Pharma portfolios have become too diverse to be managed through a single commercial model. These portfolios often include product launches and established and growth brands, as well as specialty and rare disease assets. While each may have different commercial needs, economics and growth opportunities, many still rely on the same structures. These structures are harder to manage as organizations coordinate more channels, stakeholders, teams and third-party providers.
The mismatch is widening. Investment is moving toward oncology, rare disease and specialty medicine, yet much of today’s revenue still comes from established brands built through broader, mass-market approaches. These brands represent 40% to 60% of revenue for the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, so providing limited attention or using a suboptimal operating model can put a large share of current revenue at risk.
The question is not simply whether to outsource but whether the operating model fits each part of the portfolio. Building on the discussion from our recent webinar on commercial operating models, this article explores seven common questions and assumptions about the role of strategic commercial outsourcing.
Are we solving a short-term need or reconsidering how the work should be organized?
Commercial outsourcing has traditionally been used to add capacity, address capability gaps or avoid fixed costs. Those remain valid reasons to use it. But capacity and operating-model decisions are closely connected. As pharmaceutical companies direct internal resources toward innovative and specialist assets, established brands and less strategically central therapy areas may still require focused commercial support.
Simply replacing internal capacity with a lower-cost alternative does not resolve that challenge. It can result in suboptimal decisions, such as applying a digital-only model in a market where it does not fit customer needs. The more strategic opportunity is to determine how each part of the portfolio should be organized, resourced, governed and executed. Commercial outsourcing can then provide the capabilities and flexibility needed to support valuable assets while internal teams concentrate on the organization’s highest priorities. The objective is not to outsource more but to deploy the right model for business needs.
Does every part of the portfolio require the same commercial model?
Pharmaceutical companies often replicate familiar commercial structures across a diverse portfolio. But launch, growth, established and non-core assets create value in different ways. Launch assets may require concentrated investment, specialist expertise and cross-functional support. Growth brands need consistent execution that can scale. Established and non-core brands may require a more efficient model that protects value while allowing internal teams to focus on changing portfolio priorities.
The decision should not be made by lifecycle stage alone or necessarily brand by brand. Companies may need different models across therapy areas and markets, based on proximity to loss of exclusivity, headroom for growth or value protection, promotional sensitivity, customer reachability and geographic complexity. A therapy area spanning multiple markets, for example, may benefit from coordinated, cross-market delivery where local organizations can no longer give every brand the same level of attention.
The available options form a spectrum, from centralized digital engagement and virtual business units to outsourced commercial operations for defined brands or therapy areas and full value-chain management. The right choice depends on the commercial opportunity, the capabilities the company wants to retain and the level of coordination required. It should not be determined simply by replicating the existing structure or copying a competitor’s model. The more useful question is whether each part of the portfolio is receiving the right type and level of support for its market, maturity and strategic role.
Are we creating better customer engagement or simply more commercial complexity?
Adding channels does not automatically improve engagement. Marketing may manage digital activity, sales may own field engagement and medical may coordinate MSL interactions. When those activities are planned and measured separately, organizations can duplicate effort, create an inconsistent customer experience and lose accountability for the overall result.
The objective is not to maximize the number of touchpoints or choose between digital and face-to-face engagement. It is to coordinate activity around the needs and preferences of the HCP. That may mean combining rep-generated emails with field interactions, using inside teams to reach less accessible customers or using contact history and customer insight to determine the most appropriate next interaction.
Effective orchestration requires more than technology. It depends on clear ownership, connected planning and an operating model that coordinates activity across functions, teams and markets. In one IQVIA partnership, a centrally coordinated digital promotion hub across 15 European markets increased HCP coverage by 30%, slowed a sales decline from 8% to 2% and reduced operating costs. The improvement came from coordinating activity across markets and focusing local resources on the work that required local expertise.
What would it take to trust a partner with commercial execution?
Concern about losing control often reflects an older view of outsourcing, in which an external provider supplies field resources and the client monitors activities such as call volumes. A strategic partnership works differently. The client continues to set the portfolio and brand direction, define the objectives and remain involved in significant decisions, while the partner takes responsibility for the agreed areas of execution.
