3 Ways Emerging Biotech and Pharma Leaders Can Use Data to Level the Playing Field

Data shows that 70% of key opinion leaders (KOLs) only engage with one biopharma, making it difficult for emerging companies to compete with established industry leaders. ADVANZ PHARMA and Idorsia share how you can level the playing field using deep KOL data to support product launches, enter new therapy areas, and optimize congress strategies.

Mitigate launch risk through early KOL engagement

Over a third of all drugs fail to meet market expectations in their first year. And, while you can’t control every aspect of a launch, early engagement with KOLs during pre-launch can help mitigate risks.

Recent analysis shows that engaging with KOLs before launch is associated with 1.5 times greater treatment adoption over the first six months post-launch. Engagement with KOLs in the pre-launch phase establishes a foundational relationship, setting you up for long-term growth.

Knowing the key decision makers along the patient journey is important when building pre-launch engagement strategies. The KOL data that you leverage should identify established KOLs, emerging experts, and digital opinion leaders (DOLs) to broaden the reach of scientific messages.

As Angela Smart, director, global medical excellence and operations at ADVANZ PHARMA explains, “Gone are the days where medical can just focus on top-tier scientific thought leaders. Stakeholders are increasing in breadth as the decision-makers along a patient pathway can now include external experts, healthcare practitioners, payers, and patient organisations as an example.”

Navigate new therapy areas with deep KOL data

Harnessing deep KOL data can help you hit the ground running when entering new therapeutic areas of interest. Baptiste Omont, senior director of commercial and medical systems at Idorsia, shares, “When it came time to launch a product in chronic insomnia, an area where nothing new has happened in the last 20 years, we wondered, where can we find the data, who do we engage with, and where do we start?”

Idorsia first focused on building awareness. Using Veeva Link Key People, Omont and his colleagues identified and engaged with the most relevant KOLs and DOLs in the area of chronic insomnia.

Data can also inform resource planning and headcount strategy as you explore new therapy areas. “You need to evaluate the complexity of the molecule you’re bringing to market, the complexity of the disease area, and the competitive environment,” says Smart. “All of this data combined helps calculate the resources medical needs to enter a new therapy area.”

ADVANZ PHARMA plans to launch multiple products across different therapy areas over the next few years, and real-time KOL data is essential to keeping their field teams agile. “Our field teams need to pivot quickly between different therapy areas. With Link Key People, they can map out and extract lists of the top external experts that they want to work with,” shares Smart.

Maximize medical congress impact with limited resources

Access to deep data for medical congress planning can help you find the most relevant congresses, identify and engage relevant contributors, and capture critical insights. But, with limited resources and lean teams, it can be difficult to effectively prepare.

As you seek to maximize medical congress impact, providing your teams with real-time intelligence on congresses and attendees can significantly reduce time spent on manual research and spreadsheet data upkeep. Link Key People led ADVANZ PHARMA to identify local congresses they weren’t previously aware of, enhancing scientific engagement with increasingly relevant stakeholders.

Often, dedicated teams aren’t in place to manage congress strategy, and as Smart explains, “Usually congresses are managed by marketing and medical affairs on top of their day job. That’s why streamlining the congress planning process is crucial.”

From international conferences to local events, Link Key People helps teams quickly find detailed information on relevant congresses, understand their reach, and view agendas, key contributors, and competitive activities.

Learn how ADVANZ PHARMA and Idorsia enable better KOL engagements with Link Key People.