Atlanta-based performance marketing agency Response Media has launched a new healthcare practice called Re:Health. The unit is focused on pharma and healthcare clients and combines marketing, data analysis, behavioral research and AI. 

A big selling point is a new AI tool called AdherenceIQ, which the company says can identify patients who are likely to stop taking their prescribed medications before they actually do. The goal is to help drug companies keep more patients on prescribed treatment plans, which can improve both patient health and drug sales. 

According to the agency many patients don’t take their medications as prescribed or stop taking them altogether, resulting in billions in lost revenue to pharma and other healthcare firms.   AdherenceIQ software analyzes patient behavior and purportedly predicts who is at risk of abandoning treatment. It attempts to identify the reasons patients may stop taking a medication, such as worries about side effects, doubts that the medicine is necessary, distrust, stigma, or other concerns. 

It then recommends ways drug companies can communicate with or support those patients before they stop treatment.   

"Medicine is an emotional decision but the industry has marketed it as a functional one,” said Josh Perlstein, Response Media CEO. “We believe there is a smarter approach, and it begins with focusing on the human behind every treatment.”