Putting patients, outcomes and clinical evidence first

This article is authored by Dr Pankaj Gupta, senior director & head, medical affairs, Pfizer India.

For many patients in India, the journey through health care can be complex – long travel distances, delayed diagnosis, and fragmented care. Today, a major shift is underway: health care is no longer just about providing treatment, but about improving real outcomes for patients – helping them live longer, better, and with dignity.

Health (HT file photo)

Across the world, health care systems are increasingly investing in patient-focused solutions. This reflects a growing understanding — that when care is designed around patients’ needs, outcomes improve significantly. The measure of a system's effectiveness is shifting from availability of treatment to outcomes generated for populations they serve. This shift leans on a principle increasingly driving innovation: keeping the patient core to every goal drives more significant, meaningful outcomes.

Global investments in patient engagement solutions are growing rapidly, reflecting this shift. The patient engagement solutions market, valued at $ 26.36 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $ 98.46 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of over 14%, reflects the scale of investment now aligned behind this approach. It signals that patient-centric innovation is no longer a peripheral initiative; it is becoming the operating model for modern healthcare. Hence, research, care delivery, evidence generation, and access are connected levers for improving outcomes.

One of the biggest changes is in how clinical research is conducted. Traditionally, clinical trials have been limited to large hospitals in major cities. Decentralised clinical trials (DCTs) are emerging as a critical mechanism for reaching historically underrepresented populations by enabling participation beyond traditional hospital-based trial centres – through home visits, remote monitoring, and digital data capture. This is especially important for India, where expanding access to clinical research can help improve representation and generate evidence that better reflects diverse patient populations.

Technology is playing a powerful role in making patient care more personalised, precise connected and timely.

Today, care is no longer limited to hospital visits. Patients can be monitored remotely, reminded to take medications, and supported continuously through digital platforms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is accelerating this capability further by helping doctors detect diseases earlier and make more informed decisions, with the potential to improve the accuracy and timeliness of care.

Studies indicate that AI-assisted diagnostic tools achieve accuracy rates of up to 90% in select disease-identification tasks. India's digital health market, valued at approximately $ 14.5 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $ 107 billion by 2033 at a CAGR exceeding 25%. The significance of that growth lies not only in technology adoption, but in its potential to make care more timely, personalised, and equitable for patients across settings.

Another important shift is the use of real-world patient data.

Instead of relying only on clinical trials, healthcare systems are now learning from how treatments work in everyday practice. In India, digital health initiatives are helping create large-scale patient records. This allows doctors and researchers to better understand what truly works for patients in real-life settings.

The integration of real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) into health care decisions has strengthened the link between clinical science and patient outcomes in practice. India's evolving digital health infrastructure, anchored by the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission's ABHA accounts and over 100 crore linked health records, is enabling longitudinal patient data collection at a scale that will generate insights of protracted population relevance.

For clinical and medical affairs teams, RWE provides the evidence layer that connects trial-based efficacy to real-world effectiveness. When patient journeys are systematically captured and analysed, the resultant body of evidence can be generalised better, is more actionable, and more aligned with the realities of care delivery.

No single organisation can transform health care alone.

Progress happens when multiple stakeholders work together – doctors, hospitals, policymakers, industry, and patient groups. Patient advocacy organisations, in particular, play a key role by bringing the real voices and experiences of patients into decision-making.

Just as patient advocacy groups bring the direct voice of patients into the design of research protocols and policy frameworks, technology partners enable the infrastructure for continuous engagement and real-world data capture. Payers and health systems provide pathways to scale the reach of innovations. Cohesively developed solutions are adopted, reimbursed, integrated into care pathways, and ultimately experienced by patients in meaningful ways.

The case for patient-centric health care is clear. India has the infrastructure, the policy momentum, and the innovation ecosystem needed to accelerate this transformation.

What is needed now is action – to consistently design health care around patient needs, not systems. If we succeed, we can create a health care system that is not only advanced, but also accessible, compassionate, and truly centred on the people it serves.

India, with its digital infrastructure, policy momentum, and patient population, is positioned to demonstrate what patient-centric health care transformation looks like when executed with both ambition and rigour. The opportunity to scale innovation and anchor it more deliberately in access, evidence, and patient experience is significant. Ultimately, patient-centric health care is not a concept, it is a commitment. A commitment to design every solution, every policy, and every innovation around the needs of the patient. If we remain focused on this principle, India has the opportunity not just to improve health care delivery, but to redefine it, making it more accessible, more humane, and truly centered on the people it serves. The time to act on it, decisively and collectively, is now.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Dr Pankaj Gupta, senior director & head, medical affairs, Pfizer India.