Company needs comprehensive market intelligence to understand range of issues surrounding acquisition target in unfamiliar transplant market.
Business Challenge
An established biotechnology company was considering the acquisition of a profitable company with a leading product in solid organ transplantation. In order to make a go/no-go decision on the acquisition, our client wanted to better understand the potential for the lead product in current and emerging markets.
While the new product promised to expand our client’s business into transplantation immunology, the investment required to enter a new market was sizeable and recent competitors threatened the target product’s dominant position.
Internal market research efforts had yielded conflicting results. While the target product had unparalleled efficacy, new competitors were promoting lower cost products, with fewer side effects, that could be administered in an outpatient setting with a simpler treatment regimen. Already complicated treatment protocols were becoming harder to characterize and predict as physicians were weighing both clinical and economic factors in their prescribing decisions. Furthermore, off-label indications and secondary markets were growing as physicians gained more experience with the product.
Our Approach
Our Market Intelligence service provides primary and secondary research to help companies:
Profile patient demographics including incidence/prevalence
Understand clinical protocols and practice patterns
Detail diagnostics and therapeutic pathways
Identify decision factors in prescribing therapy
Profile competitive landscape
Explore current positioning and potential for expanded indications
Understand how setting of care and reimbursement affects product potential
Characterize emerging trends
To provide the market intelligence our client needed, we conducted 25 interviews with physician thought leaders in the field of solid organ and bone marrow transplantation who were practicing at high volume transplant centers. Physicians were interviewed on the role of antibody therapy in their clinical practice and the impact that clinical profile, route of administration, dosing regimen, and cost had on their patient selection and treatment decisions. We also analyzed pricing and reimbursement levels for the target therapy and its competitors, allowing us to project costs based on typical treatment algorithms.
Our Solution
Based on our detailed primary and secondary research, we developed an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We prioritized the large number of variables affecting our client’s decision. By uncovering niche patient segments and newer protocols at leading transplant centers, we helped our client assign the appropriate value to the target product. Similarly, the client was able to discount the impact competitors would have on overall market share despite the promise of lower cost and improved ease of use. We presented our findings and recommendations to the senior management of the company and their investors.
Results Delivered
Our client moved forward with the acquisition of the target company and has since become a significant player in the field of transplantation. Market share for the lead drug has increased substantially since the acquisition, validating trends we identified in our investigation.
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