Exton, PA, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The patient support programs earning the strongest marks from physicians, practice-based staff, and patients are not necessarily those offering the most services, but those that most effectively reduce access friction, support continuity of therapy, and help stakeholders navigate affordability and coverage, according to new research from Spherix Global Insights.
Drawing on direct feedback from more than 500 physicians and other healthcare providers, including office managers, biologic coordinators, and other office staff, and over 600 patients and caregivers, Spherix's 2026 Patient Services Dynamix™ research captures real-world experiences with 51 branded patient support programs across 66 indications. The research evaluates the patient support experience from three distinct perspectives—providers, practice-based staff, and patients and caregivers—providing an independent view of how programs perform for the stakeholders who prescribe therapies, facilitate access, and receive treatment.
Patient Support Leaders Emerge Across Therapeutic Areas
Within immunology and autoimmune disorders, Dupixent (Sanofi and Regeneron), Skyrizi (AbbVie), and Tremfya (Johnson & Johnson) are among the programs earning the strongest overall marks from stakeholders, while Entyvio (Takeda) leads specifically on provider satisfaction for electronic Prior Authorizations.
Among oncology programs evaluated, Keytruda (Merck), Lynparza (AstraZeneca and Merck), and Darzalex (Johnson & Johnson) lead in overall patient support satisfaction, while Tecvayli (Johnson & Johnson) leads in oncologists’ satisfaction with formulary awareness support. Looking specifically within rare and/or orphan products, Hympavzi (Pfizer), Vyvgart (argenx), and Hemlibra (Genentech) lead in overall performance ratings across stakeholders, with Sogroya (Novo Nordisk) taking top spot in therapy adherence programs.
While the specific leaders vary by market, the findings point to a broader theme: more services do not necessarily translate into a stronger patient support experience. Instead, the services that matter most vary meaningfully by therapeutic area and stakeholder, underscoring the importance of aligning program design with the specific access and support challenges of each market.
What Drives Satisfaction Depends on the Market—and the Stakeholder
Services that help patients start and stay on therapy, including affordability assistance, patient assistance programs, bridge and starter programs, and access support, can play an outsized role in shaping the overall support experience.
Across brands treating immunological/autoimmune disorders, bridge and starter kits emerge as a driver of satisfaction among both providers and patients. Among oncology brands evaluated, nursing support is the only common driver of satisfaction across both stakeholder groups. Drivers differ further within rare and orphan diseases: nursing support and prior authorization/reauthorization assistance services are associated with physician satisfaction, while refill reminders and bridge and starter programs are more important drivers for patients.
The findings also reveal important differences in how stakeholders define strong support. Providers place substantial value on services that reduce administrative and access friction, while patients place greater emphasis on understanding coverage and affordability and receiving ongoing support. Providers rank patient assistance programs, copay programs, and drug samples among their most important services, while patients prioritize advocacy and support resources, insurance counseling, and refill reminders.
Benchmarking Performance Against the Competitors That Matter
Patient Services Dynamix™ spans 66 indications across immunology, oncology, rare disease, neurology, women's health, metabolic disease, and other specialty markets.
Immunology and Autoimmune
- Dermatologic: Alopecia areata, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa, pemphigus vulgaris, prurigo nodularis and psoriasis
- Gastrointestinal: Crohn’s disease, eosinophilic esophagitis and ulcerative colitis
- Inflammatory and rheumatic: Ankylosing spondylitis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and uveitis
- Respiratory and immunologic: Asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis, chronic spontaneous urticaria, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and COVID-19
Oncology
- Breast cancer
- Gastrointestinal cancers: Biliary tract, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, liver and pancreatic cancers
- Genitourinary cancers: Bladder cancer, prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma
- Gynecologic cancers: Cervical and ovarian cancers
- Hematologic cancers: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Skin cancers: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma
- Lung cancer: Non-small cell lung cancer
- Other cancers: Head and neck cancer and unresectable solid tumors
Orphan and Rare Disease
- Amyloidosis: Amyloidosis and transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM)
- Growth and developmental disorders: Idiopathic short stature, Noonan syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, small for gestational age and Turner syndrome
- Benign hematology: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, hemophilia A or B, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and thrombotic microangiopathy
- Neurologic: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), myasthenia gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD)
- Immunologic: IgG4-related disease and primary humoral immunodeficiency
Women’s Health and Associated Conditions
- Reproductive health: Endometriosis, menopause and uterine fibroids
- Metabolic and bariatric: MASH/NASH, obesity and obstructive sleep apnea
- Neurologic: Migraine
Across these conditions, the research captures experience with patient support programs associated with brands from companies including:
| Manufacturer | Brand |
