Many of our readers may be old enough to remember the bad old days of road tripping: the days before Google Maps and GPS (this writer certainly is!). One upside was that we all kept pretty detailed road maps in our heads – we could accurately recall routes and journeys, and failing that, we could always navigate using road signs and paper maps. But what happened when we encountered a road closure, a line of traffic, or an accident, and had to divert from our predetermined course? Well, to misquote Robert Burns, that’s when our best-laid plans went awry.
Today, pharmaceutical launches are a lot like road trips without the assistance of live traffic updates and route closures. Teams might have a destination in mind and even a vague idea of how to get there, but if they encounter any obstructions en route, the whole endeavor risks falling apart. What if there really was a launch GPS pharma teams could use to not only track and plan their journey to launch, but agilely pivot their strategies as changing market forces dictate?
Why does pharma need a launch GPS?
We largely got by in the days before GPS and Google Maps. Sure, people got lost and delayed sometimes, but they ultimately made it to their destinations. Perhaps pharmaceutical launches are the same, and we can just persevere with a low-tech approach? Until we’re presented with a tech-enabled alternative, it’s often hard to tell exactly what we’re missing. Now that the technology is available, practically everyone uses a GPS if they’re navigating somewhere new. The launch process is the same.
Pharma companies may be ‘getting by’ without a launch GPS, but launches are getting lost, they are getting delayed, and they are failing to reach their destinations. In a new report by Impatient Health titled LAUNCH: RELAUNCHED The Rise of Real-Time Market Intelligence, founder and CEO Paul Simms describes the current approach to pharma launch as a “tragic waste of ambition.” Further, the same report states that “many decisions made by senior managers at launch are often ill-informed and, seemingly, random” – kind of like a driver taking an arbitrary diversion when confronted with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The authors of the Impatient Health report identify five fundamental structural challenges that act as impediments to launch success:
- A lack of early integration – Impatient’s report found that critical data and insights are rarely shared cross-functionally between medical and commercial teams – and even when they are, it’s often too late to drive meaningful impact.
- Inadequate data management – According to McKinsey, 60% of pharma executives face challenges managing data from different sources and across different functions. A single source of truth is essential for turning fragmented data into actionable intelligence.
- Rigid strategies – Once pharma teams decide on a strategy, they rarely deviate from it. In fact, Impatient Health found that just 37% of industry respondents agreed that changes in strategy occurred in more than half of launches. Worse still, many pharma teams barely strategize at all.
- A gap in critical skills – Skills gaps – including an inability to derive actionable insights from complex and/or fragmented data, and ensuring that strategies actually utilize those insights – remain impediments to launch excellence.
- A rinse-and-repeat mindset – Even if teams successfully generate insights, they’re rarely applied. Pharma teams tend to favor launch strategies that are tried and trusted – although as Impatient Health points out, not tested.
As these structural challenges show, the journey to launch is rarely a smooth one. There are dead ends and roadblocks, unexpected diversions and lengthy delays. The role of the launch GPS is not to eliminate these headaches – rather, to find alternative paths to success when your preconceived route hits a dead end or no longer leads where you need to go.
What is a launch GPS?
“Fed up with trying to navigate the road ahead by looking in the rearview mirror, the executives we spoke to said they want something akin to a Launch GPS: an AI-powered tool that processes and then directs a diverse range of cross-functional field insights in real time.” –Impatient Health
Think of the launch GPS as pharma’s version of a dashboard-mounted navigation system – but instead of directions, it delivers a full view of stakeholder input, market signals, and internal knowledge, all in one place. It’s a launch intelligence platform built to guide smarter, faster decisions every step of the way. However, it should come as no surprise to anyone that in the complex world of pharma, it’s not quite as simple as asking Google to navigate to your destination of choice. The output you get from the technology will only ever be as good as what you put into it, which is why teams must first develop and adopt a set of aligned processes that help to ensure their launch GPS navigates a path to success.
A cross-functional framework for insights governance
Today, it’s more common to find commercial and medical teams working at cross purposes than working cross-functionally. Breaking down interdepartmental silos starts with defining business questions and objectives that serve the overarching launch strategy. These questions and objectives must be shared between departments to ensure an aligned insights gathering process. By creating a shared framework for insights governance, teams can work together to gather insights capable of influencing, challenging, or refining strategy.
A collaborative mindset
“Launch isn’t just a commercial activity, it’s one that needs to include the whole company.” –Head of Launch Excellence, large pharma company, via Impatient Health
The Impatient Health report describes how medical teams can assume a more strategic role pre-, peri-, and post-launch – “getting the engines spinning early” by gathering key intelligence on audience and product understanding. Commercial teams can both contribute to this data gathering process and help to ensure that the insights gathered are relevant to their needs. This collaborative mindset keeps all departments aligned under a shared strategy, and guarantees that the launch GPS is being fed with accurate, relevant, and actionable information.
A consistent feed of data and insights
Modern GPS systems rely on a constant stream of data. It’s not enough to simply enter your current location and your preferred destination – they also need to understand the time of day, the exact position of your vehicle minute-by-minute, current traffic conditions, road closures and accidents, etc. They can also be influenced by your own preferences – whether you want to avoid toll roads, or take the scenic route for instance. Your launch GPS is the same. It’s not enough to simply feed the AI with medical insights and call it good. It needs to understand a far broader context to help your team achieve launch success – real-world evidence (RWE), competitor and market intelligence, claims and clinical trial data, and much more. It also requires a bespoke guiding framework aligned to your overarching strategy – the launch GPS equivalent of your ultimate destination. And while AI powers the platform, it’s our human expertise that translates complex intelligence into clear direction – ensuring every insight drives real, strategic movement.
The idea of the launch GPS is a new way of looking at a more established set of processes and technologies that can help pharma teams achieve launch success in an increasingly challenging market. To understand more about the concept, read the Impatient Health report LAUNCH: RELAUNCHED The Rise of Real-Time Market Intelligence in full. Or, if you’re ready to experience the power of the launch GPS for yourself, schedule a demo of Within3’s Launch Intelligence Platform today.
