No life sciences organization has limitless promotion budgets – especially those preparing for their very first launch. When resources are constrained, you may be tempted to place greater bets on less costly digital channels. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has further depressed in-person access to healthcare professionals (HCPs) and accelerated adoption of remote engagement.
But digital isn’t a panacea, and in-person promotion remains critically important. In fact, the return on face-to-face interactions can be at least two times higher than the impact realized through remote engagement.1 Further, some specialty areas are even more receptive to in-person promotion.
As you prepare for launch, you must tackle this challenging question: What’s the right combination of personal and non-personal promotion for each HCP – and how should I tweak that combination over time?
The most effective answers won’t come from finetuning tactics you used in a previous organization or simply relying on “gut feelings;” instead, you must look to data and analytics to identify better ways to deploy resources. And since market conditions are inherently dynamic, you need to be equally data-driven when monitoring results and continually refine your approach over time.
Using analytics to support smarter campaigns and more effective deployment of sales reps requires the right data assets: Data for hypertargeting payers and HCPs. Data for discerning which promotional channels are most effective for which target audiences. And data for monitoring engagement over time.
In working with precommercial companies, IQVIA recommends this four-step, approximately 12-month process:
Months 0 – 3: Implement rules-based trigger methodology
By bringing together diverse data – including diagnostic, prescription, claims, and payer information – we help identify the HCPs most likely to have patients who would benefit from your treatment. Our de-identified patient-level data and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models can help you predict and identify patients with a specific disease, including those likely to initiate a second-line therapy.
Your marketing team then defines business rules and triggers based on core HCP segmentation and analogues. For example, this may include current writing behaviors, time delays, and sequencing. IQVIA begins to collect promotional response data from HCP interactions and engagements.
Months 3 – 6: Optimize targeting and segmentation
IQVIA uses the promotional response data to execute a deep-dive analysis on cross-channel engagement. We can also deliver this to you as a monthly dashboard. In this step, we incorporate new insights into the established business rules to optimize campaigns and HCP engagement.
These insights can help you to allocate your resources to the right HCPs and deploy them in an optimal way. That may include sending in a medical science liaison (MSL), providing patient support resources, or asking a rep to schedule an in-person touchpoint with the prescriber.
Months 6 – 9: Enable dynamic deployment
The real “magic” happens as we start to use AI/ML to execute an HCP attribution model. This model helps quantify how each piece of your promotional puzzle is contributing to overall commercial performance. For instance, data and analytics can illuminate which ads are delivering results (and in which markets). An attribution model also can help you understand the impact your reps are making – including whether they are influencing your target HCPs in a way that directly increases your brand’s return on investment.
Additionally, integrated performance monitoring may reveal that you’re overspending on the pricy in-person channel when a more cost-efficient digital channel could be sufficient. On the other hand, you may discover that you have been over-rotating on digital with certain HCPs, and these targets would be more receptive to in-person interactions with a rep or MSL.
Months 9 – 12: Automate dynamic deployment
With the framework in place, IQVIA automatically updates the HCP-level scores based on incremental data received from in-market promotion and ongoing HCP response. You can schedule these updates every one to four weeks, so you are positioned to respond quickly and effectively as market conditions and opportunities emerge and evolve.
These are just a few highlights of how IQVIA is helping precommercial companies like yours to navigate today’s complex and challenging environment. While you may not be able to outspend larger, more established competitors, you can take an innovative, evidence-based approach – increasing both the agility and effectiveness of your promotional campaigns. Contact us to learn more.
1 IQVIA Primary Intelligence Q1 2021