| AbbVie | Humira, Orilissa, Rinvoq, Skyrizi, Ubrevly |
| Amgen | Uplizna |
| Argenx | Vyvgart |
| Ascendis | Skytrofa |
| Astellas | Veozah |
| AstraZeneca | Ultomiris |
| AstraZeneca/Merck | Lynparza |
| AstraZeneca/Daiichi Sankyo | Enhertu |
| BridgeBio | Attruby |
| Genentech | Hemlibra |
| Genentech/Biogen | Rituxan |
| J&J | Darzalex, Remicade, Tecvayli, Tremfya |
| Lilly | Ebglyss, Humatrope, Olumiant, Omvoh, Zepbound |
| MaynePharma | Bijuva |
| Merck | Keytruda |
| Novartis | Cosentyx, Kisqali |
| Novo Nordisk | Norditropin, Sogroya, Wegovy |
| Pfizer | Benefix, Cibinqo, Genotropin, Hympavzi, Ibrance, Inflectra, Litfulo, Ngenla, Ruxience, Tukysa, Velsipity, Vyndamax, Xeljanz |
| Pfizer/Astellas | Xtandi |
| Pfizer/Sumitomo | Myfembree |
| Sanofi | Qfitlia |
| Sumitomo/Pfizer | Orgovyx |
| Sanofi/Regeneron | Dupixent |
| Takeda | Entyvio, HyQvia |
| UCB | Bimzelx |
Rather than functioning as a fixed competitive scorecard, each Patient Services Dynamix™ deliverable is customized around the client's market, allowing manufacturers to select their own brand and up to four relevant benchmark brands for direct competitive comparison. The analysis identifies where a program exceeds, meets, or falls below its selected benchmark overall and across individual services, helping teams understand where they excel, where competitors are setting a higher standard, and where improvements may have the greatest impact.
From Competitive Benchmarking to Best Practices
Spherix's complementary Patient Services Best Practices™ research continues to leverage the three-pronged approach with physicians, office staff and patients, while moving beyond individual brand performance to identify the services, behaviors, and executional approaches associated with stronger stakeholder experiences. The service examines, through both qualitative and quantitative research, what leading programs are doing differently and where those practices may offer opportunities for improvement across a therapeutic area.
Early findings from reports releasing this fall reveal several ways pharmaceutical manufacturer support programs can deliver meaningful value to their customers. Examples include:
- Reduce access and adherence gaps with simple patient assistance program (PAP) and copay support enrollment, broader eligibility and benefit duration, and proactive, consistent refill reminders to support faster therapy access and sustained adherence.
- Strengthen overall satisfaction by making coverage requirements, assistance options, and escalation ownership clear before therapy initiation stalls.
- Reduce office burden and treatment delays through streamlined, payer-specific prior authorization (PA)/benefits verification (BV) and appeals guidance, responsive support, and transparent status tracking.
Importantly, these examples are not universal best practices. The services and approaches that deliver the greatest value vary meaningfully by therapeutic area and stakeholder, making market-specific insight critical to understanding which practices are most likely to improve the support experience in a particular market.
About Patient Services Dynamix™
Patient Services Dynamix™ is an independent research suite providing actionable intelligence on patient support program performance and best practices. Drawing on direct input from patients, providers, and practice-based staff (including office and practice managers, reimbursement personnel, nurses, medical assistants, and biologic coordinators), the research provides a multidimensional view of how support programs perform and where opportunities exist to strengthen the stakeholder experience.
Patient Services Benchmarking evaluates how support programs perform through the experiences of stakeholders who directly use and interact with them. While data is captured across more than 50 brands, each report is customized to the client's market, allowing manufacturers to benchmark their own brand against up to four client-selected competitors across affordability, patient wellness, and administrative support solutions.
Patient Services Best Practices™ complements the benchmarking research with deeper analysis of the services, behaviors, and executional approaches associated with stronger stakeholder experiences. The research identifies therapeutic area-level best practices and actionable opportunities manufacturers can apply to strengthen patient support program design and execution.
About Spherix Global Insights
Spherix Global Insights is a leading independent provider of market intelligence and advisory services for specialty pharmaceutical and biotech markets. By combining physician, patient, and payer perspectives into a single integrated view, Spherix helps brand teams, market access stakeholders, and investors understand how a specialty market actually behaves, not how any one stakeholder describes it. The firm operates ten dedicated therapeutic franchises – Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Nephrology, Neuroscience, Obesity, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Respiratory and Rheumatology – plus a dedicated Market Access team, each led by hyper-focused expert analysts who track these markets full-time. Trusted by 19 of the top 20 pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, Spherix has been a go-to resource for more than a decade for leading brands, industry media, financial analysts, and patient advocacy groups.
To learn more about Spherix Global Insights, visit spherixglobalinsights.com or connect through LinkedIn.
For more details on Spherix’s primary market research reports and interactive dashboard offerings, visit or register here: https://clientportal.spherixglobalinsights.com
NOTICE: All company, brand or product names in this press release are trademarks of their respective holders. The findings and opinions expressed within are based on Spherix Global Insights’ analysis and do not imply a relationship with or endorsement of the companies or brands mentioned in this press release.
Sybil Mead Spherix Global Insights 484-879-4284 sybil.mead@spherixglobalinights.com
