Ask 34 physicians what drives their choice of an advanced lipid-lowering therapy and they give a clinically sensible answer. LDL-C lowering gets 25 of 100 importance points. Outcomes evidence gets 23. Route of administration gets about 7. Then read 25 recent patient charts for LIPFENDRA, the newest oral option in that class , and oral route shows up among the top reasons for 44% of the choices.
Both numbers are real. They answer different questions, and a research plan that funds only one of them will miss half the decision.
Stated preference is what people say matters when asked directly, for example by ranking factors or dividing 100 points among them. Revealed preference is what their actual choices show matters, inferred from decisions they made.
In pharma research, a physician survey usually captures stated preference. A patient chart audit, where physicians walk through real recent patients and the alternatives they considered, captures something closer to revealed preference.
ZoomRx ran both methods on the same hyperlipidemia treatment decision in August and September 2026, about seven weeks after LIPFENDRA, the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor, reached the US market.
|
Factor |
Stated (survey, 34 physicians) |
Revealed (patient charts) |
|
Route of administration |
About 7 of 100 importance points |
Among the top reasons for 44% of choices (25 charts on the oral brand) |
|
Patient preference |
About 1 of 100 points |
72% of patients on the oral brand had asked for an oral option or for the brand (25 charts) |
|
LDL-C lowering |
25 of 100 points |
Mean LDL-C at the decision was 113 to 126 mg/dL across three brands, against mean goals of 62 to 68 (85 charts) |
The two methods also have different bases: 34 physicians in the survey and 25 LIPFENDRA charts. So the distance between them cannot be read as a measured gap. It is a signal worth investigating.
The survey records how physicians reason about a whole category. Clinical need has to be met before any brand is considered, so it dominates the ranking. The charts record what separated two options for one patient on one day, after the clinical case for escalation was already made. In this study, patient preference and access often settled that final step.
If you are deciding what to fund next year, three questions help:
The full case study, Hyperlipidemia treatment decisions in 2026, shows both measures with their bases and what each can support. Read the full case study →
To see stated and revealed preference side by side for your own brand, explore ATU brand tracking and Patient Chart Audits.
LIPFENDRA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC. Repatha is a registered trademark of Amgen Inc. LEQVIO is a registered trademark of Novartis AG. ZoomRx is not affiliated with, and this paper is not sponsored or endorsed by these companies.