<div id="readability-page-1"><div id="article-body-row"> <div> Pharma marketers enter 2026 asking where DTC fits in the DTP era. That question, which few foresaw 12 months ago, reflects the fast rise of direct-to-patient (DTP) programs. In the last few months alone, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Genentech and Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim have all launched DTP services with discounts for self-pay patients on certain popular medications, joining earlier adopters Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Novo Nordisk. The programs are changing how patients access medicines—and how patients hear about medicines could therefore evolve to reflect the emerging sales channel. The traditional marketing-to-treatment pipeline is long and leaky. Drugmakers run direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads to raise awareness of their products and encourage patients to see their physicians. But weeks can pass between a patient viewing an ad and seeing a physician, and pharma companies lack direct, real-time data on patient behavior, giving them limited visibility into why people seek treatment and the barriers that stop them from receiving it. In the DTP model, a patient can click an ad online and arrange a telehealth consultation for the same day. Independent telehealth partners provide the consultations, but the DTP process still gives pharma companies a richer stream of patient-level data than the traditional sales channel. Yet while the DTP data may benefit marketing, companies may need to adapt their strategies to drive people to platforms. Riding the DTP wave Companies have explored DTP sales in the past—for example, when Pfizer started offering Lipitor directly to patients as its statin’s patent expiry approached in 2011—but the current wave is far bigger than the ripples that preceded it. After Lilly and Pfizer got the ball rolling in 2024 with their respective launches of LillyDirect and PfizerForAll, a who’s who of drugmakers began offering medicines directly to patients in 2025. By the time ixlayer ran a survey in August and September 2025, 73% of pharma leaders said they were running or planning to launch a DTP program in the next year. Half of respondents said direct sales will be standard practice within five years. The DTP explosion reflects multiple forces. President Donald Trump ordered the secretary of Health and Human Services to facilitate direct-to-consumer purchasing programs in May and warned pharmas in July that the federal government would deploy every tool in its arsenal against companies that failed to act. As Trump wielded the stick, pharma companies spotted carrots. Consumers used to frictionless online shopping experiences may welcome healthcare platforms that have more in common with Amazon than the traditional patient pathway, supporting investments in DTP. Equally, direct sales prevent middlemen from capturing value and enable companies such as Novo Nordisk to hit back against compounders. With the federal government's TrumpRx platform—which will steer patients toward direct drug sales sites—set to launch in January, the focus on DTP sales looks set to continue into 2026. The stakes are high. Amid political and pricing pressures, drugmakers have an opportunity to fundamentally change their relationships with patients. Marketing in the DTP era The strategies deployed by telehealth companies suggest how pharma marketing could evolve in the DTP era. While regulatory differences prevent drugmakers from completely aping the telehealth playbook, providers’ top-of-funnel tactics have pinpointed the marketing channels and communication tone that drive patients to platforms. For example, telehealth giant Hims &amp; Hers’ marketing as a percentage of revenue was 46% in 2024. Attracting patients via lower-cost and nonpaid channels enabled the company to cut marketing as a percentage of revenue in 2025, but at 39% the figure remained high compared to many businesses in the third quarter. Hims &amp; Hers has been willing to spend heavily on marketing in the belief that the lifetime value of new users justifies the outlay. The company has named advertising in “digital media, social media, television, radio, out-of-home media and various other media outlets” as key to its customer acquisition strategy. Word of mouth and rising brand awareness have lessened the company’s reliance on paid channels over time. Pharma companies, meanwhile, are competing for search terms that could lead to patients using their DTP platforms. As of Dec. 15, Google provides sponsored links to Lilly product webpages when users search “Mounjaro” or “Zepbound” in the U.S. The paid search results are a defensive play that stops other companies from capturing patients searching for Lilly drugs. Lilly is playing offense, too. Searching for Novo Nordisk’s “Ozempic” and “Wegovy” generates paid results for Mounjaro and Zepbound, meaning links to Lilly drugs are the first resources seen by people who look for information on its rival’s medicines. Zepbound is also among the paid results for the search term “weight loss drug.” Pharma DTP platforms have echoes of the tone adopted by telehealth providers, which have positioned themselves as lifestyle brands that help people achieve their health goals. LillyDirect offers to be “your partner in better health,” while visitors to Pfizer’s DTP platform are greeted with the message, “Welcome to a head start on health, one question at a time” and are linked to a health and wellness chatbot. Lilly CEO Dave Ricks discussed the implications of DTP on a recent episode of the “Cheeky Pint” podcast, speculating that drugmakers could break the patent cycle by building self-pay branded businesses that have staying power beyond the arrival of off-patent competitors. The idea is that the relationships drugmakers forge with DTP customers could survive the availability of potentially cheaper off-patent competitors. “I think so far the evidence is pointing that way,” Ricks said. “Have we fully evolved to a mature version of that? No. Have we created an ecosystem around ourselves like Apple has done? No. Those are all opportunities for us.” </div> </div></div>

Pharma companies are shifting their marketing strategies towards direct-to-patient (DTP) programs, moving away from traditional direct-to-consumer (DTC) models. Major companies like Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca have launched DTP services, offering discounts for self-pay patients. This shift is driven by the need for real-time patient data and the influence of political pressures, such as President Trump's directives. The DTP model allows for quicker patient consultations and richer data, potentially transforming patient relationships and marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industry.

2026 forecast: DTP sales model shifts pharma marketing strategy