Direct-to-patient (DTP) services
One goal. One funnel.
Every DTP hand-off connected.
We put experienced DTP leadership in place to plan, launch and optimize your program, connecting marketing, market access, patient services and their vendors around one goal: more patients started and staying on therapy.
The problem in four numbers
The bucket is leaking. Nobody can see where.
Where DTP fits
Where direct-to-patient works, and where it doesn’t.
DTP makes business sense when two things are true. First, the product’s WAC price and patient lifetime value (LTV) support the economics of the program. Second, patients are willing to use a direct channel to get diagnosed and treated in the category. An optional cash price that qualifies for TrumpRx is a bonus, adding a federal front door and additional tax benefits.
The real question is whether a brand can acquire patients at a cost that supports profitability and scale, while solving its key challenges. That is why Kairos Meridian works on the whole DTP model, from patient acquisition through telehealth, pharmacy and refills, not just the campaign.
Why DTP
The brand challenges a direct program can solve.
Pharma companies leveraging DTP for appropriate brands can address one or more of these issues and, depending on the therapy, can drive up to 20% of product prescriptions.
How DTP flows
Every hand-off is a chance to lose a patient.
Each step has its own vendor, its own data and its own definition of success. Marketing, market access and patient services each own a piece of the program, but rarely the whole, and their decisions can make or break it. Kairos Meridian is the ribbon that connects them and the vendors behind them around one goal and one funnel, so fewer patients fall out between hand-offs and fewer clicks stand between the first media touch and a telehealth visit.
The above is a high-level visualization of DTP. Actual programs may vary based on company, brand, therapy and fulfillment.
Five priorities we help DTP brands deliver.
Every direct-to-patient program is different, but the ones that scale share many of these priorities. Kairos Meridian helps brands deliver each one, from strategy to weekly optimization.
Growth channel
Run DTP as a growth channel, not a price program.
An owned, near-real-time view of the patient, and a team that moves on it weekly.
Marketing efficiency
Get more from every marketing dollar.
Feed patient starts, not clicks, back to the platforms; spend the hours acting on insight.
Operational integrity
Keep every hand-off running as designed.
Data, telehealth and pharmacy partners operate the way the program was built to work.
Culture of optimization
Build a culture of improvement.
Test, learn and adjust every week, so the team runs the program like a store, not a launch.
Ecosystem
Build an ecosystem that compounds.
Integrated, compliant by design, and built to grow with the organization.
Ten ways we help
Design the flow. Fix the leaks. Run it like a store.
Kairos Meridian works across three stages of a DTP program. Design builds a model that fits your brand and your patients, not a copy of someone else’s. Fix finds where scripts leak today and gives one team ownership of the flow. Optimize puts experienced leaders and real data to work so more patients get from first visit to first fill, and stay on therapy.
One Owned View of the patient, ad to refill
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
Most DTP programs go dark at the hand-offs. The ad platform sees a click, the telehealth partner sees a visit, the pharmacy sees a fill, and no one sees the patient. A privacy-first data layer keeps the signal on from first impression to refill. The teams pulling ahead treat privacy as the foundation, not the roadblock.
Illustrative data flow. Exact flows will vary.
What you get
See the whole patient journey, compliantly and with confidence.
Most DTP programs measure with a blind spot at every hand-off. Together, Kairos Meridian and Freshpaint close them, so legal can approve the program on day one and marketing can act on it every week. The result is a single source of truth for the program and the patient, built compliantly from day one. When brand, medical, market access and analytics teams, and the agency, telehealth and pharmacy partners behind them, all work from the same data, decisions get faster, hand-offs get cleaner and every partner is accountable to the same numbers.
01 · Plan
Sets the measurement strategy and plan: what to track at every hand-off, where consent applies, and the standard every partner in the chain is held to.
02 · Connect
Builds and links the data ecosystem: consent enforced at the data layer, sensitive data removed before it moves, every event verified to its destination.
03 · Act
Turns that data into insight quickly. With one governed source of truth, AI can be layered on top to show what’s working, what isn’t and what patients need, so spend, channels and patient support improve week by week.
Preferred DTP DATA partner
The privacy-first marketing data platform built for healthcare.
Freshpaint connects activity across a brand’s sites and apps and its downstream telehealth, pharmacy and fulfillment partners into one governed foundation. Sensitive health information is removed before data moves; only de-identified conversion signals return to the brand and, server-side, to ad platforms, so campaigns optimize toward patient starts and fills rather than clicks.
DTP pharma teams use Freshpaint to see where patients drop off from site visit through fulfillment, measure first- versus last-touch contribution and cost per patient start by channel, and give leadership an auditable, full-funnel view of marketing’s impact, without compromising privacy or compliance.
While Kairos Meridian is solution-agnostic, Freshpaint is our preferred partner for privacy-first healthcare DTP data.
Case study
The program was live. Now it had to perform.
Kairos Meridian approached this DTP program with an ecommerce mindset: tag every booking to its source, act on the data while it is still fresh, and treat every change as something to test and improve. That culture of optimization is how we measure our work, by the impact it has on patients starting treatment.
Perspectives
The thinking behind the work.
Short, practical reads from people who have built, fixed and scaled DTP programs inside pharma. Each one takes on a question brand teams are asking right now: what DTP is really worth, who should own it, and why programs stall after launch.
