Ralf Jahns
Pharma’s Digital Health Business Models – A Long Journey to Success
Digital health has tempted pharma for more than a decade, but real value demands more than pilots and apps. As companies shift from one-off initiatives to scalable platforms, six archetypes are emerging—each with different payers, end users, and strategic payoffs. The hard part isn’t “going digital”; it’s choosing models that build the right capabilities, fit regulation and reimbursement, and prove economic traction over years, not quarters.
The real challenge for pharma companies lies in selecting business models that both develop necessary competencies and demonstrate economic viability.
Pharma’s digital plays now cluster into six repeatable models: Companion (supporting treated patients and reinforcing drug use), Consumer (cash-paid wellness and OTC adjacencies), Digital Therapeutics (regulated, reimbursed software interventions), Solution Provider (selling trial and engagement tech to peers), Platform (IT for hospitals and systems), and Pharma Retail (direct digital pathways that streamline access and fulfillment). Each puts a different stakeholder at the center, from patients and HCPs to hospitals and even other pharma—and each succeeds only when adoption, retention, and reimbursement line up. After early hype, leaders are tempering forecasts, carving out NewCos where needed, and committing to multi-year learning curves as eRx, hybrid care, and DtP/DtD pathways redraw channels and roles. The next five years will make digital companions and trial tools table stakes; strategic advantage will come from selecting—and staying with—the model that compounds capability and cash flow.
When Business Model Choice Becomes Strategy:
From Empathy to Outcomes
What you’ll learn
-
How the six archetypes differ—Companion, Consumer, DTx, Solution Provider, Platform, and Pharma Retail—in targets, payers, and revenue logic
-
Why DTx momentum cooled—and what it implies for evidence, certification, and commercialization choices
-
Which expectation, commitment, and leadership pitfalls stall traction—and how NewCos and outsourcing can help
-
Where retail-style access (eRx, online fulfillment) and hybrid care open new partnership and data opportunities
-
What’s next as companions and digital trial tools become standard—and model choice turns into competitive edge
Ralf Jahns is the founder of Research2Guidance, a strategy consulting and market analysis firm specializing in the global digital health market since 2010. He is also the founder of R2Gconnect, a global partnership matching platform for the digital health industry.
About the Author
Ralf Jahns
Connect
