Case Study:
Early-Phase Market Opportunity Assessment
Situation
A pharmaceutical company was conducting early-phase clinical trials on a small molecule pharmacologic, yet had limited experience in the therapeutic area in which it sought an indication. The company felt that a comprehensive assessment of the present and future marketplace would allow it to understand the opportunities available to maximize the value of its novel therapeutic agent.
Client Need
Putnam was asked to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the marketplace that the novel agent expected to enter. This included:- Defining key characteristics of the therapeutic market
- Outlining the landscape of current treatments
- Forecasting the evolution of the therapeutic market and predicting the nature of the environment that the novel agent would face at launch
- Identifying the uptake, penetration and growth opportunities available to the novel agent
Putnam's Role
Putnam conducted extensive analysis, drawing on syndicated and previously-commissioned resources to assimilate all relevant commercial, clinical and scientific information.Putnam's thorough understanding of the methodology that drives epidemiological estimates helped us to determine the most current and accurate patient distributions and growth projections. Putnam identified the most valuable patient segmentation along with trends of specific sub-populations that comprised the most likely target audience for the novel therapeutic.
Putnam also developed information about the physician decision process and available treatment options in order to create a treatment flow framework. The treatment model enabled Putnam to evaluate the nature and timing of new entrants to the market. Putnam further identified the unmet needs and potential opportunities in the market through a detailed evaluation of the benefits and drawbacks of treatments and key decision factors in the selection process and attribute analyses of pipeline competitors. Synthesizing this research and analysis provided a clear picture of the current situation and a detailed forecast of the environment in which the novel therapeutic will be launched.
Recommendations
Putnam identified the unmet patient needs in the therapeutic area and outlined those most valuable to the client's novel agent. The sizing and segmentation of the patient population was used for valuation models, enabling Putnam to make realistic recommendations from both qualitative and financial perspectives. Putnam pointed out the key decision-factors for prescribers and showed the likely positioning of the novel therapeutic in future treatment algorithms. As this agent was years away from launch, we prioritized the strategic decisions to be made along its development path to ensure that it would fulfill the targeted needs.
Client Benefits
Putnam's work provided an in-depth assessment of the likely commercial opportunities available to the novel therapeutic. The benefits that the client received include:- A strategic direction for the agent that would drive clinical development goals and product positioning platforms
- A treatment flow framework that depicted the evolution of existing products, introductions of pipeline products and new classes of therapy
- A set of competitive pipeline analogs that could be monitored as they and the market progressed
- Key insights into the product's value maximization potential