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The Expanding Commercial Model: IVD Commercial Outsourcing - Acceleration during COVID-19
Oct 07, 2020
Today’s world of COVID-19 shows a microcosm of the In Vitro Diagnostics world. With scientific discovery and technologies improving at an ever-increasing rate, the IVD market, specifically the COVID-19 test development space is becoming very crowded. “In March, the FDA issued a policy to allow developers of certain serological tests to begin to market or use their tests once they have performed the appropriate evaluation to determine that their tests are accurate and reliable. These measures were taken to facilitate test capacity ramp-up during the pandemic (Emergency Use Authorization “EUA”). Since the FDA issued the policy, over 70 test developers have notified the agency that they have serological tests available for use. Over 500 tests addressing COVID-19 are available in the market or in development.
Many IVD companies are now looking for outsourced solutions that can quickly yield commercial access, cut through the noise and gain that “first mover” advantage. This requires a built-in infrastructure that can identify high priority customer targets, and also enable feet on the street so they can start to differentiate and gain user experience with their test.
Building a commercial infrastructure takes time, a commitment to the strategy, and more importantly, execution. After all, best laid plans are nothing without execution. Building a commercial infrastructure takes time, and time is money.
While this model has historically been more accepted and common in the pharmaceutical space, medical device and diagnostics companies are realizing the benefits of exploring and leveraging outsourced commercial sales and marketing capabilities, especially during the pandemic. Solutions have been proven to be more cost effective, flexible, and allow companies to fill their skill gaps without the immediate permanent investment.
Today many companies are finding themselves in discussions about the best way to navigate the COVID-19 commercial landscape; health care providers are not always accepting sales reps, and many hospitals continue to limit non-essential personnel. More and more, IVD companies are exploring how to navigate today’s challenges through outsourced commercial solutions in order to be ready to shift quickly within the changing landscape.
Within the IVD space, the drivers for consideration of outsourcing Contract Sales and Medical Solutions include (Figure 1):
- Cost Effectiveness – integrating services for market sizing, sales forces sizing, alignment and targeting with contract sales allows reduction of internal resources and integrated pricing.
- Commercial Effectiveness – while many companies have launched multiple products, many new companies have limited experience launching into certain markets. Utilizing a commercial solutions partner that has launched hundreds of products and can combine this expertise with relevant data sources, can maximize critical launch activities, and create efficiencies.
- Flexibility – With product life cycles decreasing, and faster regulatory pathways through EUAs allowing companies to quickly entering similar markets with competitive products, companies need to be flexible to match spend with revenues. To be able to ramp up and down quickly to maximize sales and market trends is critical. Contracts must have built in flexibility to increase, decrease or pivot to multiple call points, reducing internal burden of staffing and allowing companies to focus on strategy.
- Innovative Technologies – Opportunities exist to access and leverage advanced CRM technology and platforms through a highly-qualified partner, without new internal investments.
- Skill Specialization – Skill gaps can be filled by hiring specific experts that can complement existing teams and members.
Figure 1: Drivers of Commercial Outsourcing
Some of the more frequently applied commercial solutions include the following:
- “Hybrid” Sales Reps supported by built-for purpose technology and state-of-the art training.
- Field Resources that complement sales representatives
- Information-Enabled Agile Deployment.
- Field Employee Relations expertise.
These solutions help IVD companies address key questions and concerns pertaining to the current Commercial Model and employees:
- How do I keep HCPs and laboratories engaged in a compliant and flexible manner when I have little or no face-to-face access? How do I fight for bandwidth?
- How do I create the right policies to protect public safety and employees while meeting business needs?
- Do I need specialized field resources to meet unique HCP and laboratory needs during the time of COVID-19?
- How do I decide when and where to re-deploy and pullback as the situation evolves?
The landscape and pressures around effective product commercialization have been changing even before COVID-19, but especially now, companies are looking to enter the market with new, innovative tests quickly, many without an existing local or global sales infrastructure in place. Others require a need to supplement their existing field forces with medical resources to help navigate some of the more complex pathways, particularly in the field of cancer testing and personalized medicine. In just the breast cancer market alone there are over 15 companies that offer BRCA testing. For companies to differentiate their products, they need a concise medical message and an integrated commercial solution.
Outsourcing to an experienced commercial solutions team can allow for an expedited process of building a sales and clinical educator team that facilitates a more flexible cost structure; critical, especially today. While some IVD companies still hesitate to rely on external partners for the commercialization of their products, others are embracing this concept, realizing the ability to find technically skilled and knowledgeable teams, and are taking advantage of the benefits associated with commercial outsourcing solutions (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Outsourcing Sales – Key Benefits
With support from an expert team such as IQVIA, integrated solutions can be available immediately upon product approval, to avoid delays in commercialization and to connect commercial approaches across regions on the global stage. What makes IQVIA Contract Sales and Medical Solutions unique is that we are driven by a deep level of data, information, and expertise that is unparalleled. Our MedTech organization is home to over 50 experts solely focused on understanding the In Vitro Diagnostics market; this expertise complements and augments the functional expertise that makes up the core of our IQVIA MedTech strength. Combined, they enable us to identify the most valuable opportunities – and then leverage leading technology, our extensive expertise and expansive proprietary knowledge to implement efficient and cost-effective solutions that demonstrate the best return on investment for our customers. IQVIA can build sales/medical teams on all current CRM platforms, but also has its own “built for healthcare” CRM that is easily integrated and allows for “future proofing” the technology solution, to grow as you grow.
To discuss trends, opportunities, and solutions in the area of contract sales, please contact Chris Chalmers at Chris.Chalmers@iqvia.com.