What Pharma Can Expect From the Rest of 2024
SENTIER is a predictive analytics company, and we need data to feed our models. Six months into 2024, we can make some assertions about where the rest of the year will take the pharmaceutical industry. The first half has made it clear that we are in a period of belt-tightening and maximization of existing asset value. The following conditions are driving this focus:
There are not many blockbuster drugs to fill the void as existing brands go off patent.
Strategies are being based on pursuing a portfolio of lower-revenue specialty and/or rare disease drugs to bridge the gap.
Tougher FDA approvals are in place.
Consequently, Pharma is implementing cost-cutting strategies and finding new ways to drive growth. On the cost-cutting front, we are all aware of the industry workforce reductions that are ongoing. Organizationally, companies are re-centralizing core functions to eliminate redundant spending.
Regarding growth, leaders are placing their bets on omnichannel and Medical Affairs. Omnichannel holds the promise of more effective and lower-cost engagement through non-personal promotion, and Medical Affairs is an untapped but potentially powerful means to further build awareness and drive adoption.
So what can we expect from the rest of 2024?
With content factories and delivery mechanisms in place, omnichannel leaders will continue to focus on creating the data and analytics necessary to optimally direct promotional spend and customer interactions in an increasingly complex environment (i.e., promo mix and next best action).
In light of workforce reductions and the need to keep cutting costs, analytic groups will be centralized to support multiple brands with common approaches and methodologies.
Portfolio strategies will be developed to best allocate reduced promotional spend across brands, ensuring the money goes where it will have the most effect.
Medical Affairs will have to quickly build their data and analytic capabilities to facilitate their emerging role as a key contributor to brand growth.
When times are good, analytics are often neglected. During the kind of retrenchment we are experiencing now, data-driven answers and the processes necessary to deliver them become a primary concern. We can expect the activities for the rest of this year to be centered in this area.
