Recent changes in healthcare systems have profoundly altered the way the value of a treatment is assessed. The rise in chronic diseases, the development of targeted therapies, the growth of oral treatments and shorter hospital stays have shifted a significant part of care to the patient's home.

In this new paradigm, the effectiveness of a medicine no longer depends solely on its clinical trial results, but also on its performance in real-world use: adherence, management of side effects, quality of life and coordination of the players in the care pathway. This issue is all the more critical given that, according to the World Health Organization, adherence to treatment for chronic diseases averages only around 50% in developed countries, making non-adherence one of the main factors limiting the real-world effectiveness of treatments.

It is in this context that Patient Support Programs (PSPs) have become a strategic lever for pharmaceutical companies, no longer merely as complementary services, but as integral components of the therapeutic value proposition.

The question is therefore no longer whether to set up PSPs, but how to structure them so that they genuinely create medical, organisational and strategic value.

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Patient Support Programs: definition and scope

A Patient Support Program is a set of non-promotional services put in place around a treatment to support patients throughout their care pathway. These programmes generally aim to improve treatment adherence, make side effects easier to manage and improve the overall patient experience.

In practice, PSPs may include:

• Therapeutic education programmes
• Remote or in-person nurse follow-up
• Adherence support schemes
• Support in managing side effects
• Coordination between community care and hospital
• Access to supportive care
• Digital patient monitoring tools
• Medical information platforms

Historically, these programmes developed in therapeutic areas where adherence is a major issue, particularly oncology, rare diseases and complex chronic conditions.

In these contexts, the value of a treatment depends heavily on the system's ability to keep patients on their therapeutic path. Several studies have shown that some Patient Support Programs can improve treatment adherence by around 20 to 30% and significantly reduce early treatment discontinuation.

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Why PSPs are becoming a market access issue

The changing requirements of health authorities and payers have profoundly changed the role of PSPs. They are no longer seen merely as add-on services, but as elements that help demonstrate the overall value of a treatment.

Several factors explain this shift:

• Therapeutic differentiation is becoming more complex

In many therapeutic areas, particularly oncology, innovations are numerous and comparisons between treatments sometimes come down to incremental benefits. The ability to demonstrate an improvement in the patient pathway then becomes a differentiating factor.

• The rise of value-based healthcare

Healthcare systems are seeking to better align the price of treatments with their real impact on patients. This now includes dimensions such as quality of life, tolerability and the ability to stay on treatment.

• The growing importance of real-world evidence

PSPs provide a structured framework for collecting usage data, understanding patient pathways and documenting the impact of treatments beyond clinical trials.

• Organisational pressure on caregivers

Medical teams face increasingly complex care and growing time constraints. PSPs can help secure care pathways while reducing some of the organisational burden.

In this context, PSPs are gradually becoming strategic assets at the intersection of medical affairs, market access, public affairs and patient engagement.

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From "Patient Support Program" to "Patient Experience Infrastructure"

The current evolution of PSPs reflects a broader transition: the move from a programme logic to a patient experience infrastructure logic.

This approach rests on several principles:

• Genuine integration into existing care pathways
• Coordination of medical and allied health professionals
• Operational capacity in the field
• Structured real-world data
• Continuous impact measurement

In areas such as oncology or rare diseases, where care pathways are particularly complex, this approach is becoming essential. The challenge is no longer just to inform or follow up patients, but to secure their entire therapeutic trajectory. Observational studies have shown, for example, that some structured programmes can reduce treatment interruptions by around 20%, illustrating the potential impact of appropriate support on therapeutic continuity.

This is precisely the shift on which specialised players are positioning themselves, able to run these programmes at the interface between pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals and patients.

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Jinko: designer of tailor-made Patient Support Programs

This is the transformation Jinko is part of.

Jinko positions itself as a specialist operator in the operational roll-out of Patient Support Programs, with long-standing expertise in oncology and the ability to extend into other complex therapeutic areas such as rare diseases.

Its approach rests on a strong conviction: the value of a PSP lies not only in its design, but in its ability to be carried out effectively in the real lives of patients and caregivers.

In practice, Jinko enables pharmaceutical companies to:

• Put their patient centricity strategies into practice

By turning patient support concepts into schemes that are actually deployed in the field.

• Improve treatment adherence

Through structured, coordinated support around patients.

• Make medical teams' work easier

By providing additional resources that secure care pathways without adding to caregivers' workload.

• Structure real-world data collection

The programmes generate useful data to document treatment use, understand patient pathways and strengthen value dossiers.

• Strengthen the overall value proposition of treatments

By building quality of life and patient experience into the demonstration of value.

The ambition is not to replace care providers, but to create the conditions for better coordination between industry, caregivers and patients.

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Sources:

• WHO
• PubMed
• PubMed
• Springer Nature
• IBA
• IQVIA
• NHS Confederation
• PLOS