For pharmaceutical companies, the use of data to inform decision-making is nothing new. It’s a vital part of the process when discovering and developing life-changing drugs.
But the role of data doesn’t end there. The adoption of competitive intelligence (CI) continues to rise and there are big opportunities for pharma companies willing to invest in and embrace CI’s potential.
In this article, we explain what pharmaceutical competitive intelligence is and how to leverage it for your organisation.
What Is Pharmaceutical Competitive Intelligence?
Pharmaceutical competitive intelligence refers to the process of gathering, analysing and interpreting relevant information about the pharmaceutical industry and/or the specific part of the market you operate in.
It often focuses on market dynamics, competitor strategies, emerging trends and potential opportunities or threats.
It involves collecting data from diverse sources, such as competitor analysis, market research, regulatory updates, patent information, clinical trials and customer feedback using a competitor intelligence platform. The insights it produces are used to inform decision-making and support strategic planning within the pharmaceutical sector.
How Does It Differ From Other Forms Of CI
Pharmaceutical competitive intelligence differs from other forms of competitive intelligence due to the specific focus on the pharmaceutical industry.
While the fundamental principles and methodologies of competitive intelligence remain consistent across industries, pharmaceutical competitive intelligence places emphasis on industry-specific factors, such as regulatory frameworks, intellectual property considerations, clinical trials and healthcare market dynamics.
It tailors the intelligence-gathering process to address the unique challenges and opportunities within the pharmaceutical sector.
Benefits of Pharmaceutical Competitive Intelligence?
We have already discussed the benefits of competitive intelligence in general in a previous article, however we can identify 10 primary advantages of utilising CI within the context of the pharmaceutical industry.
1) Identifying emerging market opportunities
Pharma companies have traditionally relied on market research reports and, in some cases, limited external information to identify emerging market opportunities. This often leads to missed opportunities or delayed market entry.
Competitive intelligence gives you real-time data and insights on market dynamics, competitor activities and emerging trends. By monitoring competitor strategies, partnerships and product pipelines, pharmaceutical companies can identify untapped market opportunities and make informed decisions regarding market entry.
By leveraging CI, you can proactively identify and seize emerging market opportunities, leading to early market entry, increased market share and a competitive advantage over your competitors.
2) Understanding competitive landscape
Pharma companies have typically built their understanding of the competitive landscape using sporadic updates from internal sales teams or public sources. This approach can result in incomplete or outdated information, leading to suboptimal decision-making.
Using competitive intelligence, pharmaceutical companies can gain a more comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the competitive landscape. It involves monitoring competitors’ product portfolios, pricing strategies, marketing campaigns and market share. This information helps pharma companies benchmark themselves against competitors and identify areas for differentiation.
This can help you to stay ahead of competitors, understand market trends and make informed strategic decisions. In turn, this can lead to improved market positioning, enhanced product offerings and increased market share.
3) Monitoring regulatory changes
Many pharma companies use internal regulatory affairs departments and public sources to stay informed about regulatory changes. However, this approach can be time-consuming and inefficient. This can result in delayed responses to regulatory updates and missed opportunities.
Competitive intelligence can help pharmaceutical companies stay up-to-date with regulatory changes by monitoring competitor interactions with regulatory bodies, tracking new regulations and analysing their potential impact. This enables proactive compliance and minimises the risk of non-compliance.
You can ensure timely compliance, avoid penalties, maintain a positive reputation and mitigate potential regulatory risks. You can also move quickly to establish your brand as the authority on the latest changes.
4) Assessing intellectual property landscape
Pharma companies will often use patent databases and internal legal teams to assess the intellectual property landscape. This approach can result in incomplete or fragmented information, limiting the understanding of potential patent infringements or opportunities.
Competitive intelligence helps pharmaceutical companies assess the intellectual property landscape by monitoring competitor patent filings, analysing patent expiration dates and identifying potential infringement risks or licensing opportunities. This enables strategic decision-making regarding product development and patent portfolio management.
