a case study of pharmaceutical industry

Browse Subjects

• PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
• CASE STUDIES
• DRUG POLICY
• PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH
• RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
• Dhar, Biswajit
• Rao, C. Niranjan
• Gupta, Veena

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

Pharmaceutical →

• 09 Feb 2024

Slim Chance: Drugs Will Reshape the Weight Loss Industry, But Habit Change Might Be Elusive

Medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro have upended a $76 billion industry that has long touted lifestyle shifts as a means to weight loss. Regina Herzlinger says these drugs might bring fast change, especially for busy professionals, but many questions remain unanswered.

• 01 Aug 2023
• Cold Call Podcast

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

mPharma, headquartered in Ghana, is trying to create the largest pan-African health care company. Their mission is to provide primary care and a reliable and fairly priced supply of drugs in the nine African countries where they operate. Co-founder and CEO Gregory Rockson needs to decide which component of strategy to prioritize in the next three years. His options include launching a telemedicine program, expanding his pharmacies across the continent, and creating a new payment program to cover the cost of common medications. Rockson cares deeply about health equity, but his venture capital-financed company also must be profitable. Which option should he focus on expanding? Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger and case protagonist Gregory Rockson discuss the important role business plays in improving health care in the case, “mPharma: Scaling Access to Affordable Primary Care in Africa.”

• 25 Jul 2023
• Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

Gilead Sciences used a novel approach to help Egypt address a public health crisis while sustaining profits from a key product. V. Kasturi Rangan and participants at a recent seminar hosted by the Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society discussed what it would take to apply the model more widely.

• 06 Jun 2023

The Opioid Crisis, CEO Pay, and Shareholder Activism

In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices, which critics alleged had contributed to the opioid crisis in the US. The $6.6 billion global settlement caused a net loss larger than the cumulative net income earned during the tenure of the company’s CEO, which began in 2011. In addition, AmerisourceBergen’s legal and financial troubles were accompanied by shareholder demands aimed at driving corporate governance changes in companies in the opioid supply chain. Determined to hold the company’s leadership accountable, the shareholders launched a campaign in early 2021 to reject the pay packages of executives. Should the board reduce the executives’ pay, as of means of improving accountability? Or does punishing the AmerisourceBergen executives for paying the settlement ignore the larger issue of a business’s responsibility to society? Harvard Business School professor Suraj Srinivasan discusses executive compensation and shareholder activism in the context of the US opioid crisis in his case, “The Opioid Settlement and Controversy Over CEO Pay at AmerisourceBergen.”

• 26 Apr 2023

How Martine Rothblatt Started a Company to Save Her Daughter

When serial entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt (founder of Sirius XM) received her seven-year-old daughter’s diagnosis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), she created United Therapeutics and developed a drug to save her life. When her daughter later needed a lung transplant, Rothblatt decided to take what she saw as the logical next step: manufacturing organs for transplantation. Rothblatt’s entrepreneurial career exemplifies a larger debate around the role of the firm in creating solutions for society’s problems. If companies are uniquely good at innovating, what voice should society have in governing the new technologies that firms create? Harvard Business School professor Debora Spar debates these questions in the case “Martine Rothblatt and United Therapeutics: A Series of Implausible Dreams.” As part of a new first-year MBA course at Harvard Business School, this case examines the central question: what is the social purpose of the firm?

• 28 Mar 2023

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Expediting so-called breakthrough therapies has saved millions of dollars in research time without compromising drug safety or efficacy, says research by Ariel Stern, Amitabh Chandra, and colleagues. Could policymakers harness the approach to bring life-saving treatments to the market faster?

• 12 Dec 2022

Buy-In from Black Patients Suffers When Drug Trials Don’t Include Them

Diversifying clinical trials could build trust in new treatments among Black people and their physicians. Research by Joshua Schwartzstein, Marcella Alsan, and colleagues probes the ripple effects of underrepresentation in testing, and offers a call to action for drugmakers.

• 06 Sep 2022

Curbing an Unlikely Culprit of Rising Drug Prices: Pharmaceutical Donations

Policymakers of every leaning have vowed to rein in prescription drug costs, with little success. But research by Leemore Dafny shows how closing a loophole on drugmaker donations could eliminate one driver of rising expenses.

