The old 17th century phrase “the early bird catches the worm” typically means the person who arrives early seizes an opportunity they might otherwise miss out on. Biopharma organizations certainly can miss opportunities, like all those late birds, when the trigger to start hiring and thinking from a commercial perspective is gated by their clinical development program reaching late-stage. Those one to two years ahead of product approval require investment in a full commercial team executing against a highly-tuned launch plan. But the entire drug development process, from pre-clinical to product on the market, is deserving of a commercial perspective right from the start.
Too often we see companies linearly focused on regulatory milestones. More successful organizations operate by consistently keeping the end game front and center– getting their therapeutics in the hands of patients in need. Commercial is an integral voice along the product development pathway, partnered with clinical and regulatory, whose inclusion will keep the patient perspective omnipresent.
Customer insight is key
Integrating customer insight throughout the program keeps a pulse on the current and future market, and this customer perspective active along the development program. It starts with identifying the stakeholders including healthcare providers, patients, caregivers, and payors then finding the right strategies to collect, understand and apply their perspectives in key program decisions. Once a stakeholder listening strategy is in place the team identifies market insight providers who can deliver the needed level of customer reporting. We have found these early days do not call for the sixty-page market research deck, rather a high level “drone-like approach” to gather customer sentiment is enough to get a pulse on the audiences and craft strategic market shaping tactics.
A commercial lens builds enterprise value
Importantly, organizations with varying product commercialization aspirations – partner, acquisition, go it alone – all need a commercial perspective. The early commercial input inherently creates value for the firm by clearly identifying the unmet need and the therapeutic’s unique space in the future landscape. This informs investor, business development and partner discussions by clearly painting the space the product could own and value it could provide to the specific patient community in need.
Apply the commercial art to your science
Providing this commercial lens in a product development program should be thought of as an art applied to the science. It allows the organization to stay nimble and make the right investment decisions that not only reflect the current market and standard of care but what at market may look like five years down the road. Organizations that adopt this have the advantage.
How We Can Help
Together, we can help you evaluate your pre-commercial program aligned with your product development program:
- Have you identified all your stakeholders? Do you have a pulse on their current and future market sentiment?
- Are you clearly communicating your development-stage therapeutic to the investor audience? Does your market and product messaging accurately reflect customer input?
- How is your disease target currently defined and does it reflect all your stakeholder’s points of view?
- What is your Target Product Profile (TPP)? Do you understand the unique space your product could own on the market?
- What is your plan to integrate patients into your clinical development program? Do you have a patient engagement plan?
- Is your organization commercial-ready? Do you need commercial insight ahead of hiring a commercial team on staff?
At PRE Commercial, we have deep experience in finding answers to these questions, as well as exploring unconventional lines of thinking that can lead to market moving insights regarding your product, disease environment, and corporate brand.