Specialty Sales in the Global Marketplace
October 2008
James Lennertz, head of global operations at Innovex, discusses the changing role of specialty sales reps.
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Among many other major shifts in the biopharmaceutical industry is a pronounced movement in the commercialization space away from large primary care teams and into a more specialty-based sales model. But even as this trend continues to gather momentum and create new opportunities for growth—as confirmed by Innovex’s own research—many pharma and biotech companies are still reluctant to outsource the specialty sales component. As such, they may be missing an opportunity to broaden their product’s reach and expand its market share.
Reasons for this reluctance to solicit outside help naturally vary from company to company, but our research indicates that biopharmaceutical companies often are concerned about maintaining a relationship with the key opinion leaders in a therapeutic area. And because the marketplace is usually smaller in a specialty area, companies understandably want to stay closer to those leaders. But whether companies choose to outsource the sales function or develop and maintain an internal specialty sales force, the elements that make up a successful specialty sales rep are commonly shared—across different companies, across different countries and across different therapeutic areas.
Proven Track Records
At Innovex, we look for high-potential reps for our specialty positions who have had success in sales, and are also experienced in getting products onto hospital formularies. We look for people who have excelled in developing relationships with key opinion leaders in specific specialty areas. We look for people who are tenacious and have good communication skills, but aren’t going to do things that overstep the boundaries in hospitals. Most critically, what we look for in specialty reps are people who have done well in the hospital setting and other arenas for a few years. We’re looking for people who excel in that setting, and are eager and open to advancing their knowledge of their therapeutic area.
And given that the nature of specialty sales involves the complexity of negotiating drugs for formulary inclusion, sales reps must possess full knowledge of the whole series of products for any given therapeutic area. And that’s a pretty complex process right now because every product is different and presents its own unique challenges. At one end of the spectrum, reps sell products and bioengineered drugs that might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. They’ll have contact with physicians, pharmacists, nurses, payors and in some cases, patients, their families and patient advocacy groups.
On the other end of the spectrum, reps are asked to provide information and recommendations for different variations of existing products that are already in the marketplace. An example would be products for chemotherapy-induced nausea—or different forms of chemotherapy agents—that are now available in different and improved delivery systems. Just within oncology, there’s a series of products coming to the market that fit into that space.
And as the market becomes more crowded—much like other therapeutic areas such as cardiology a few years ago—it becomes increasingly critical that the sales reps are able to position the products they represent appropriately with prescribers. Reps need to get to key opinion leaders and decision-makers at prescribing institutions, and they need to be familiar with the multiple indications of the product so they’ll feel comfortable recommending it for the formulary.
Stressing Outcomes
Formulary negotiations are unfortunately not the end game. In the United Kingdom, for example, it is a very different process because of the presence and recommendations of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). Now the model for most European countries with a centralized health service, NICE performs an evaluation process in which it conducts technology assessments for new products that come to market, of any of type or cost. These assessments are based on the drug’s cost and the improvement in patient outcome, and then these data are extrapolated into a complicated cost-for-quality life year gain model. Then NICE makes its decision as to whether or not those quality-life-year calculations are economically viable, versus the cost and/or benefit of spending the money in other areas or on existing therapies.
For specialty sales reps, this complicated process has changed the dynamic of what they need to do in the field. Now, they focus much more on a product after it is reviewed, taking the information about how the drug should be used and working with the local health authorities to improve patient access. So for specialty sales reps, much more of their work now is within a protocol and outcome process than what would have been in the past.
Outsourcing the Sales Function
Given these complexities, having a well-trained, highly knowledgeable specialty sales force is critical for commercialization success. In working with Innovex, our customers not only gain a professional team of proven reps, but they also benefit from being able to link into Quintiles’ broad global systems and expertise. We have systems in place that are every bit as robust as what you’d see at a major pharma company.
Furthermore, in partnering with Innovex, our customers are able to maintain control over their product’s fate. The intellectual property stays with the originating company, and they know that they are strategically in the driver’s seat for making the key decisions around the product. And by providing the expertise, the support and the infrastructure, we help our partners mitigate the risk involved in launching a new product. So rather than out-license the product to another biotech or a big pharma company—and lose complete control over what is rightfully their baby—our partners get all the expertise and support that they need, but can still remain an independent company. And to a mid-sized pharma or an emerging biotech company, getting the expertise, the systems and support to commercialize their specialty product—and retain it—is a very attractive option.
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