Back in 2003, drugs from large pharma companies made up 36% of the late-stage R&D pipeline. By 2018, that share had fallen by about half. Meanwhile, the number of companies launching their first drug during the decade preceding 2018 more than tripled. These data are astonishing, given the perception that Big Pharma is the main driver of biopharma innovation. Not anymore.
Despite this, most of the trade chatter around launch excellence assumes the launcher is big. Yet, we know small-to-mid-sized pharma launches face a unique set of challenges. Based on interviews with EVERSANA INTOUCH leaders and clients, we identified four key areas where small-to-mid-sized pharmas can face more difficult terrain than their larger peers:
- Access to Insights
- Competitive Pressures
- Budget Preservation
- Timeline Pressures
Facing any of these challenges is hard enough; many small-to-mid-sized pharmas face all of them during a launch. In this POV, we identify practical, exciting ideas that smaller launchers should use to address these challenges. First, we’ll explore why these four challenges, in particular, deserve so much attention.