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Transcript:
MARAH: Hello. I’m Marah Walsh from PharmaVOICE. Welcome to the PharmaVOICE Webcast Network and this episode of the Industry Vision.
I’m here today with Rob Harold, Senior Principal at IMS.
Welcome, Rob, and thank you for joining us.
ROB: Hello, Marah, it’s a pleasure to be here.
MARAH: Today, our conversation is going to focus on key aspects of the dynamic market and new considerations for pharmaceutical professionals.
How are you defining the dynamic market, Rob?
ROB: First, we describe the dynamic market as the prescribing at the patient and prescriber level; those new therapy starts, product switches and add on therapies. The static market is really refill prescriptions.
Our research shows that 10% of the Rx market is dynamic, while 90% remains static.
MARAH: Why is the dynamic market an important area of focus?
ROB: The dynamic market provides for a deeper understanding of patient flow, patient needs in greater detail. New prescriptions and total prescriptions really are no longer sufficient. The dynamic market allows companies to understand what proportions of patients represent new to therapy starts versus switch or add.
Our research shows that 60% of the dynamic market is driven by new therapy starts, 30% from product switches, with 10% from add on therapy. Gaining greater clarity on how competitors are performing in these segments is critical. It is important to understanding your brand’s potential, for optimizing brand planning, marketing sales, managed market execution and performance management.
MARAH: How do companies measure performance?
ROB: The traditional metrics of TRX and NRX are typically used to measure performance; of course, in addition to sales performance.
Total prescriptions and new prescriptions really only offer a one dimensional perspective. Without the granularity offered by the new to brand metric, companies will miss the opportunity to gain a multidimensional view of patient and prescribing dynamics.
MARAH: How easy it for companies to take this type of approach and what are the benefits?
ROB: It’s actually quite easy. This approach is possible via anonymized patient level data, easily accessible and robust enough at the national and physician levels and across all sales geographies. By focusing on the dynamic market, companies can identify performance gaps, shed light on competitive threats and reveal growth opportunities. Companies can reduce or reallocate their existing promotional investment that was inefficiently deployed to customers in the static market; that’s the repeat prescription market. Companies can increase ROI by allocating non-personal promotion investment towards those prescribers most active in the dynamic market.
MARAH: Are companies typically over or underestimating the market that’s really in play, and by how much?
ROB: Well if a company is estimating its brand potential using primarily total prescription and new prescription volume and share, then it is quite possible that they could be over or underestimating the size of the available patient pool.
More importantly, they would be missing the critical understanding the breakdown of the dynamic market, the available patient pool and source of patients, new, switch or add.
MARAH: What metrics should companies incorporate in brand planning? Do these change as the focus shifts to field force execution?
ROB: Well the traditional metrics of total prescriptions and new prescriptions still have a role in brand planning.
The new to brand metric allows for a more comprehensive view of the market by isolating patients and prescribers in the dynamic market. They should incorporate continuing on brand metric to monitor performance of the brand in the static market, which will help inform strategies and tactics to ensure adherence.
MARAH: Rob, are many companies analyzing the dynamic market today?
ROB: Our research indicates that although many companies have begun to use anonymized patient level data, we have found that it is often not used throughout the entire commercial organization. This indicates a further opportunity to use this approach to gain a better alignment between marketing and sales, which will ultimately drive greater market share and improve brand performance.
MARAH: What are the risks to companies who aren’t looking at the dynamic portion of the market?
ROB: There are many risks. Those companies that are not looking at the dynamic market may lack a deep understanding of patient and prescribing dynamics, leading to limited insights into really understanding the brand’s potential and not being able to identify competitive pressures or impacts of market events.
In addition, companies will have a limited view of performance gaps, and it would be difficult to understand the impact of promotional efforts and messaging.
Finally, without the focus on the dynamic market, companies will have a limited ability to align the commercial organization, sales, marketing, managed markets around common objectives, strategies and tactics.
MARAH: Thanks Rob. You’ve given our viewers a lot to think about. Thanks a lot for being with us today.
ROB: It was my pleasure.
MARAH: There is a lot more to cover on this topic, and you can access the entire interview at www.IMShealth.com/lifelink.
Check out other interviews in our special marketing excellence series, which features new analysis from IMS and covers additional topics related to the new product launches and inline brands.
Thanks again for joining us on this episode of the Industry Vision.
Have a great day.
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