Study sheds light on investment levels across 12 key marketing, education and payer activities

In order for a new product to gain a foothold in today's competitive pharmaceutical market, executives must understand where and when to invest in key launch activities. At the same time, product launch leaders have to balance the goals of containing expenditures and generating a successful launch.

To help biopharma leaders better understand the factors behind a successful pharmaceutical product launch in the U.S. market, Best Practices, LLC has published a study that sheds light on investment levels and frequency across 12 key marketing, education, and payer activities. The report, "New Product Launch Spend: Medical Affairs Budget in the U.S. Market," includes overall investment benchmarks for specialty and primary care products for launch year and each of the three years prior to launch.

Spending for launch-related activities during the year their products entered the market ranged from $130 million to $2 million for the companies in the study. On average, study participants invested more than $35 million for launch-related activities. Market entry for primary care product launches consumes far greater resources than specialty launches, the study showed. Correspondingly they receive two to three times greater budget resources at launch year to reach the much larger population of primary care physicians.

Key topics covered in the Launch Spend study include:

• Average Cost: Industry average cost for new pharmaceutical product launch
• Primary/Specialty Comparison: Cost comparison for specialty vs. primary products
• Budget Allocation: Percentage of budget allocated to 12 key marketing, education and market access activities during and prior to launch
• Activities Timing: Timing for conducting promotional and educational launch activities
• Future Allocation Trends: Launch activities expected to gain a greater share of the budget in the coming 24-36 months, and activities expected to receive reduced share

This benchmarking research drew participation from 27 executives and managers at 23 leading biopharmaceutical companies. About three-quarters of the participants were directors or vice presidents and more than half work within marketing functions or departments.

SOURCE Best Practices, LLC