Agenda for Day 1 – Tuesday, March 23, 2027Tuesday, 23 March 2027 - ET (Eastern Time, GMT-05:00)

Katy Sullivan’s story is one of challenging assumptions, redefining possibility, and refusing to let the world put her in a box. Born without legs, Katy was told by a doctor at birth that “the world doesn’t need more runners.” Years later, she became a Paralympic sprinter, the first female amputee to perform on Broadway, and the first amputee nominated for a Tony Award.

Through her personal journey from hiding what made her different to embracing it, Katy explores the power of identity, mindset, resilience, and choosing who gets to define your story. Her keynote challenges audiences to stop limiting themselves based on expectations, whether their own or someone else’s, and to take ownership of what comes next.

Recently, Americans have seen some of the most patient-friendly laws and the nation's safety net significantly altered, creating new challenges and a changing landscape for all patient stakeholders. 
 
The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the non-renewal of Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the rising rate of uninsured patients have the patient community and manufacturers re-examining resources required for patient assistance programs, safety net and free drug programs, foundational giving, and other non-medical support needs. 
 
This conversation convenes diverse voices from across the healthcare continuum to discuss what is changing, what is working, and where critical gaps remain. Through a combination of stakeholder insights and audience engagement, participants will examine the key trends influencing access, affordability, navigation, and patient support while exploring practical opportunities for collaboration and action. 

Participants will leave with: 

• A clearer understanding of the trends shaping patient access in 2027 and beyond, including the challenges and opportunities emerging across the healthcare ecosystem. 

• Insights from multiple stakeholder perspectives, helping attendees better understand how patients, providers, specialty pharmacies, advocacy organizations, and industry partners experience and address access barriers differently. 

• Practical ideas for collaboration, with opportunities to identify strategies, partnerships, and solutions that can improve the patient experience and strengthen access outcomes. 

This fireside chat explores how disrupting the traditional pharmaceutical supply chain with a transparent, direct-to-patient channel can eliminate complex hub friction, lower manufacturer administrative burdens and secure immediate, affordable therapy access for patients.

As multiple healthcare policies converge in January 2027, patient support programs face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. This critical session equips stakeholders with the strategic insights and practical tools needed to navigate this complex regulatory landscape and maintain seamless patient access.

• Identify and prioritize the legislative and regulatory changes poised to reshape patient support programs and access initiatives in 2027, with actionable intelligence on implementation timelines and compliance requirements

• Understand how government agencies, industry leaders and patient advocacy organizations interpret and respond to policy changes differently, enabling you to anticipate friction points and identify collaboration opportunities

• Analyze the immediate operational, financial and patient-facing implications of January 2027 policy implementations on patient support program infrastructure, workflows and resource allocation.

• Leverage Political Intelligence and gain strategic insights into how midterm election outcomes are shaping the policy environment, with trend analysis that extends into 2028 and beyond, helping you position programs for long-term sustainability 

• Explore the fundamentals of building standout rare disease brands through effective marketing, positioning and customer insights

• Learn strategies for converting clinical trial patients to commercial patients and positioning products to highlight core value across the distribution and utilization chain

• Develop data generation strategies that prove value to all key stakeholders

• Consider specific brand architecture decisions for companies with multiple rare disease assets or platform technologies

• Map the unique patient journey in rare disease from symptom onset through diagnosis to treatment
• Identify and activate the critical moments where support and intervention have the highest impact
• Learn how to get the right patients and caregivers into your CRM for ongoing engagement
• Consider the critical role of caregivers and develop specific engagement strategies for this stakeholder group
• Understand how patient journeys differ when you're first-in-class versus entering a saturated market

• Establish high-impact partnerships between commercial and medical affairs during launch to create a unified ecosystem that aligns manufacturers, specialty pharmacies and providers

• Embed commercial strategy directly into early-stage R&D and business development lifecycles, eliminating gaps and protecting future market relevance

• Learn best practices in structuring cross-functional rare disease teams that maximize operational efficiency and are prepared to pivot against market shifts

• Explore AI applications across the commercialization lifecycle – from accelerating diagnostics and improving access/reimbursement processes to enabling post-market evaluation and real-world data gathering
• Understand how AI can revolutionize patient identification through claims data trend analysis, patient journey mapping and integration of diverse data sources
• Learn how to establish appropriate governance frameworks and privacy guardrails (HIPAA vs. GDPR) while integrating AI effectively and compliantly
• Discover implementation strategies that address the unique scale and challenges of rare disease markets, including how to manage the impact of patient self-research through AI and support physicians in navigating this new dynamic

• Discover approaches that maintain continuity of care beyond initial onboarding
• Learn techniques for high-touch adherence that surpass standard email reminders or app notifications
• Explore how to monitor patient progress and intervene appropriately when adherence issues arise
• Understand the economics of adherence in rare disease and its impact on overall therapy success