• 22 Feb 2021
• Working Paper Summaries

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

Research and development (R&D) by pharmaceutical firms focuses disproportionately on medical conditions afflicting the elderly. The proportion of R&D spending targeting older age groups is increasing over time. Even though these investments in R&D prolong life expectancy and improve quality of life, they have little effect on measured productivity and output growth.

• 14 Dec 2020

What Does December's Drug-Approval Dash Mean for COVID-19 Vaccines?

Even in the best of times, pharmaceutical regulators tend to rush through drug applications in December. Now add in a ruthless pandemic. Research and insights from Lauren Cohen. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 28 Sep 2020

What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?

This essay discusses the role of market frictions and "missing medicines" in drug innovation and highlights how frameworks and toolkits of economists can help our understanding of the determinants and effects of Alzheimer's disease on health.

• 01 Sep 2020

How to Launch a New Biosciences Product: Start Small or Dive in?

C16 Biosciences wants to replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation, with a lab-grown substitute. But CEO Shara Ticku faces a tough decision in bringing the product to market. Jeff Bussgang discusses his case study. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 10 Aug 2020

COVID's Surprising Toll on Careers of Women Scientists

Women scientists and those with young children are paying a steep career price in the pandemic, according to new research by Karim Lakhani, Kyle Myers, and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 13 Jul 2020

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

VIDEO: Ken Frazier, one of only four Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, speaks with Professor Tsedal Neeley about the search for a coronavirus vaccine, how racism at the workplace holds back America’s progress, and his own upbringing just one generation from slavery. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 09 Jun 2020

In a Pandemic, What’s the Best Strategy for the Global Vaccine Alliance?

How should the vaccine alliance Gavi respond to the worldwide need for a cure for the COVID-19 pandemic? Tarun Khanna discusses his case study. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 01 Jun 2020

Rebates in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Evidence from Medicines Sold in Retail Pharmacies in the U.S.

Retail pharmacy data illustrates it can be misleading to use list prices instead of net prices to understand pharmaceutical prices. Analysts and economists working in public policy should be extremely cautious in drawing policy conclusions based on list prices alone.

• 28 Feb 2019

Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare

What happens when Intermountain Healthcare invests resources in an innovative precision medicine unit to provide life-extending, genetically targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients? Professors Richard Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti discuss the case and its connections to their work with the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 12 Jun 2018

In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?

Pharmaceutical companies are criticized for not producing more breakthrough drugs. But new research by Joshua Krieger and colleagues shows that, given a financial windfall, drug giants turn on the innovation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 21 Feb 2018

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

Companies pay close attention when a competitor drops out of the market, according to new research by Joshua Lev Krieger. Too often, though, they come to the wrong conclusion. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 09 Feb 2018

Developing Novel Drugs

This paper contributes to our understanding of how financing constraints affect the direction of innovation in drug development. The authors develop a new measure of drug novelty based on molecular characteristics, and explore the tradeoffs involved in decisions to develop more novel therapies. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Pharmaceutical industry

How Medical Nonprofits Set Winning Strategy

• Kathy Giusti
• Richard G. Hamermesh
• March 06, 2020

How Much Cash Does Your Company Need?

• Richard Passov
• From the November 2003 Issue

Can One Business Unit Have 2 Revenue Models? (HBR Case Study and Commentary)

• Marco Bertini
• Nader Tavassoli
• Bodo Eickhoff
• Eric Achtmann
• From the March 2015 Issue

What It Takes to Lead a Disease Research Foundation

• August 18, 2020

All the Wrong Moves (HBR Case Study)

• David A. Garvin
• January 01, 2006

The CEO of Zoetis on How He Prepared for the Top Job

• Juan Ramon Alaix
• From the June 2014 Issue

Addressing Demographic Disparities in Clinical Trials

• Mark Krasnow
• June 11, 2021

Managing Innovation in the Information Age

• Rebecca M. Henderson
• From the January–February 1994 Issue

Putting Customers in the “Wish Mode”

• Jason Magidson
• Gregg Brandyberry
• From the September 2001 Issue

Leadership Run Amok: The Destructive Potential of Overachievers

• Scott W. Spreier
• Mary H. Fontaine
• Ruth L. Malloy
• From the June 2006 Issue