Control therefore depends less on managing every operational activity and more on establishing clear responsibilities, shared information and an effective governance framework. This begins with agreeing what success looks like, which outcomes and indicators will be measured and how the two organizations will review performance and adjust the model. Governance may include weekly operational reviews, monthly business reviews and quarterly steering committees, supported by shared KPIs, data transparency and agreed decision-making responsibilities.
This does not mean the two parties will always begin with the same assumptions. Aligning forecasts can be one of the most difficult parts of establishing the partnership, but it also creates a shared and more realistic basis for measuring performance. When governance is designed well, outsourcing does not remove strategic control. It enables the client to remain focused on direction and outcomes without having to manage every element of execution.
Does strategic importance always require internal ownership and execution?
A commercial capability can be strategically important without every element of it being built and operated internally. The more useful question is which decisions, responsibilities and sources of differentiation the company must retain and where a partner can provide capabilities, coordination or scale more effectively.
The client will typically retain overall portfolio and brand direction, pricing decisions and the responsibilities associated with its role as marketing authorization holder. Other activities, including sales execution, medical engagement, market access support, marketing execution and analytics, can be delivered externally within an agreed governance framework. The appropriate division will depend on the asset, market, internal capabilities and commercial objectives.
External support can also extend beyond individual activities. In one IQVIA partnership, a virtual pan-European business unit grew from a small team to more than 70 people, expanded to support multiple products across different therapy areas and developed into an additional commercial arm of the client organization. The arrangement was extended from three years to seven, demonstrating that an external model can provide a durable and flexible platform rather than simply fill a temporary capability gap.
The strategic decision is therefore not whether an important capability must always sit inside the organization. It is where internal ownership creates distinctive value and where an accountable partner can improve coordination, execution and flexibility.
Is the commercial operating model ready to use AI effectively?
AI can strengthen commercial decision making and execution. It can support targeting, automate routine workflows and use customer insight and contact history to recommend more appropriate engagement. As these capabilities develop, they may also help organizations assess more precisely which brands, markets and customer groups are likely to respond to different commercial approaches. But AI cannot resolve an operating model in which data, decisions and execution remain disconnected. If sales, marketing and medical teams plan activity separately, or if accountability for acting on an insight is unclear, a better recommendation will not automatically produce a coordinated response.
AI readiness therefore depends on more than technology. It requires connected data, clear ownership of the decisions AI informs and an operating model capable of translating insight into action across functions and channels. AI can make a strong commercial model more responsive and precise, but it is not a substitute for the model itself.
Can the commercial model adapt as quickly as the portfolio changes?
Commercial excellence is not determined simply by the size of the organization or the amount of infrastructure it owns. Portfolio needs change as products move through launch, growth and loss of exclusivity, as investment shifts toward new therapy areas and as priorities vary across markets. A commercial organization designed around today’s portfolio may not provide the right capabilities or level of support for tomorrow’s.
The more important capability is adaptability: being able to redirect resources, reshape commercial support and access different capabilities as the portfolio evolves. As more products approach loss of exclusivity, companies may make greater use of virtual and centralized structures for established brands. As pipelines become more specialized, commercial models may also need to bring medical, market access and commercial capabilities together in different ways.
These choices should be considered well before a product reaches launch or loss of exclusivity. Looking further ahead in the pipeline allows leaders to decide which capabilities should be built internally, which can be accessed through partners and how the model may need to evolve across markets and lifecycle stages. The organizations best positioned for change will not necessarily have the largest fixed infrastructure. They will have the ability to deploy and adapt the right model as portfolio priorities change.
From an outsourcing decision to an operating-model decision
The decision is no longer simply whether to outsource. It is how each part of the portfolio should be supported and which operating model can deliver that support most effectively. That requires leaders to consider where internal capabilities and attention create the greatest value, where a partner can improve coordination or execution, and how the model may need to change across brands, markets and lifecycle stages. Commercial outsourcing is not the strategy itself, nor is it the right answer in every situation. It is one of the ways organizations can access the capabilities and flexibility needed to adapt commercial support as portfolio priorities change.
The organizations best prepared for change will not necessarily be those with the largest fixed infrastructure. They will be those able to deploy the right capabilities, through the right model, for the commercial need in front of them, and reshape that model when the need changes.
Which brand, therapy area or market in your portfolio is currently receiving too much support, too little support or support through the wrong commercial model?
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