Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Pharma
How a pharmaceutical commercial team measures whether a formulary or payer win turned into prescriptions, from the access file, the prescription data and the call log: the accounts whose access opened on a date, their prescriptions before and after against accounts whose access did not change, the calls made to them in the weeks after the win, the territories where access opened and nobody called, and the honest statement of what the difference is and is not.
A market access team wins formulary coverage on a plan that covers four hundred accounts. Two quarters later, the brand team asks whether it made a difference, and the answer is a feeling. The access file, the prescription data and the call log can say: prescriptions before and after, against unchanged accounts, and whether the field ever called. This guide sets out pull-through measurement, the territory split, and the list of accounts where access opened and nobody went.
Per account whose access opened on date D:
Own change = scripts in the 12 weeks after D − scripts in the 12 weeks before Comparison change = the same at comparable accounts with unchanged access Pull-through = own change − comparison change Called = a logged call within the window after D
Per territory:
Accounts with access opened; share called; median pull-through among called and among not called
Account identifiers only.
accounts with access opened = called within window + not called
And every account in the comparison group had unchanged access throughout both windows.
Win effective 1 March. Window 12 weeks.
| Territory | Accounts opened | Called in window | Pull-through, called | Pull-through, not called | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-04 | 61 | 52 (85%) | +4.1 scripts | +0.9 | Worked: calls followed access |
| T-11 | 48 | 11 (23%) | +3.8 | +0.6 | Access opened, field did not go |
| T-17 | 55 | 49 (89%) | +0.7 | +0.5 | Calls made; little movement |
Territory T-11 had the win and almost no calls, and the accounts that were called moved as much as T-04's. Thirty-seven accounts with open access and no call is the list, and it is a cycle late. Territory T-17 called and nothing moved, which is a message or a product question, not a coverage one.
The pull-through figure is a difference between two groups in observational data. Reps call the accounts they expect to respond. The report says "associated with", and it is still the best evidence the brand team has for where the next cycle's calls go.
Own change only. A market rise credited to the win.
No call log join. Pull-through measured, the field's role unknown.
Message not recorded. A call that never mentioned access counted as pull-through.
Read as cause. Selection is real; say associated.
Mapped once, the access file, the prescription data, the call log and the account master produce pull-through per account and territory, the called split and the not-called list for every access change. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The pharma page describes the setup, and the formulary status guide covers the dated access dimension this measure depends on.
The market access team's file: plan, effective date, and the accounts or geographies where the plan is dominant. Joined to the account master on the account identifier or on the account's payer mix, the win becomes a dated status change on a list of accounts.
Because prescriptions move for other reasons in the same weeks. Comparable accounts whose access did not change carry those reasons, and the difference between the two groups' changes is what can be associated with the win and the calls. Without the comparison, a market-wide rise is credited to the win.
A logged call on an account whose access opened, within a stated window after the effective date, with the access message recorded where the call log carries a message field. Calls before the date, or without the message, are shown separately.