NaviSync: 2021
NaviSync LLC
445 South Street
Morristown, NJ 07960
Telephone
973-845-9970
Website
navisyncllc.com
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 9
Active business clients 17
Brands by 2020 sales
Brand-product accounts held 35
$25 million or less 3
$25 million-$50 million 1
$50 million-$100 million 3
$100 million-$500 million 5
$500 million-$1 billion 5
$1 billion or more 6
Products not yet approved/launched 12
SERVICES MIX
Managed markets marketing (print, digital, interactive, personal, and non-personal) 55%
Patient support programs 25%
Market access corporate training 10%
Market research and data analytics 10%
CLIENT ROSTER
Aeglea
Alkermes
Allergan
Arbor
Bayer
Boehringer Ingelheim
Insulet
Myovant
Novo Nordisk
Pacira
Regeneron
Regeneron/Sanofi-Genzyme
Sol-Gel
Summit Therapeutics
Sunovion
Ultragenyx
Since its founding in 2013, NaviSync has grown from a small managed care shop to a full-service managed markets agency. From an original group of 10, the company has exploded into a staff of more than 70 due to what leaders characterize as an innovative approach to market access, and embracing AOR and project accounts while gaining a substantial foothold in patient support services. The agency is led by COO and Managing Partner Bill Kelly, Executive Creative Director and Partner Michael Son, Executive VP, Client Services Greg Condit, and Executive VP Chief Strategy Officer Doug Wynn. These executives say the NaviSync team has built a thriving independent organization.
According to management, leveraging the traditional agency model and augmenting with strategic consultants has allowed NaviSync to provide proven solutions to customers while avoiding costly overhead. The result has been seven consecutive years of growth, the addition of a sister agency, PRYME, focusing on patient and HCP promotion, and incorporation under a new holding company, NPG Health.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
NaviSync executives say they began 2020 optimistic for continued growth – which the agency found with a 25 percent increase in business, despite moving into a completely virtual environment in March. The surge in business led NaviSync to hire 12 additional employees across all departments, bucking a trend of contraction among healthcare agencies. “We believe our growth even during challenging times is a testament to our clients’ vision and continued perseverance to offer patients access to the best healthcare and our staff’s dedication to make that happen,” Condit observes.
On the client front, NaviSync increased its foothold at Bayer, growing its disease-state market access training business as well as serving as AOR for an oral treatment for TRK fusion cancer. The agency continues to prepare for the launch of a chronic kidney disease treatment that was granted priority FDA review in January.
NaviSync has further cemented its relationship with Regeneron, partnering with the biotechnology company across its portfolio. The Eylea franchise saw expanded growth in 2020, including a payer website to help facilitate value-based decision making and successfully defend against off-label competitors and a new market entrant, management says. Elsewhere, NaviSync supported the Regeneron/Sanofi-Genzyme alliance with a prefilled pen launch for a dermatologic therapy and multiple label updates for the oncology franchise.
Growth has been ongoing across multiple other accounts, including long-standing partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim, Novo Nordisk, and Ultragenyx, while new relationships with Sol-Gel, Abbvie, Sanofi, Myovant, and Insulet, among others, have the agency optimistic about further expansion.
According to agency leaders, perhaps the high point of the year for NaviSync was having NPG Health named one of NJ.com’s Top Places to Work in 2020. This award was particularly special given that it is open to all industries in New Jersey. Bill Kelly explains, “For agency leadership this award is very special because it is decided upon by our staff and proves that what we have created is a very positive work environment and gratifying career path for our employees.” The employee-focused culture has been a sustained differentiating factor for NaviSync in both staffing and employee retention, agency executives say.
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
NaviSync is the flagship agency for NPG Health, an independently owned life sciences communication firm focused on the needs, challenges, and solutions of payers, HCPs, and patients. NPG Health also includes PRYME Agency, focused on provider and patient promotion, which began in 2018. Both agencies are managed by Kelly and Michael Son.
NaviSync leaders believe that successful market access requires a nuanced understanding of who’s making the decisions, as well as a network of experts immersed in an ever-changing healthcare marketplace. To that end, NaviSync executives say the agency takes a holistic approach to understanding all of the key stakeholders, internal and external, and channels that impact a product’s access. Primary areas of expertise include strategic guidance, market research, tactical solutions, and training. Each of these is delivered by an experienced team taking a hands-on approach and backed by a senior team to vet each deliverable for medical accuracy and strategic focus. “At NaviSync, our core capabilities are focused within four key categories. This focus allows us to be experts within each and to provide the highest level of execution, for our clients anywhere within their product’s lifecycle,” Condit says.
FUTURE PLANS
The world of market access has dramatically shifted to a focus on quantified value,” management says. “Client demand has continued to drive the need for HEOR and data that demonstrate to payers that a therapy can help support better outcomes in a way that justifies cost.”
In tandem with this, NaviSync has embraced its ability to support clients with data and analytics. The company has increased its relationship with existing strategic partners and data platform purchases. To support this, additional market research, data analysis, and training experts have been hired within the NPG Health network. NaviSync continues to evaluate companies that align to its vision and may further assist in strengthening its offerings, helping to stay ahead of market trends and offer best-in-class services for its customers.
“Our clients need to bring their message and products to market very quickly and we want to be the partner that brings creativity and innovation for best-in-class solutions,” Son says.
While the post-pandemic world may be here to stay, NaviSync leaders say they will continue to broaden the agency’s existing training capabilities to allow clients and their customers to better understand product offerings, trends in managed care, and the importance of shared data through digital health solutions and technology, including artificial intelligence, in an environment where virtual engagement will continue to grow.
(left to right) Greg Condit, executive VP, client services; Bill Kelly, managing partner and COO; Alexandra Venditte, VP, project management; Michael Son, partner and executive creative officer; Doug Wynn, executive VP, chief strategy officer; Duina Llanes, director, human resources; Jim Ciolek, managing partner and CFO; Jennifer Breaugh, VP, client services
PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP
Improving health is not limited to treating a disease or prescribing a therapy, it starts in the community with an understanding that we all have a shared purpose,” Kelly says. In addition to the company’s ongoing Thanksgiving food drive and Christmas gift campaign, NaviSync continues to expand its charitable efforts both internally and in partnership with clients.
As part of a long-standing relationship with the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the NaviSync team took part in Virtual Moving Day in October. The company also helped Sunovion promote Epilepsy Awareness Day, creating a campaign to foster increased visibility around the need for better treatment and support for patients with epilepsy and their families.
