Changing business models top pharma concerns

The changing face of pharma business models is the main thing keeping US executives awake at night, according to a new survey.

More than a third of them (35%) are worried about this, says the 2010 Pharmaceutical Insights Survey, commissioned by French company Cegedim Dendrite.

Respondents are also chewing their nails over pipeline growth (24%), the impact of impending regulatory reform (16%) and generic competition (16%).

Research for the new survey took place in May, when the company questioned more than 200 senior executives – more than three quarters of whom came from the Americas – via an online poll.

The results suggest pharma companies are beginning to prepare for more changes regarding reporting and transparency. When it comes to the most important issue facing pharma companies in the next five years, the majority put government action and regulation at the top of their list.

Increased focus on market access strategies are among the biggest changes currently being implemented (say 40% of respondents), and the EU market will be seen as a guide to how this may be implemented in the Americas, the report’s authors say.

The other biggest changes to business models are sales force re-alignment (20%) and a greater focus on managed care (17%).

These changes are primarily being driven by the strategic/business planning group (40%), followed by the marketing/brand (21%) and commercial operations (18%) teams.

“It came as no surprise to learn that the greatest concern is the changing commercial business model,” says Cegedim Dendrite Americas president Angela Miccoli.

“Life sciences companies need a way to respond to a rapidly evolving industry that is presented with market access challenges, extreme competitive pressures and stiffer regulatory requirements.”

In order to take advantage of changing conditions, pharma’s top three priorities for this year are new product innovation (67%), profitability growth (51%) and growth in expanding markets (38%), the report found.

Market share (29%) and shareholder value (25%) make up the rest of the list.

Unsurprisingly, prescribers are seen as the primary customer group, according to eight out of ten pharma executives – more than double the number who chose patients first.

The 2010 Pharmaceutical Insights Survey also gauged industry opinion on social media, uncovering wide variation in pharma company investment and a degree of uncertainty about the medium.

Adam Hill