Commercial modelling and in-depth primary research help us to develop a comprehensive case.
Our insights are based on trusted relationships with KOLs and payers and our experience in analysing clinical and commercial data. The commercial value of an opportunity depends equally on understanding both clinical and market access environment in equal measure and as early as possible during the clinical development process.
The better we understand the business question you need to address, the better we can tailor our work to answer that question. Therefore every groupH assignment starts with a discussion to your business needs before we start presenting any research options. We help our clients in the pharmaceuticals and biotech sectors answer business critical questions such as:
What is the potential opportunity of a new product / market / disease area?
Research to build disease area insights typically comes up in the context of licensing decision or exploration of new indications. At groupH, we start by developing a “straw man” structure of the key components which will drive understanding of the opportunity such as disease background, epidemiology, diagnosis, current therapies and unmet need and an exploration of the future landscape.
Our initial focus is to use existing available information from secondary sources and internal client resources. This enables us to identify information gaps and work with you to prioritise these. We then recommend and carry out highly targeted expert discussions to address the gaps. This groundwork enables us to develop an initial assessment of the scale of the opportunity. If it warrants further investigation, we are often retained to carry out more in depth assessments.
How is the market evolving? What is driving this change? What futures do we need to prepare for?
Whether you are looking to develop your R&D strategy, or refine your Target Product Profile (TPP) or product positioning, it is vital to future proof your thinking. In a “VUCA world” where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are the norm and not the exception, identifying and thinking through different scenarios for how the future could evolve is critical.
At groupH, we have significant experience helping clients plan more confidently by researching and developing realistic market scenarios and understanding what drivers will need to be in place for these scenarios to be realised. Facilitated meetings build alignment, develop consensus and make decisions. Ultimately, we help you explore your role in these alternative worlds to identify opportunities and manage risks.
Where is the greatest unmet need? How can our product be differentiated?
The groupH team can help you identify where your products can make the greatest difference to inform an optimal target product profile and positioning. Our broad research expertise means we can call on a blend of tools including patient bulletin boards to share experiences and draw out unmet needs as well as the more traditional quant surveys, focus groups and 1:1 interviews.
Targeting different stakeholders such as physician, patient and payer can really enhance the richness of the unmet need insights by bringing different perspectives. Exploring the patient journey, drivers of treatment choice and market change, we can better understand how decisions are made. This allows us to identify ways to improve the experience for both physicians and patients.
We only use experienced moderators and carefully developed profiles to get beyond the obvious and identify the differentiation that really matters to your customers. We use various techniques to elicit the insights and clearly understand opportunities e.g. ranking exercises and SIMALTO. Ultimately, we pull it all together into insights and recommendations which can then be presented and used internally.
Who will emerge as new competitors? How do we plan for this?
Understanding how your competitor landscape is evolving is a critical consideration when planning your product or therapeutic area’s future. At groupH, we start by conducting thorough reviews of competitors’ pipelines using clinical data sources to establish the future competitor landscape.
Our deep scientific and medical expertise is an asset in this evaluation. This provides the platform for a range of competitor simulations will help you understand the competitive landscape. These highly engaging workshops are led by facilitators skilled at putting you in your competitors’ shoes. So, you have the opportunity to play out how different potential competitors could behave and act offer an ideal platform for developing strategies to mitigate competitive threats.
What evidence will my customers (physicians, payers, patients) require?
In order to maximise the success of your early to mid-stage clinical asset, it is vital to identify upfront the study results that your customers are going to want to see. For example, physicians will want certain data to give them the assurances they need to prescribe and payers may well want different information in order to reimburse your product. This requires a diligent, thorough and robust approach to the research and assessment.
Addressing multiple stakeholders is key, so the first step is to use a group research approach to get all the ideas out and shared. From here a more structured validation of those ideas is required to determine which evidence is critical to engage stakeholders. Often in these situations, groupH will propose a moderator assisted quant survey. This involves developing a structured ‘quant’ style guide but conducting it with moderator assistance. This methodology gives the opportunity to have a direct line of sight between the “what” and the “why.”
How do we integrate Pricing & Reimbursement into our development and forecasting at an early stage?
Pricing and reimbursement considerations are now clearly established as a key component in the Target Product Profile and early clinical trial development. Building an understanding of the Payers’ needs and, crucially, the evidence they need to see to support those needs has given rise to a heightened interest in Payer insights earlier in the product development cycle. groupH has developed a strong network of payers which it calls upon to participate in high level Payer Advisory Boards. These focus on market access strategies through to local payer decision-making. Our efforts to build credibility and engage with these stakeholders over many years means that groupH has developed the in house expertise to engage with Payers and address these needs. We then carry forward these insights to inform an overall opportunity assessment and clinical trial plans.
