Leading Biotechnology Company

Client situation
Leading biotechnology company was concerned that growth had slowed for an important franchise due to a perception amongst patients and their HCPs that their patient access program was not competitive with those offered by other therapeutics in the class.
Project approach and techniques
- Detailed discussions with senior management
- Discussions with broad range of industry participants, including HCPs, patient advocacy groups, pharmacists and specialty pharmacy executives
- Researched the “tangible” aspects of the current patient access program and assessed the range of perceptions regarding the “softer” aspects of the program, including the reaction of patients and HCPs to programs from our client and other manufacturers with competing therapeutics
- Contacted range of PAP vendors to assess whether incumbent vendor was providing “state-of-the-art” offerings
- Explored potential to refine and enhance existing offerings, including likely timeline and cost to implement proposed changes
Results
The project team worked with senior client management to agree on implications of project findings as to how key stakeholders viewed current patient assistance program vs. competitors. The recommendations included:
- Revised patient assistance program structure to include a “concierge-like” set of services that help address frequent patient issues
- Short list of alternative vendors
- New features and refinements used by other patient assistance programs that management may consider for its products
- Resource-loaded implementation plan with proposed milestones
- Preliminary recommendations on communication strategy and patient-focused message for review and refinement by outside ad agency
The client adopted the recommended changes to their current patient assistance program. Since implementation, the product’s multi-year decline in market share has reversed.