Business strategists: a key differentiator for pharma market access teams

Business strategists: a key differentiator for pharma market access teams

By Cora Meese and Jillian Cunningham, Entrée Health

As market access grows more complex, agencies supporting market access teams are increasingly deploying a new type of expert to be effective strategic partners to manufacturer clients — the business strategist.

In the last few years, manufacturers have come to see their agency’s business strategist as an extension of their team, an essential driver of client satisfaction, and someone they rely on to advocate for what matters most to them. At our agency, we assign a business strategist to each pharma client to provide strategic perspective cross-functionally.

This article details how a business strategist can benefit market access teams, what to look for in a good business strategist, and how and when pharma should engage with a business strategist.

Market access teams rely on business strategists to:

• Set and stick to a strategy. Great business strategists will encourage manufacturers to think about brand goals and business challenges differently. They will pressure test plans and ask tough questions to ensure the strategy is solid, actionable, and measurable. An established strategy should be a guide stick to be considered at each stage of tactical execution, not a list of tactics to achieve.

  Competitor moves, new and exciting tactical options, harsh field feedback, and trendy buzzworthy topics can present opportunities or pose risks to solid strategic execution.  A business strategist will encourage pauses to assess the latest hot topic before reacting or engaging. It’s always important to make sure information is relevant to a specific brand’s strategy and to utilize it in a way that furthers pre-determined goals.

• See another angle. Payer experts know payers, clinical experts know science, and commercial experts know how to bring products to market successfully. But business strategists are a different type of expert, a hybrid of those three. They look at the bigger picture, anticipate and diagnose issues, see potential opportunities, and engage the right subject matter expert at the right time.
• Strengthen the market access team. Pharma marketers often rotate through roles to gain broader experience. When a seasoned marketer without market access experience — or a market access expert without marketing experience — takes on a market access marketing role, a business strategist can help expedite their learning with education and guidance behind the scenes.
• Save money. Bringing in a business strategist early — when R&D options are under evaluation — can provide a different perspective on trial design considerations. We’ve seen several large manufacturers potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars by adjusting R&D plans to make the resulting data more commercially viable. A business strategist will consider ROI and prioritization of tactics to help dedicate budget to the right resources at the right time.
• Drive efficiencies. Exceeding client expectations has always been paramount. However, as market pressures have increased, timelines have decreased, creating a demand for market access agency partners who can hit the ground running as quickly as possible. As embedded internal advocates, business strategists help account teams understand manufacturer needs and perspectives, fostering an environment where expectations can be met faster than ever.

Effective market access business strategists have distinct qualifications:

• Biopharma manufacturer experience, including deep understanding of P&L management, gross to net levers, and both professional and B2B marketing.
• The right experience to match specific product lifecycle stages, ranging from early involvement with R&D program evaluations through loss of exclusivity management with generic/biosimilar market entrants.
• Intellectual curiosity, organizational savvy, and a willingness to respectfully dissent for the good of the brand.
• The tenacity to energize and inspire market access teams to push for greatness. Personalities matter, and someone who is a good team fit will be most effective.
• A commitment to true patient-centricity.

Market access teams engage their business strategists when they want to:

• Ensure they’re solving the right issue. Business strategists can help identify the real problem and keep the team focused accordingly.
• Leverage different perspectives when a problem feels too large to tackle.
• Validate that the right tactics are planned at the right time.
• Identify new approaches when brands and budgets are under pressure from leadership.
• Initiate planning for new products or indications.
• Develop pivot strategies when unanticipated market events arise.

For some manufacturers, a business strategist who is engaged directly in all account activity is the right fit; for others, a business strategist who works behind the scenes to provide perspective and strategic guidance is enough. Either way, when engaged correctly, the right business strategist can be a true differentiator for brands entering and evolving in the market. In fact, market access teams working without business strategists today may find themselves at a strategic disadvantage, struggling to meet the needs of all stakeholders while staying ahead of regulatory and marketplace changes.

Cora Meese, EVP, director of growth and account services, Entrée Health, has spent most of her career in market access. Her extensive knowledge of strategic communications platforms, product launches, reimbursement support, training initiatives, and HEOR planning and execution allows her team to bring market access solutions to clients, delivering within both scope and budget and going above and beyond expectations. Connect with Cora.

Jillian Cunningham, SVP, director of business strategy, Entrée Health, has 16+ years of experience in the biopharma industry, including 14 years on the manufacturer side. She has navigated matrixed environments, found paths forward when internal incentives were not aligned, and developed successful market access strategies for brands at all phases of the lifecycle. Jillian’s blend of pharma plus agency experience, along with her unique style of strategic dissent, helps teams develop and execute winning business strategies. Connect with Jillian.