The industry is littered with poster children of failed launches. Why? Because companies fail to thoroughly analyze what drives greater value to their customers pre-launch, and once the product is launched, fail to address the resulting problems.
Sanofi Zaltrap’s Case
A few months after launch, Zaltrap was in the news after a group of Oncologists at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center publically refused to prescribe the drug because of its cost. Sanofi eventually slashed the drug’s price by half, but the damage was already done. The public was left with the perception that Sanofi tried to get rich on the backs of dying cancer patients.
Conclusion
Clearly, the company had not used artificial intelligence powered analytics to determine its pricing strategy. Had they done so, they would have been more aggressive in pricing Zaltrap to compete on a level playing field with Avastin. They would have understood the growing frustration in the provider community around skyrocketing costs for cancer drugs. And they would have avoided being named as one of the top 10 launch disasters on numerous lists.
Found this article interesting?
To learn more about how Eularis can help you find the best solutions to the challenges faced by healthcare teams, please drop us a note or email the author at abates@eularis.com.