Biopharma companies have a growing opportunity to meet their audience where they are. This really comes into play in digital engagement—finding your audiences, giving them information where they want to receive it, when they want to receive it and in their preferred format.”

“Biopharma companies have a growing opportunity to meet their audience where they are. This really comes into play in digital engagement—finding your audiences, giving them information where they want to receive it, when they want to receive it and in their preferred format.” - Bridgette Schroader

During the panel discussion, it was noted that achieving this level of connection requires aligning communication with each phase of engagement, leveraging data, and the proper application of best practices, along with the below key strategies outlined below.

1. Phase-based digital engagement is key

Each phase of the product lifecycle will require a different approach to digital engagement.

Pre-approval
Focus on building awareness. Achieve this through content that supports a product story across topics like the patient journey, burden of illness, and disease state. Also prioritize addressing unmet medical needs and highlighting these in a population of interest. Your goal is to create a foundational rich narrative to eventually position your product in the broader healthcare landscape amid current challenges.

For example, pre-approval information exchange (PIE) is highly regulated and less focused on patients. Digital engagement from biopharma companies in this phase is more heavily focused on the healthcare decision-makers audience.

Approval and launch
In this phase, transition to becoming a source of essential information and resources that support HCDMs and key opinion leaders (KOLs). This will require establishing comprehensive and relevant value propositions, creating detailed formulary kits, and precise delivery of product information.

Your audience needs resources that facilitate smooth and precise market access and formulary decision making in a way that helps them understand your products’ differentiators and impact on their members for HCDMs and patients for KOLs.

Post-approval
In this phase, continual engagement is critical. It is at the heart of sustained momentum in demonstrating the value your product brings to the market. It is normal to invest in health economics research, develop sophisticated cost-effectiveness models, and conduct research on comparative effectiveness; all workstreams that require early planning so that results are available to be utilized at this time point. Your goal is to leverage efforts of previous stages to maintain open lines of communication that reinforce the benefits your products provide across their lifecycles.

“The goal should be to obtain the most comprehensive understanding through both activity metrics and insights via feedback. That’s the power of data analytics and should be table stakes for any digital engagement strategy” - Laurie Fazio

For example, FormularyDecisions captures this type of data to create granular insights into the engagement level of different resources. These insights help biopharma subscribers discern what content is being posted most frequently from what’s being accessed most frequently and where actual consumption might deviate from expectations.

Laurie Fazio highlights an example of unexpected engagement patterns. “We found that product information exhibited interesting trends. It’s certainly a broad category that includes anything from PIE to billing and coding guides, pricing overviews, health economics and outcomes research, real world evidence and more. This type of information had the highest activity among HCDMs even though clinical trial publications were the most consistently posted resource by our biopharma customers.”

3. Best practices in biopharma digital engagement support success

Digital engagement programs benefit from the application of best practices, most importantly, a four-stage approach:

Creating a comprehensive roadmap to maximize engagement with various stakeholders
Executing targeted tactics by presenting materials in a way that aligns with the product lifecycle
Monitoring activity and feedback continuously to understand content value
Tracking key performance indicators to illuminate impact on product perceptions and market access

Applying these practices facilitates resonance with diverse HCDMs and KOLs and optimization of market access by fostering development and execution of a plan that maximizes engagement with a range of stakeholders.

The Customer Portal is our digital platform that enables customers' to easily track and create shipments online.

Challenges and opportunities in biopharma digital engagement

Digital engagement in biopharma faces a horizon of compliance challenges, complex internal approval processes, and innovative technological solutions. Success hinges on clear standard operating procedures for digital engagement along with strategic risk mitigation tactics. 

Compliance and regulation challenges

The nature of regulation and compliance in biopharma requires a meticulous approach to communication. Digital communication strategies should take into account U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance, pre-approval communication management, and robust reporting mechanisms. All communication and content must abide by regulatory compliance and meet standards of transparency and integrity.

Success requires bidirectional feedback from the various channels used to connect with stakeholders. There is an ongoing opportunity to leverage field teams as conduits of education for customer stakeholders and as avenues of feedback. Biopharma companies should prioritize risk mitigation through partnership with legal and medical regulatory promotional committees.

Opportunities in innovation

The future of digital engagement is being rapidly rewritten by innovations including Artificial Intelligence (AI), increasingly sophisticated analytics tools, and advanced omnichannel engagement platforms. Biopharma companies should explore the use of these technologies, looking for ways that complement their business goals and strategic initiatives.

Navigating the future of digital engagement in biopharma

As digital engagement becomes increasingly important to biopharma manufacturers, understanding the human touch will too. To reach engagement and business goals, leaders should not look to replace human contact, and instead complement it with intentional, stakeholder-centered communications that meet payers and patients where they are.

“A best practice is to have a strong coordination effort between field teams and digital engagement and to leverage advanced analytics to facilitate field team activation. It goes a long way, in terms of the partnership between biopharma companies and their healthcare decision-maker stakeholders when they act upon the shared feedback to provide their customers with what they need when they need it.” - Laurie Fazio

This perspective will be critical to enhancing communication results and improving patient access to much needed therapies. Listen to the entire NASP Podcast episode for a deeper look into the potential for your digital engagement strategies.

Source

¹Sheila Arquette, President & CEO of NASP. “Into the Volcano: AI and Data Privacy within the Specialty Pharmacy Space | NASP” National Association of Specialty Pharmacy Podcast. 4 February 2025. Available online at https://nasppodcast.podbean.com/e/into-the-volcano-ai-and-data-privacy-within-the-specialty-pharmacy-space-nasp-specialty-pharmacy-podcast/

This article and any information provided on the podcast is intended to communicate Cencora’s capabilities and does not constitute legal advice. Cencora strongly encourages readers to review the links provided herein and all available information related to the topics mentioned and to rely on their own experience and expertise in making decisions related thereto as the article may contain certain marketing statements.

2. Data analytics are core to digital engagement in biopharma

Effective digital engagement relies on sophisticated use of data analytics. Optimized use of data can enhance and transform the results of your digital engagement initiatives. This includes thorough tracking of content engagement metrics, analyzing trends, and refining communication strategies.

By leveraging data, you’ll accumulate unmatched insights into key stakeholder information preferences and the nuances of their content consumption. When leaders apply data analytics at each individual stage of the product development process, the result is a continuous cycle of communication refinement—one that will support your evolving financial and clinical goals. Your results should also guide future strategic development, resource allocation, and field team activation.