The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected the routines of many practicing physicians, including an impact on their prescribing decisions. For many physician practices, prescribing has shifted based on route of administration. These changes, initially presumed to be temporary, may continue beyond the pandemic.
As several COVID-19 vaccine candidates progress to patients and with more than 150 other vaccines in clinical development, global communities look forward to returning to “normal life,” but it is also increasingly likely that what we return to will be a “new normal”.
Many physicians are also now reporting affordability issues among their patients. In this article published in PharmaPhorum, we focus in particular on how COVID-19 may be changing prescribing decisions using market research and claims data.
Together with research partner Dynata, CRA conducted a recent survey of 140 physicians to better understand their perceptions of the pandemic’s effects on their daily practice, including current and potential future changes. The survey focused on oncologists and neurologists. The findings (both self-reported by physicians and observed in claims) suggest that the pandemic is affecting the therapies that patients receive, as healthcare providers look to reduce the risk of their patients contracting COVID-19.
