New Performance Data Shows Why Pharma Is Reallocating Spend Toward Direct-to-Patient Care
Pharmaceutical brands are increasingly shifting investment toward direct-to-patient (DTP) care models as a response to measurable performance.
New data from ixlayer highlights how access-enabled DTP programs are accelerating time to care and converting patient demand into treatment. Across active ixlayer-powered programs, 85% of completed patient appointments result in a prescription, while approximately 10% of drug-site visitors convert into registered patient accounts. Together, these outcomes demonstrate stronger performance at both the top and bottom of the funnel compared with awareness-only approaches.
Importantly, these programs are not limited to cash-pay pathways. ixlayer’s DTP models are designed to support insured access to care, including diagnostic testing, telehealth visits, and prescription workflows that integrate benefits verification and prior authorization when required.
Declining DTC ROI Is Forcing a Reassessment of Awareness-Heavy Strategies
These findings arrive amid growing evidence that traditional direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is delivering diminishing returns. IQVIA has reported a sharp decline in DTC ROI in recent years, prompting many brands to reconsider strategies that stop at awareness. As budgets tighten, performance data is increasingly driving a shift toward models that remove friction between patient interest and actual access to care.
Fragmented Healthcare Experiences Are Undermining Conversion
Consumer expectations are evolving faster than healthcare delivery models. In ixlayer’s ixInsights 2025: Consumer Expectations for Digital Health study conducted with Ipsos, 91% of respondents said it would be beneficial to have multiple health features in a single digital tool, reflecting expectations shaped by retail and banking experiences. Yet only 35% reported experiencing a connected digital journey in healthcare today, and nearly half (49.7%) said they rely on multiple digital health solutions to manage their care.
This gap between expectation and reality contributes directly to patient drop-off when next steps are unclear or fragmented.
“This disconnect is precisely where direct-to-patient models are gaining traction,” said Pouria Sanae, co-founder and CEO of ixlayer. “When education, intake, clinical evaluation, and next steps are collapsed into a single experience, patients are far less likely to abandon the journey.”
Patients Are Re-Evaluating the Role of Pharma
Patient expectations of pharmaceutical companies are expanding beyond drug development and promotion alone. According to ixInsights 2025 research, 81% of consumers believe pharma brands should help patients access care, including diagnostics, telehealth, and prescription navigation. Additionally, 92% say their perception of a pharma brand improves when it provides digital tools that help them understand or act on a health concern.
The implication is clear: brand value is increasingly shaped by a company’s ability to remove barriers between concern and care.
Executives Are Treating DTP as Core Infrastructure
This shift is also evident at the leadership level. In ixlayer’s 2025 Pharma Executive Survey conducted with the DHC Group, 94% of respondents said they have launched, are planning to launch, or are actively exploring DTP programs. Faster time to treatment, improved patient experience, and stronger adherence were cited as primary drivers, particularly for specialty, chronic, and underdiagnosed conditions.
What This Signals for Pharma Marketing in 2026
Taken together, the data points to a clear inflection point. As DTC efficiency declines, direct-to-patient care models are emerging as a core commercial capability. For pharmaceutical brands, performance is increasingly defined not by how many people see a message, but by how quickly and clearly patients can act on it.
In 2026, winning strategies will be built less on awareness alone and more on infrastructure that turns intent into care.
About ixlayer
ixlayer has the only end-to-end, direct-to-patient platform built for biopharma and optimized for patient choice. We help biopharma companies connect with patients from testing to treatment with speed, transparency, control and impact.
