Pharmaceutical Companies for Outcomes & Competitive Agility

LATEST THINKING

Millions of people take medications that will not help them. As health data proliferates, it is becoming evident that clinical trial outcomes are routinely not replicated in the real world.

The pharmaceutical industry can look elsewhere for outcomes. In services. A services-founded approach enables product and medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, “Big Pharma” and emerging biotechs to improve clinical and economic outcomes. This approach can help companies deliver new value to customers and strengthen competitiveness.

True services-founded offerings may also command new revenue streams themselves. Realizing these gains demands rethinking services, transforming how they are designed, deployed and measured to fuel growth, profitability and trust.

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KEY FINDINGS

To take advantage of the benefits of a services-founded approach, Pharma players must adjust to several critical market realities:

Medicines don’t always deliver outcomes.
When data suggests that the outcomes a drug delivers do not warrant the asking price, trust among payers, providers and patients erodes. This deepens downward pressures on pricing, which will only increase in the future.

Missed opportunities hurt.
Companies can measure the value of services to tie them to reimbursement and get a positive return on investment with a medical evidence generation program. This measures services’ incremental impact in addition to the therapy by assessing impact data agnostic of the drug.

Services should be born in research & development.
Pharma must put the same design and development rigor into services as it does into products. This way, companies use real-world evidence to understand the value of a service from the earliest development stages, not after the fact.

With a services-founded strategy, the pharmaceutical industry could eliminate nearly $5 billion in wasted spend on services and reinvest the savings toward growth.

Only 40% of companies can measure the impact of their services on patient and business outcomes.

In 73% of pharmaceutical companies, multiple teams own services across brands and functions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Companies that are good candidates for a services-founded strategy should adhere to these fundamentals:

Get intentional.
Companies need to a clear commercial construct for services that addresses contributions to business performance.

Don’t go it alone.
Instead of investing in non-core capabilities, pharma companies tap into the strengths of leading players.

Shape the market.
Pharma should educate stakeholders about the value that services can deliver to pivot to outcomes-based services reimbursement.

Be digital.
Companies will be in a market with a faster “clock speed.” Digital tools and different skills than those in drug discovery are critical.

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