Ask most pharma executives how a launch is going, and they’ll quote sales figures. Revenue is easy to measure and looks impressive on a slide. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. A drug can sell well while failing to reach those who need it most — or sell modestly while transforming care.
If we want to measure true access success, we need a broader lens.
The first measure is speed of reimbursement. How long does it take from regulatory approval to the first reimbursed patient? In some markets, it’s weeks. In others, it’s years. That gap tells you how effective your access planning really was.
The second is breadth of adoption. Are only a handful of major hospitals prescribing the drug, or has it reached community care? Wide, equitable uptake matters more than a few concentrated sales spikes.
The third is real-world impact. Are patients experiencing the outcomes promised in trials? Do they report improvements in quality of life, not just biomarkers? These data are harder to capture but vital for credibility and sustainable reimbursement.
Other signals include payer confidence, formulary inclusions, and clinician sentiment. Together, these build a fuller picture of success.
Sales numbers will always matter. But if you only measure revenue, you risk calling something a success while quietly missing the point. The true measure of access is whether the right patients receive the right treatment at the right time — and whether health systems can sustain it.
Access is about outcomes, not optics. When companies measure what truly matters, they make better long-term decisions, earn deeper payer trust, and build lasting value that outlives any quarterly report.
Try This
Create a simple “Access Dashboard” for your next launch with five indicators:
- Speed to reimbursement
- Geographic spread of adoption
- Real-world outcomes data
- Payer sentiment score
- Patient feedback summary
If sales rise but these lag, you’re not succeeding — you’re just selling.
