Healthcare

MCAworks Opinion: Creating Business Value Through Therapeutic Franchise Development

Radical changes driven by industry consolidation, patient empowerment, an aging population, advances in bioscience technology, and managed care pressures are making it increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies to deliver historical levels of return on R&D and sales & marketing investments. Companies can succeed in this “pressure-cooked” environment by developing branded therapeutic franchises that transcend individual product life cycles and create the market leverage needed to maintain long-term competitive advantage.

A therapeutic franchise seeks to dominate a specific therapeutic segment (or set of segments) within broad disease states, often focusing on a group of well-defined healthcare provider targets. This typically involves bundling a comprehensive set of treatment-related products and value-added services, optimally providing target HCPs and patients with a single source to meet therapeutic and support needs.

Successful therapeutic franchise efforts offer significant benefits to both the organization and key external constituents. Internally, they can enhance organizational focus and alignment, deepen internal expertise in defined therapeutic and/or technology areas, and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of sales & marketing activities. Externally, they help create a magnet for product in-licensing and acquisition opportunities, strengthen relationships with key external constituencies (including key opinion leaders), speed uptake of new replacement and/or complementary products—and elevate the discussion with rank-and-file healthcare providers above pure “product shill” to one focused on delivering optimal patient care through a full complement of supportive products and services.

Franchise developments starts with understanding the current continuum of care and determining how emerging therapies will likely address clinical unmet needs and thereby alter the market landscape. Assessing a company’s currently marketed and pipeline products, corporate competencies, and competitive position is also critical.

Pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies that develop and execute branded therapeutic specialty franchises compete with a sustainable marketplace advantage that can insulate them from the financial whipsaw often associated with individual product life cycles, creating brand value that will pay dividends long after individual product exclusivity periods expire.

Contact Sean Folan for more information.