Industry Insights: A Solution Spotlight – EVERSANA COMPLETE Commercialization
In 2020, commercial leadership at EVERSANA, well versed in the transformation of the contract research organisation (CRO) sector, believed that the often slow-to-pivot pharmaceutical industry was ready to transform its approach to commercialisation.
Based on numerous case studies where a majority of drug launches had failed to reach sales forecasts and the traditional models showed little adaptation, EVERSANA launched EVERSANA COMPLETE Commercialization.
Fast forward to today, this integrated model is activated and, in many cases, proven. The stakes are higher than ever when it comes to launching and commercialising complex specialty therapies. Every product launch presents unique challenges. Some drug innovators have very little infrastructure or internal expertise in place. Others are launching into a highly competitive landscape and must find ways to help the product differentiate itself effectively. Still others are pioneering a novel product that requires a multifaceted strategy to articulate its full clinical value to inform healthcare providers (HCPs) and condition the marketplace ahead of market entry.
EVERSANA’s end-to-end commercialisation model – an inherently agile outsourcing strategy that has now been adopted by more than 20 pharma/life sciences companies – gives brand teams multiple customisable options for optimising therapy launches across numerous global markets. Individual components within the model are designed to reduce cost and overall risk for stakeholders. Equally notable, clients gain access to brand teams with extensive experience in supporting multiple launches annually across various therapeutic areas. These teams understand the challenges of the landscape, anticipate regulatory hurdles and support many first-time launchers, providing a significant advantage in navigating the complexities of the market.
Given current market conditions that demand agility, this model has been crafted to give brand teams choice and flexibility. For instance, companies may choose either to:
- Implement a complete, end-to-end outsourcing arrangement: In this scenario, all aspects of the launch strategy, execution, and long-term outsourced services (including distribution, field support, and patient hub services) are provided through a flexible, multi-year contract.
- Integrate select programme elements and make changes as needed over time: This allows the team to add or adjust specific parts of the outsourced commercialisation model as needs evolve over the product life cycle, or to pivot quickly in response to changing market conditions.
An important aspect of this inherently flexible design is that drug developers do not need to hire and maintain a large commercial team years ahead of the launch. Rather, they can rely on their outsourcing partner to provide “just-in-time” hiring and infrastructure development. This reduces financial exposure and risk for the drug developer, which is especially important early in the process, when a reliable revenue stream has not yet been established for the new therapy.
Maximum visibility, minimum silos
Until recently, those who didn’t want to sell had no choice but to “go it alone”. This approach required hiring an internal sales team and outsourcing various parts of the launch process. Engaging a single third-party commercialisation partner that can provide end-to-end support – rather than a patchwork of vendors and service providers (each of which must be identified, vetted, and onboarded) – improves interoperability, visibility, and data-driven feedback loops. This reduces overall complexity and risk.
EVERSANA can quickly create data-driven standard operating procedures (SOPs) and playbooks. This enables standardisation and best practices, which also helps to drive overall efficiency and quality while reducing risk.
When such collective efficiency and quality gains can shorten critical timelines and help speed the launch, it creates opportunities to drive incremental revenue and increase potential for increased market share for the therapy. In one recent study, EVERSANA found that 20% of traditional costs can be avoided when an agile, scalable, outsourced commercialisation model is used.
Meanwhile, as ageing drug franchises contemplate options to maximise ROI later in the life cycle, EVERSANA can provide numerous options to create value.
Demonstrating its value on the world stage
Today’s global healthcare landscape is inherently complex and fractured. Brand teams trying to establish a global footprint for their therapies must develop parallel market access strategies that vary by country. This is daunting, especially for smaller companies and start-ups that do not have the expertise, resources, infrastructure, or bandwidth to do it themselves.
In the EU, each country has its own discrete healthcare system, which impacts how companies are able to secure favourable pricing, reimbursement, and market access agreements. Similarly, distribution models and language requirements vary by country, compounding the overall complexity. This intricate landscape poses significant challenges for companies trying to establish a global footprint for their therapies. Meanwhile, companies outside the US often find it daunting to develop a strategy for how best to enter and compete in the US market, adding another layer of complexity to their global expansion efforts.
To date, EVERSANA COMPLETE has been used by more than 20 companies to support the launch and commercialisation of over 40 complex therapies. These span therapeutic spaces, including oncology, cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, rare diseases, women’s health, and orthopaedics.
The model is uniquely positioned to help pharma/life sciences companies expand their global footprint in two ways:
- By expertly navigating the intricate US regulatory and commercial landscape, optimising product launches and market growth over time. (This includes securing favourable coverage and reimbursement terms from a patchwork of private and government payers to ensure patient access and affordability.)
- By skillfully navigating the complex EU and global landscapes, identifying and pursuing product launches in those countries that offer the best strategic opportunities
Closing thoughts
Considering the cost and complexity associated with navigating today’s fragmented global healthcare infrastructure, it rarely makes sense for a drug developer to handle every part of the commercial launch strategy and infrastructure on its own. EVERSANA COMPLETE offers an end-to-end solution that delivers a range of clinical and commercial benefits, cost savings, and operational efficiency. It also provides the flexibility that is needed to help brand teams adapt quickly to meet specific needs and obstacles that arise. The goal is to help drug developers to access global market opportunities in more streamlined and strategic ways, while giving patients and their providers the broadest access to today’s life-altering and lifesaving medications.
Case study: Enabling a flexible, fit-for-purpose field salesforce
Challenge: A pharmaceutical company needed to right-size its field salesforce to achieve significant cost savings and adapt to changing market conditions.
