Part 4: Finding an Experienced Strategic Partner for Commercial Drug Launch (Video)

Santosh

Laura, from your perspective and your experience, How does a proven framework built on experience allow you to develop that cross-functional plan and successfully execute on the strategy?

Laura

It provides an anchor to organize your thinking. You may be hit with a different request and needs from the organization who may be very anxious to know that everything is all set and established. But if you rush to execution, you miss all the critical thinking that needs to build to that. Working together with a partner who’s proven and has success across many organizations to help guide you through those steps and make sure nothing is missed, is incredibly important. And oftentimes, you may be a party of one. You may be that only commercial voice starting out in the organization. And so you need to have someone who can be your partner and help you to coalesce your thinking to develop a winning strategy.

Santosh

You should be leveraging that external expertise, a partner that has the breadth of experience in launching either into a new therapeutic space or a novel technology. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the rise of digital therapeutics. We’re seeing the rise of cell and gene therapy assets. Having a partner who has the experience in launching these assets is critically important. And when we advise clients, even understanding the emerging trends and legislation in our very dynamic industry, having that outside perspective will provide you with the comfort in knowing that as you build your strategy, you are building a best-in-class strategy that incorporates best-in-class thinking across the industry.

Laura

So many times you could just be sitting there, having these thoughts in a vacuum, but having someone else to bounce the ideas off of who can bring in that external expertise and who’s seen it across a breadth of clients in your very situation is incredibly powerful and will positively influence the plan that gets developed. 

Santosh, you mentioned biotech companies. What might be some special considerations for or companies that may be launching their first ever product?

Santosh

At Herspiegel we’ve advised over 100 biotech companies in the past 6-7 years, and the majority have relied on external partners to augment their strategic thinking as they prepare for launch. With biotech company budgets and resources being very tight, having the expertise and flexibility and the ability to bounce ideas off those partners, build business cases, and inform decisions with credible benchmarking and best practices across the industry is important. 

At Herspiegel we believe that with a company that is launching their first asset, you have to build the plane as you’re flying it. As part of that, you need to rely on strategic thinking and external partners to support you as you build out a best-in-class strategy. 

If you are a small or a growing biotech company, please reach out and we’d be happy to discuss your situation and how we can help support you to ensure commercial success for your asset.