Who we are
Strategy, marketing, and analytics with a dose of innovation… all in service of impact.
Kairos Meridian does this work because direct-to-patient is the rare channel where the brand’s upside and the patient’s are the same thing: fewer days to therapy, fewer forms, fewer reasons to walk away, and more patients started, counted every week.
We set the strategy, help build the program, scale it, and stand up a measurement discipline that holds it accountable for new patient starts and lifetime value. We sit between marketing, market access, patient services and their vendors, so the whole program works toward the same number. Kairos Meridian runs DTP with an ecommerce mentality, not a traditional pharma marketing & sales one.
Staffed by experienced leaders who have designed, fixed and optimized DTP programs inside pharma.
5+
pharma companies
10+
brands
5+
therapeutic areas
How we compare
Everyone owns a piece. We connect the whole.
DTP programs run on great partners. Each is built to deliver its own piece, and none is set up to own the outcome across all of them. That is the role Kairos Meridian plays.
| Consultancies& agencies | Telehealthproviders | Onlinepharmacies |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What they do well | Brand strategy and analytics, creative, media buying and patient acquisition | Diagnosis, the prescribing visit and scheduling | Dispensing, cash-pay pricing, shipping and refills | Ties the pieces together around one goal |
| What they see | Their own analysis, media and site performance | The consult | The fill | The whole patient journey, from first touch to refill |
| What success looks like | A strategy or dashboard delivered, media bought, impressions and clicks | HCP consults completed | Product dispensed | New patient starts, lifetime value and cost per patient acquired |
| How they’re paid | Time, materials and pass-throughs | Per consult or platform fees | Per fill or dispensing fees | Fixed fee against a written mandate. No commissions, markups or referral fees. |
| Independent analysis | Reports on its own piece | Reports on its own piece | Reports on its own piece | Independent read across every piece |
| Works with the others | Hands off to them | Hands off to them | Hands off to them | Connects them, and holds each to the same goal We don’t buy media, make creative, run a telehealth platform or dispense product. |
FAQ
DTP questions brand teams ask Kairos Meridian.
Straight answers.
What is a direct-to-patient (DTP) program in pharma?
A DTP program gives patients a brand-led path from awareness to treatment: a telehealth or in-person visit with an HCP, a prescription, insurance or cash pay, and pharmacy fulfillment with refills. The brand owns the experience and the data across each step instead of handing the patient off to the traditional retail channel.
How is DTP different from DTC advertising?
DTC advertising builds awareness and sends patients to their doctor. DTP connects that awareness to the rest of the journey: diagnosis, prescription, payment, fulfillment and refills. DTP marketing is one part of a DTP program, which also includes telehealth, pharmacy, access and the data that ties them together.
Which therapies are a good fit for DTP?
DTP works best for chronic, self-administered therapies with strong patient demand and real barriers to access or affordability. It is most established in obesity, diabetes, migraine, cardiometabolic and respiratory care, and a harder fit for specialty and infused drugs, hands-on diagnosis, strict safety programs and buy-and-bill products.
Why do DTP programs stall after launch?
Most stall in the hand-offs. Each step has its own vendor, its own data and its own definition of success, and no one owns the flow end to end. Without a clear link from marketing activity to prescription fills, teams can’t see where patients drop out or what to fix.
What does a DTP consultant do?
Kairos Meridian helps brands build the business case, including whether telehealth is the right model for the brand, design the program, evaluate and select vendors and partners such as telehealth and pharmacy, map the patient experience and set up measurement. After launch, the work shifts to auditing performance, strengthening governance and optimizing targeting, data and analytics week by week.
How is Kairos Meridian different from an agency, consultancy or telehealth partner?
Agencies, consultancies, telehealth providers and online pharmacies each deliver one piece of a DTP program and are measured on that piece. Kairos Meridian doesn’t buy media, make creative, run a telehealth platform or dispense product. We connect those partners around one goal, give an independent read across every piece, and measure the program on new patient starts, lifetime value and cost per patient acquired. We work for a fixed fee against a written mandate, with no commissions, markups or referral fees.
How do you measure DTP program performance?
Start with the outcomes the brand cares about: new patient starts, time to therapy, abandonment and refills, with every booking tied to its media source. In one Kairos Meridian engagement, the share of bookings tied to a media source rose from 4.7% to 32.4% in under two months, and monthly new patient starts grew 33% in the first 60 days. With one governed data foundation in place, AI can be layered on top to surface what’s working, what isn’t and where patients need support.
The first conversation is twenty-five minutes — a diagnostic, not a pitch.
Start a conversation today
We listen for the real problem — how you got here, what you’ve tried, what success looks like — then come back with a structured read. The gap between the call and the response is where the senior judgment gets applied.
Sources: 1. IQVIA Institute, The Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2024. 2. Model N / Dynata, June 2025. 3. DigiPharma Insights and Freshpaint, 2026. 4. Freshpaint, 2026 State of Healthcare Marketing, n=200 healthcare marketing leaders. 5. Freshpaint, “What to Look for in a Healthcare Marketing Platform Partner,” June 2026. 6. Freshpaint customer performance data on file, September 2026; individual results vary.