Preparing to Fend Off Threats to a Blockbuster Drug

Background

A biologic drug, with annual sales over $1 billion, offered a tempting target for nearly a dozen pharma companies around the world seeking to develop alternatives.

Challenge

The drug’s manufacturer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, wanted to track the nature and progress of competitor products and the strategies their makers were pursuing.

Some of the largest and most successful companies in the world were pursuing a variety of drug types – small molecule, biologics, and biosimilars – and a variety of avenues for attacking the mechanism of the disease. A number of these drugs were already in Phase III clinical trials, with possible launch not far in the future. In addition, some of the drugs in development were intended to provide clinical advantage over our client’s product.

Approach

Faced with the depth and breadth of the competition and the value of the threatened product, the company wanted to augment its considerable in-house competitive intelligence capability as well as benefit from the perspective and advice of a third party with deep industry knowledge.

Result + Benefits

• Continuously monitor market and clinical developments around the world
• Synthesize and analyze raw data and convert it into concise customized intelligence
• Provide timely and unambiguous early warning of potential threats and opportunities via immediate notification, regular updates and periodic reports
• Generate pipeline analyses and product profiles of competitors
• Analyze clinical and market data to build timelines for development and launch of competing products
• Participate in and conduct an internal war game designed to uncover how companies competing in the market space were likely to respond to each other’s strategic moves