5 Top Tips to help pharma companies develop successful devices
Part 2 in our blog series: Not everything that makes you better is a pill
In our last blog, we looked at how recent technological advances have super-charged the value that medical devices and diagnostics offer pharma brands. Beyond-the-pill solutions are now an essential part of any new pharma launch and innovative delivery devices are increasingly providing a point of differentiation.
At Purdie Pascoe, and with our heritage in medical devices, we have been working with pharmaceutical companies to help them develop delivery devices and digital solutions that help customers use their medicines more successfully. Based on our experience, in this second blog in the series, we will lay out our 5 top tips for developing tools that make a difference.
Not all pharmaceutical companies have found it easy to leverage the value that medical devices offer, for two very good reasons.
Firstly, it has involved putting the customer first. Pharma R&D processes work in the opposite direction, putting the drug first and it has required a total shift in mindset and ways of working to avoid putting the drug first in our launch strategies as well.
Secondly, the development of medical devices and pharmaceutical products are inherently different. Medical devices are mechanical in nature and only work if used correctly. Usability is a key element. Pharmaceuticals are chemical and interact with the body’s metabolism; once the molecule enters the body, they either work or they do not. Furthermore, the development cycle is completely different; a medical device can be developed in less than a year, while a new chemical entity or biologic usually takes 10 years or more from conception to launch.
So, here are our 5 top tips for pharma companies to develop delivery devices that make a difference to patients and healthcare professionals:
1. Start early – Allow enough time to fully understand the needs of your customers and to develop tools that will address their needs. We recommend starting up to 2 years before launch to get this right, earlier of course if your delivery device needs to be incorporated into phase III clinical trials.
2. Identify the right stakeholders – Although prescribers may be the most important stakeholder for your pharmaceutical product, specialist nurses often work closely with patients on drug administration and know the pain points better than doctors.
3. Put the customer first – Invest in strong customer journey research, with both healthcare professionals and patients, to identify the potential barriers to the successful adoption of your product. Only then can you develop tools that address these.
4. Understand the trade-offs – When combining a pharmaceutical product and a delivery device there will inevitably be trade-offs in efficacy, safety, convenience, and cost. Conjoint models combining pharma and device attributes help to understand these trade-offs, justify required investment, and forecast sales which are essential for product planning. They can also help quantify the value that your device innovation is worth to the market, which is vital input for pricing.
5. Test prototypes – Include customers in the development of your delivery device early. Allowing customers to handle prototypes and suggest improvements, throughout the development process, will result in a much stronger end product.
In our coming blogs, we will look at these 5 Top Tips in more detail, providing practical advice on how to address each one and what market research is needed at each step in the process.
