We are in the midst of a profound disruption in how healthcare is delivered, prescribed, and consumed. Telehealth companies are building closed-loop ecosystems that diagnose, prescribe, and fulfill custom compound medications, often via AI-generated pathways that reduce clinical nuance and bypass traditional HCP judgment.

If you consume digital media, chances are you’ve seen an ad from one of these telehealth providers. They spend big to get and keep your attention. One such platform, Hims/Hers, spent approximately $679 million on marketing in 2024, nearly half of its yearly revenue. With that kind of investment, customer retention is paramount. These platforms are committed to providing the kind of frictionless, on-demand experience customers have come to expect – no waiting rooms, no paperwork, no back-and-forth with insurance.

These platforms aren’t just meeting patient expectations; they are resetting them. With seamless UX, fast fulfillment, and algorithm-driven care, they’re bypassing the traditional ecosystem entirely. And in doing so, they threaten to make the conventional healthcare system and the traditional pharmaceutical marketing model feel irrelevant.

• They’re bypassing every lever pharma has historically relied on:
• No office visit to prompt an Rx discussion
• No branded product to ask for by name
• No HCP engagement to shape or reinforce brand preference

This is more than convenience, it’s healthcare without the healthcare system, and it’s quickly becoming normalized.  

It represents a fundamental threat to how pharma brands have always gone to market. The entire commercial model – built around HCP influence, branded DTC campaigns, and payer navigation – is being outpaced by platforms that close the loop before pharma even enters the conversation.

These new models threaten to make traditional strategies feel increasingly disconnected from where and how care decisions are being made.

• The HCP’s influence is minimized. Clinical recommendations are embedded in digital flows, not in long-term provider-patient relationships.
• Brand awareness is bypassed. DTC campaigns designed to spark office conversations now meet a closed-loop system that makes the choice before the patient ever sees their doctor.
• Product differentiation flattens. When convenience and speed outweigh therapeutic nuance, the value of formulation, evidence, and access becomes harder to convey.
• Chronic and lifestyle categories are especially exposed. Patients in these areas are increasingly choosing platforms that feel more like consumer wellness experiences than clinical care.

Direct-to-patient programs like LillyDirect signal that leading companies are responding to this paradigm change. But building a platform is just one piece of the puzzle. To remain relevant, pharmaceutical brands must reimagine how they show up across entirely new patient pathways.

Lucid helps pharmaceutical brands navigate market disruption, whether it’s the rise of telehealth-first care models or shifting patient expectations around access, trust, and convenience.

• We uncover what drives belief at the provider, patient, and system level so brands can move beyond awareness to lasting engagement
• We identify moments that matter along evolving care journeys, helping clients show up where decisions are made, even as those pathways fragment
• We translate data into action, turning real-world behaviors into strategies that shape targeting, messaging, and omnichannel activation
• We build brand narratives grounded in evidence, so clients can stay credible and compelling even in a landscape where speed often tries to outshine science

Lucid doesn’t chase trends. We bring structure to complexity, clarity to decision-making, and focus to brand growth, no matter how fast the landscape changes.

The healthcare system is changing with or without us. Let’s talk about how your brand can stay ahead of it.