The path from drug development to patient access is complex. Without a strong market access strategy, even the most innovative therapies can struggle to reach the patients who need them.
Market Access Strategy Defined
A market access strategy not only ensures treatment availability to patients; it enables affordability and timely fulfillment. It involves demonstrating clinical and economic value, negotiating with healthcare access stakeholders, and partnering with patient advocacy groups.
Both McKinsey and Deloitte agree a well-executed market access strategy can determine a drug’s success or failure. While it may seem like a task for the market access team alone, the reality is it requires a shift in mindset. Success depends on cross-functional collaboration across multiple teams and departments. Here are five key ingredients life sciences companies need to get it right.
- Early and Ongoing Engagement with Payers
Life sciences companies need to engage with payers early and often to ensure that they understand the product’s value and the unmet needs it addresses. Teams also need to invest time and resources into understanding payer needs and preferences, and then tailor their messages and value propositions to meet those needs. Building relationships with payers can take time, so it’s important to start early and maintain ongoing communication to ensure that payers are informed about the product’s development and value.
- Robust Real-World Evidence
Clinical trials are important, but real-world evidence (RWE) is equally crucial. RWE can demonstrate the safety and efficacy of a product in real-world settings, which is important to payers who want to know how a drug will perform in the real world. RWE can also provide valuable insights into patient preferences, treatment patterns, and outcomes, which can help companies tailor their market access strategies and messaging. Life sciences companies should invest in robust RWE studies to support their market access strategy.
- Patient-Centered Approach
A patient-centered approach means understanding the needs and preferences of patients, the healthcare providers who treat them, as well as the patient advocacy groups who support them. This includes understanding patient populations, treatment pathways, and the patient journey. By taking a patient-centered approach, companies can tailor their messaging to resonate with patients and providers and ensure that their products are accessible and affordable.
- Clear Value Proposition
A clear and compelling value proposition is essential for any product seeking to gain market access. The value proposition should make a clear case for how the product tackles an unresolved medical challenge, reduces overall healthcare costs, and improves patient outcomes. Additionally, it should be supported by robust clinical and economic evidence that demonstrates the product’s safety, efficacy, and value. A clear value proposition is essential for gaining the attention and interest of payers, providers, and patients and can be used as the foundation for pricing and reimbursement negotiations.
- Cross-functional Collaboration
An effective market access strategy requires cross-functional collaboration across multiple teams and departments within a company. Collaboration between clinical development, commercial, compliance, pricing, and HEOR teams is critical to ensuring the product’s value proposition is aligned with regulatory requirements, and the needs of payers, providers, and patients.
A successful market access strategy involves more than just demonstrating clinical and economic evidence, negotiating with healthcare access stakeholders, and ensuring affordable and timely product fulfillment for appropriate patients. By leveraging five additional key ingredients – early and ongoing engagement with payers, robust real-world evidence, a patient-centered approach, a clear value proposition, and cross-functional collaboration – life sciences companies can improve their chances of launching a product successfully and ensuring that it reaches the patients who need it.