By Kurt Arco, faculty member of Strategy & Planning for Commercial Launch Success in Pharma and CSFs, Roadmap & KPIs for Medical Affairs when Launching a New Product
With the current shift in healthcare towards "personalised" medicines, such as gene therapy, pharma is faced with new challenges when launching a new brand:
- Growing Gap Between Innovation and Healthcare System Capacity: The rapid pace of innovation in personalised medicine is outstripping the healthcare system's ability to accommodate these advances. This gap poses a considerable challenge for ensuring that new treatments can be effectively integrated into existing healthcare frameworks.
- Stricter Payer Management: As payers tighten their management practices, pharma faces increasing pressure on margins. Stricter evidence thresholds and requirements mean that companies must provide more comprehensive data to demonstrate the value and efficacy of new treatments.
- Decreased Volume of Interactive Engagements: The pandemic has significantly impacted the level of interactive engagements for innovative launches. Current levels remain far below those seen before the pandemic, necessitating a greater emphasis on interactive engagement to successfully launch new products.
Recent data underscores the importance of overcoming these challenges, as only 40% of patients eligible for approved treatments currently have access to their medication therapy. Therefore, successfully launching a new pharmaceutical brand involves more than just bringing it to market; it requires a strategic approach tailored to specific local market challenges.
Investment in Launch Excellence
Achieving launch excellence now necessitates investment in several key areas:
- Patient Journey Insights and Support: Understanding the intricacies of local health systems, care pathways, and priorities is essential. Pharmaceutical companies must facilitate care pathways from pre-launch to address and prevent bottlenecks, weaknesses, and gaps in the system. By doing so, they can ensure a smoother journey for patients, from diagnosis to treatment.
- Developing Partnerships with Health Systems: Building strong partnerships with national and local health systems can increase efficiency and optimise patient experiences and outcomes. Collaborations that enhance system efficiency and reduce delays in treatment can help expand access to new therapies for all eligible patients.
- Omnichannel Engagement: Adapting to changes in healthcare professionals' working practices and channel preferences is crucial. Effective omnichannel engagement strategies that meet healthcare professionals where they are lead to more successful product launches.
- Strategic Evidence Focus: Building a robust real-world evidence base is critical. This involves strong internal collaboration with market access and marketing teams to generate and leverage data that demonstrates the value and effectiveness of new treatments. Strategic evidence generation can help meet stricter payer requirements and support broader adoption of new therapies.
By understanding and implementing these strategies, brand teams can navigate the complexities of product launches and achieve sustained success in the current healthcare landscape. Investing in these areas ensures that new pharmaceutical products not only reach the market but also deliver their intended benefits to patients, ultimately driving better health outcomes and commercial success.
