- Client: Global biopharmaceutical company
- Therapy Area: Infectious diseases
- Geographical Scope: Global
Client Challenge
A global pharmaceutical company had progressed its novel Gram-negative antibiotic into late-stage clinical trials. To support commercial planning and internal governance processes, the client required a detailed bottom-up product forecast underpinned by robust independently validated assumptions. groupH was recruited to build the forecast model and also to conduct the detailed qualitative & quantitative market research that would generate the supporting assumptions.
groupH Approach
We quickly recognized that there were two key challenges in this area: (1) the huge geographical differences in antimicrobial resistance patterns and infection control / treatment paradigms & (2) the inherent and widely acknowledged difficulty predicting how antimicrobial resistance might evolve. In order to address these issues we started with a comprehensive deep-dive qual assignment designed to gather views from the leading microbiologists and infectious disease specialists in 25 countries across the EU, Latin America and Asia Pacific. This focused on understanding current and future resistance trends for key Gram-negative pathogens, and to understand individual country initiatives that might impact these trends. After discussions with the core team, these future resistance rates were interpreted for use within the forecast model.
We then conducted an in-depth quantitative demand assessment on previously identified treatable patient segments (i.e. patients with suspected resistant Gram-negative infections). The approach was as follows:
- Understand the level of unmet need for new agents for specific pathogens at different infection sites
- Determine market share held by existing drugs and combination regimens
- Assess the potential impact of Competitor X, launching before our target product, using preference shares and attribute scores
- Assess the potential impact of our Product Y using the same methodology, but assuming Product X was available
- Assess impact of Competitor Z, launching after our Product Y.
This detailed on-line survey was followed up with a series of TAE qualitative interviews to present key findings from the demand research and to understand better their expected positioning of each new product in the market. This helped with our interpretation of the quantitative data for the product’s commercial forecast.
We interpreted results of the demand study into market share assumptions for the new product for each patient segment, tempering the preference share data with unmet needs analysis and the attribute scoring methodology. A final working meeting was held to present and discuss the findings to provide confidence in the market share assumptions being included in the global forecast model.
Impact
This work was instrumental in developing the clients understanding of the infection landscape in its key territories and the opportunity for its novel antibiotic therein. The deep insights generated ensured that we could provide the client with a robust independently-validated country-specific forecast model suitable for launch planning purposes. Moreover, this research significantly altered the client’s understanding of its two key competitor products – one was discovered to be much less of a threat while the other a much greater threat – which had a large impact on the product’s launch strategy.
“This huge amount of research was absolutely fundamental in shaping the way our commercial team viewed the infection landscape and especially the competitive landscape. The deep insights generated gave our commercial team and the leadership confidence in our forecast and ultimately our launch strategy.
I was very impressed at how quickly groupH understood the complexity of the infection space and all the subtleties that define the area. Their proposal was first class and all the projects executed on time and on budget. They were a delight to work with, very responsive and not afraid to challenge us when required. Their experience really shone through.”