Solution: Using EVERSANA’s customisable commercialisation approach, the company created a flexible team that could evolve over time. The field force was managed by the dedicated brand team and chief commercial officer (CCO), ensuring seamless integration with broader commercial strategies. Key actions included:
- Turning off national account manager (NAM) support once payer support was established
- Ramping up the number of field sales representatives once market access was secured
- Scaling back the number of field reps in favour of a less costly digital omnichannel promotion strategy later in the product life cycle
Outcome: This agility helped the brand team conserve resources, successfully launch the brand, and secure a lucrative licensing deal.
Thanks to EVERSANA’s comprehensive commercialisation strategy, brand teams can also identify temporary solutions while establishing broader infrastructure.
This approach offers creative solutions to scale the business effectively. Our model supports the European strategy and launch by providing a comprehensive range of roles, including field sales representatives, management teams, clinical support teams, medical science liaisons and specialists dedicated to reimbursement, medical affairs, marketing, market access, communications, supply chain, and distribution. Additionally, we offer support functions such as IT, finance, human resources, compliance, and patient advocacy, ensuring a robust and scalable business framework.
Case study: Relying on outsourcing to augment internal capabilities
Challenge: A European specialty pharmaceutical innovator developing oncology products for paediatric and women’s cancers needed temporary infrastructure to support early global commercialisation efforts while building internal capabilities.
Solution: With EVERSANA’s integrated commercialisation model, the drug developer maintained ownership of financial, regulatory, legal, and manufacturing responsibilities, while EVERSANA supported commercialisation efforts. This partnership allowed the company to manage risk and expenditures as it developed internal capabilities.
Outcome: The company benefitted from access to EVERSANA’s experienced commercial leaders, who provided strategic direction and ensured cross-functional collaboration. This approach enabled the company to assume greater autonomy as more products were launched.
Brand teams also benefit from access to EVERSANA’s deep bench of best-in-class commercial leaders. These experts have extensive experience in supporting multiple launches annually across various therapeutic areas. These teams understand the challenges of the landscape, anticipate FDA hurdles, and support many first-time launchers, providing a significant advantage in navigating the complexities of the market. As such, they are well positioned to provide strategic direction, ensure cross-functional collaboration, and help stakeholders to pivot as needed in response to new information or changing market conditions.
An important aspect of the model is the availability of various financial agreement options. The deferred-billing option is the most popular for emerging biotechs that need to fundraise for launch. This option allows up to 30% to 50% of fees to be paid later in the contract, helping to reduce financial risk for brand teams. Repayment of deferred fees is typically based on the therapy hitting key launch milestones. This creates incentives and accountability for both parties.
Case study: Pivoting when launch assumptions changed
Challenge: A novel antibody therapy in oncology, initially expected to be first to market, faced multiple delays and launched as the fourth entry in a competitive space.
Solution: EVERSANA’s experienced oncology team redesigned the strategy to meet the new challenge. Actions included:
- Establishing a compelling science- and databased programme to articulate the therapy’s full clinical profile
- Developing data-driven insights to target HCPs at world-class oncology centres
- Creating a virtual sales team complemented by non-personal promotion to reduce the number of traditional field reps required
- Designing targeted efforts to overcome reimbursement and affordability challenges and provide patient services
Outcome: The success of this launch helped the company secure Series B funding, allowing it to quickly launch the next two products in its pipeline using EVERSANA COMPLETE.
Case study: Maximising value as the patent cliff approaches
Challenge: An oncology partner needed to change the growth trajectory and maximise value at the end of the product life cycle for their asset.
Solution: EVERSANA created an AI-enabled omnichannel solution to inform and empower HCPs and patients more effectively. The system generated data-driven insights to inform next-best actions and tailored messaging to optimise reach, frequency, and engagement. Outcome: The solution produced tangible results for the brand, including:
- $6.6M in incremental revenue generated in the first six months
- 95 days to launch phase 1
- 96% of target HCPs reached
- 9K+ brand engagements
- 1,148 incremental units sold
About the authors
Greg Skalicky is President of EVERSANA. He is responsible for accelerating the company’s growth and ensuring the success of all client commercialisation efforts. With more than 25 years of executive leadership, Skalicky understands all facets of the pharmaceutical industry, spanning clinical operations to commercial success. His previous roles include Chief Enterprise Business Officer and Executive Vice President and General Manager at a global bio-pharmaceutical solutions organisation, where he successfully managed business units and teams of several thousand employees. Skalicky holds a BSc in Biology from Temple University and an MBA from Villanova University. He is an active member across several industry panels and consortiums.
Jennifer Meeuwsen is Executive Vice President of EVERSANA COMPLETE Commercialization at EVERSANA, a leading provider of commercialisation services to the life sciences industry. Her robust background includes more than two decades of market access strategies and commercialisation across the life sciences and biotech industries. Over her career, she has played a pivotal role in helping pharmaceutical companies successfully launch and sustain their products in the market. Her expertise includes amplifying unmet needs and highlighting value propositions to stakeholders, ensuring that new medications achieve their full potential. At EVERSANA, she oversees the company’s COMPLETE Commercialization solution, helping emerging pharmaceutical and biotech companies leverage the full suite of EVERSANA services to bring a product to market. Prior to EVERSANA, she held senior commercialisation roles at several biotech companies, including Integra Connect, Decipher Biosciences, and Myriad Genetics. She began her career in business development and marketing roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Meeuwsen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and International Business from Western Michigan University.
About EVERSANA
EVERSANA® is the leading provider of global services to the life sciences industry. The company’s integrated solutions are rooted in the patient experience and span all stages of the product life cycle to deliver long-term, sustainable value for patients, prescribers, channel partners and payers. The company serves more than 500 organizations, including innovative start-ups and established pharmaceutical companies, to advance life sciences solutions for a healthier world. To learn more about EVERSANA, visit EVERSANA.com or connect through LinkedIn and Twitter.
