Franchise and Product Strategy
Overview
Today, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies face myriad challenges with increasingly competitive markets, more costly and unpredictable R&D, rapidly evolving commercial models, and considerable policy and regulatory uncertainty, all combining to create an unprecedented level of risk.
As these risks and challenges make it more difficult and costly for companies to achieve profitable growth and drive strong returns from their R&D activities, life science firms must be more strategic and deliberate than ever before about their franchise and portfolio choices, approaching them not just as products, but as integrated solutions that can improve healthcare outcomes and provide the foundation for future growth.
What we do
L.E.K. is a leader in franchise and product strategy, helping our clients deftly navigate the challenging path to true disease area leadership. We provide support at every step of the process, from launch planning to pricing and access strategy to customer engagement and life cycle management. Some of our core offerings in this area include:
- Customer engagement models: As digital accessibility of health information has exploded and personalized medicine approaches continue to take hold, it is becoming increasingly important as well as complex for pharmaceutical companies to get the right information at the right time, through the right channel to both patients and providers as well as payers. We can help pharma companies map the patient journey, identify key intervention or engagement opportunities, and design a networked commercial model to engage different stakeholders along this journey.
- Integrated health strategy: Developing a strong product is no longer enough. To win in competitive markets, life sciences companies need to surround their product with value-added technology or services, developing integrated solutions that clearly improve outcomes and reduce costs. We utilize proprietary databases of key technologies and services along with rigorous analysis to help identify attractive complements to your product, and then package them into an integrated solution.
- Positioning/brand strategy: Historically, the firms with the most demonstrably safe and effective products won, but the goalposts have shifted. Today, companies need to position their products to appeal to cost-conscious, outcomes-focused payers and providers. We help clients understand the inefficiencies and unmet needs in the market and then help them build an evidence base and articulate the value of their products in a clear and compelling way.
- Launch and commercial strategy: A successful launch involves many moving parts across different functional areas. Moreover, you have only one chance to get it right. We can help you design the optimal commercialization strategy and manage every facet of your product’s launch. At every step, our Launch Planning Tool visualizes key actions and investments on a user-friendly dashboard that keeps management informed and in control.
- Product/market evaluation: Whether you are projecting revenues for your current pipeline or weighing options for assets you might acquire or markets you might invest in, an independent, unbiased and evidence-based evaluation will provide you with the confidence required to make winning decisions. We apply a disciplined approach to product evaluation that combines quantitative analyses with qualitative research and proprietary benchmarks, arriving at accurate projections that help you prioritize assets, allocate R&D investments and make rational go/no-go program decisions.
- Life cycle management: Given the time and expense of product development, and the challenge of launching new products, effective life cycle management is critical to improve the returns on your current portfolio. Through rigorous analysis, we cut through the clutter, focusing on the indications, segments and delivery adaptations most opportune for your products and building business cases that make sense from technical, market and financial perspectives.
- Pricing and market access strategy: As healthcare has moved to an outcomes-driven model, the pricing model has shifted. To optimize your market access, your pricing and access strategy must be as precisely calibrated as your products. Our team supports the entire process, market by market, helping you anticipate and respond to payer reactions and arriving at a clear strategy that pinpoints the right markets and the right pricing levels for maximum returns.
Examples of our work
To learn more about how we help our clients, please refer to these case examples: