Post 3: Thriving Amid Intensifying Competition and Complexity

The commercial launch environment has become significantly more crowded and complex, upping the stakes for every new product. Pharmaceutical companies will be launching more new therapies in the coming years than ever before, which means more competitors vying for the same physicians, patients, and formulary positions. Even before the recent explosion of innovation, a large share of drug launches underperformed – about 40% of launches from 2009–2017 failed to meet their two-year sales forecasts. More recent analyses indicate roughly one-third (or more) of new launches still miss expectations. Companies invest enormous resources (often hundreds of millions of dollars) in the lead-up to a launch, yet the majority of drugs don’t achieve the hoped-for uptake. In short, the traditional launch model has been yielding inconsistent results, and the margin for error is shrinking.

Why is this happening? One reason is the intensifying competition and shorter windows of market opportunity. Many therapeutic areas are crowded with multiple new entrants (consider oncology or rare diseases, where each success spurs others to develop competing therapies). Pricing pressures and faster follow-on competition (including biosimilars and generics) mean a new drug has less time to establish itself. Policy changes like the Inflation Reduction Act in the US will also shorten the revenue window for many drugs by introducing price negotiations earlier in a product’s life. All of these factors create a high-pressure launch environment where companies must execute flawlessly and adapt quickly. A successful launch today must overcome a series of barriers: intensifying competition, pricing and access hurdles, and rising stakeholder expectations – on top of any curveballs like supply chain issues or regulatory delays. It’s a far cry from the “set piece” launches of decades past. Now, teams must be ready to continuously course-correct and outmaneuver both market challenges and agile competitors in real time.

Given this reality, reinventing the launch model also means rethinking how organizations prepare and operate during launch. Agility and cross-functional coordination are paramount. Companies are establishing launch “war rooms” or central program offices that bring together data from the field and enable rapid decision-making across sales, marketing, medical, and supply chain functions. They’re empowering local teams to tailor tactics to on-the-ground feedback while maintaining a unified strategic direction from the center. In some cases, firms are even exploring new partnership models – for example, working with specialized commercialization partners to launch faster and more leanly. There are service providers now offering end-to-end launch support, allowing smaller biotech companies to tap into an existing commercial infrastructure rather than build their own from scratch. This kind of approach can bring a drug to market at a fraction of the cost of a traditional in-house launch. Whether in-house or via partners, the common thread is a need for flexibility, speed, and the ability to integrate diverse expertise (medical, commercial, analytical) to respond to challenges on the fly.

How East Harriet Advisors can help: Our team excels in orchestrating complex launches and instilling the kind of agile execution needed for today’s environment. We’ve acted as embedded launch leaders for clients facing high-stakes situations, ensuring nothing is left to chance. For example, we served as the global launch lead for a blockbuster vaccine at a large pharmaceutical company, a multi-year engagement where the client had to coordinate activities across numerous functions and countries. We established a rigorous launch readiness process with mission-critical stage gates from T-36 months pre-launch all the way through launch +6 months. This included setting up a governance structure and a cadence of cross-functional meetings to keep everyone in sync. We also developed an onboarding and alignment program so that both global teams and country teams were working from the same playbook and timeline. The payoff was tremendous: the highly coordinated effort meant all key launch tasks (regulatory, medical, marketing, supply) were completed on or ahead of schedule, leading to timely approvals and guideline recommendations (e.g. ACIP in the US) and a smooth product rollout. The vaccine’s launch ultimately exceeded its forecasted revenues and became a strong performer in a very competitive market. In essence, by applying disciplined project management and fostering organization-wide agility, we helped the client beat the odds in a space where many others stumble.

In another case, a top-10 pharma client was preparing to launch a first-in-class therapy in a rare hematology area – a scenario where competitive response would be fierce once our client’s product hit the market. East Harriet Advisors was brought in to run a competitive strategy wargaming workshop to inform the launch planning. We gathered a comprehensive fact base on the market and potential competitor moves, then facilitated war-game sessions with the global launch team (spanning medical, marketing, market access, etc.). The exercise allowed the team to simulate “if-then” scenarios – how they would react if a competitor discounted aggressively, or how to capitalize if a rival’s trial got delayed – and to stress-test their strategy and budget against these scenarios. Coming out of the workshops, we helped synthesize the findings into concrete action plans for each function and updated the global launch plan accordingly. The franchise leadership gained confidence that they weren’t flying blind – they had playbooks ready for various competitive situations. The client was highly satisfied and even re-engaged us for follow-on support as the launch moved forward.

These examples underscore a key point: a reinvented launch model is proactive, not reactive. It combines structured, advance planning with the nimbleness to adjust as conditions change. East Harriet Advisors brings deep experience in building these capabilities. We act as a force multiplier for your launch team – whether by setting up a “launch command center,” facilitating cross-functional alignment, or developing contingency plans to outsmart the competition. Our case studies show that with the right approach, companies can thrive even amid complexity: launches can be on-time, on-target, and even outperform expectations despite the headwinds.

Reinforcing the central thesis: The commercial launch model needs to be reinvented now – because the world around it has changed. HCP engagement is now digital and personalized; stakeholders demand clear value; the market is more crowded and unforgiving. By addressing these three forces head-on – investing in digital engagement and data analytics, adopting a stakeholder-centric mindset, and instilling agile, competitive launch execution – organizations can dramatically improve their launch success rates. East Harriet Advisors is here to help life science companies make this transformation. With our hands-on expertise and proven frameworks, we partner with clients to reinvent their launch approach and deliver results when it matters most. In this new era, those who adapt will win, and we ensure our clients are among the winners, time and again.