You can use it to avoid patent disputes, identify potential partnerships or licensing opportunities and strategically protect your own intellectual property.
5. Tracking key opinion leaders (KOLs)
Personal networks, conferences and published articles are all used by pharmaceutical companies to identify and track key opinion leaders (KOLs). However, this approach may be limited in scope and may not capture real-time insights into KOL activities.
Competitive intelligence enables them to track and monitor KOLs by analysing their publications, social media presence, speaking engagements and collaborations. This helps identify influential KOLs, understand their opinions and preferences, and engage in meaningful collaborations.
With CI, you can build strong relationships with influential KOLs, gain valuable insights into market trends and treatment guidelines and effectively engage KOLs in advocacy and promotional activities. This can lead to enhanced brand reputation, increased physician adoption of products and improved market access.
6) Monitoring clinical trial landscape
Pharma companies have previously turned to public databases and clinical trial registries to monitor the clinical trial landscape. This approach may result in incomplete or delayed information, making it challenging to stay updated on competitor trials and emerging therapies.
Competitive intelligence facilitates the monitoring of the clinical trial landscape by tracking competitor trials and analysing trial protocols, patient recruitment strategies and trial outcomes. This allows pharmaceutical companies to identify gaps, assess competitive advantages and make informed decisions regarding clinical trial design and recruitment strategies.
By using CI for monitoring clinical trials, you can identify opportunities for collaboration, optimise your own clinical trial strategies and stay ahead of competitors in the development of innovative therapies.
7) Anticipating competitive threats
Pharma companies are often forced to rely on anecdotal information to address competitive threats. This reactive approach may lead to missed opportunities, loss of market share or delayed response to emerging competitive challenges.
Competitive intelligence enables pharmaceutical companies to proactively anticipate and address competitive threats by monitoring competitor activities, such as product launches, pricing strategies, mergers and acquisitions and market expansion plans. This allows for timely strategic adjustments, such as product differentiation, pricing optimisation or targeted marketing campaigns.
As well as mitigating risks, this can help you to protect market share and capitalise on opportunities. You can maintain a competitive edge and respond effectively to emerging challenges in the market.
8) Identifying potential partnerships & licensing opportunities
Personal networks are often used by pharma companies to identify potential partnerships or licensing opportunities. This approach can often limit the scope of opportunities and lead to missed collaborations or suboptimal licensing agreements.
Competitive intelligence helps pharmaceutical companies identify potential partnerships and licensing opportunities by monitoring competitor collaborations, analysing their licensing agreements and tracking emerging technologies or assets in the market. This enables proactive outreach, informed negotiations and strategic alliances.
CI can help you access innovative technologies, expand your product portfolio, accelerate drug development and gain a competitive advantage through strategic collaborations.
9) Understanding pricing & reimbursement landscape
Pharma companies have traditionally used internal pricing teams or delayed public information to understand the pricing and reimbursement landscape. This can lead to limited insights into competitor pricing strategies or changes in reimbursement policies.
Competitive intelligence facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the pricing and reimbursement landscape by monitoring competitor pricing strategies, analysing reimbursement policies, tracking payer negotiations and assessing market access barriers. This allows pharmaceutical companies to optimise their own pricing and reimbursement strategies and make informed decisions regarding market access.
By using CI for pricing and reimbursement analysis, your company can optimise its pricing strategies, navigate reimbursement challenges, improve market access and maximise revenue potential.
10) Assessing customer perceptions & preferences
Traditional market research methods, such as surveys or focus groups have long been the go-to solution in the pharma industry for assessing customer perceptions and preferences. However, these methods may provide limited insights or may not capture real-time or nuanced information about customer perceptions and preferences.
Competitive intelligence enables pharmaceutical companies to assess customer perceptions and preferences by monitoring social media platforms, online forums, product reviews and customer feedback. This helps identify emerging trends, understand customer needs and tailor marketing strategies and product offerings accordingly.
Using CI will enable you to develop customer-centric strategies, improve product positioning, enhance customer satisfaction and gain a competitive edge in the market.