Mastering the Value Chain: An Interview with Mark Levin of Millennium Pharmaceuticals

• David Champion
• From the June 2001 Issue

Who Goes, Who Stays? (Commentary for HBR Case Study)

• David A. Light
• Lawrence J. Demonaco
• Grant Freeland
• Patrick O'Sullivan
• January 01, 2001

Scientific Management at Merck: An Interview with CFO Judy Lewent

• Nancy A. Nichols

The CEO of Pfizer on Developing a Vaccine in Record Time

• Albert Bourla
• From the May–June 2021 Issue

What Executives Should Remember

• Peter F. Drucker
• From the February 2006 Issue

Who Goes, Who Stays? (HBR Case Study and Commentary)

• From the January 2001 Issue

How Merck Is Trying to Keep Disrupters at Bay

• Frank V. Cespedes
• Jay Galeota
• Michael Wong
• June 08, 2015

How Pharma Can Fix Its Reputation and Its Business at the Same Time

• Damiano de Felice
• February 03, 2017

Why Good Projects Fail Anyway

• Nadim F. Matta
• Ronald N. Ashkenas
• September 01, 2003

"Businesses Exist to Deliver Value to Society."

• Kenneth Frazier
• Adi Ignatius
• From the March–April 2018 Issue

Operation Warp Speed and the COVID-19 Vaccine

• Kevin Schulman
• Abishek Thiagaraj
• April 27, 2021

AIDS in South Africa: Patents vs. People

• Robert Tancer
• Susan Talley
• August 01, 2000

Building the Supply Chain for COVID-19 Vaccines

• Marshall Fisher
• Kateryna Kharenko
• Canberk Ucel
• Prashant Yadav
• July 01, 2021

Rethinking the Medical Supply Chain at Shanghai General Hospital

• Benjamin Yen
• December 27, 2018

Pharmaceutical Industry: Challenges in the New Century

• Stephen P. Bradley
• James Weber
• February 12, 2003

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope (C)

• Joshua D. Margolis
• Thomas J. DeLong
• Terry Heymann
• November 14, 2007

Procurement at Betapharm Corp. (B)

• Taylor Randall
• March 15, 2005

Novo Industri

• Michael E. Porter
• Michael J. Enright
• April 19, 1989

MSDI-Alcala de Henares, Spain

• Timothy A. Luehrman
• James J. Student
• January 06, 1989

Cipla Global Ltd.: Generics versus Drug Discovery

• December 17, 2015

Risk Arbitrage: Abbott Labs and Alza (B)

• George Chacko
• Randolph B. Cohen
• Marc Chennault
• June 25, 2003

Project Maxima

• Krishna G. Palepu
• Carin-Isabel Knoop
• March 19, 2009

Merck: Managing Vioxx (E)

• Robert Simons
• Kathryn Rosenberg
• Natalie Kindred
• April 20, 2009

New Ways to Answer Old Questions: Conjoint Analysis Takes the Guesswork Out of Pharmaceutical Marketing Decisions

• Erich Joachimsthaler
• September 01, 1993

To Trim or Not to Trim: That Is the Question

• Srikant M. Datar
• May 25, 2000

Digital Manufacturing at Amgen

• Shane Greenstein
• Kyle R. Myers
• Sarah Mehta
• February 01, 2021

Spark Therapeutics: Pioneering Gene Therapy

• Robert F. Higgins
• January 17, 2018

Chadwick, Inc.: The Balanced Scorecard

• Robert S. Kaplan
• January 06, 1993

The Novartis Malaria Initiative

• Michael Chu
• Vincent Dessain
• Emilie Billaud
• March 25, 2014

EpiPen Pricing

• Michael Moffett
• May 01, 2017

The Anatomy of Process Development

• Gary P. Pisano
• September 12, 1996

AIDS in South Africa: Patents vs. People, Teaching Note

Popular topics, partner center.

The New Equation

Executive leadership hub - What’s important to the C-suite?

Tech Effect

Shared success benefits

Loading Results

No Match Found

Next in pharma: How can pharmaceutical companies drive value growth?

When great science isn’t enough, how can pharmaceutical companies drive value growth.

The pharmaceutical industry has plenty to celebrate. In the last decade, major therapeutic advances, such as immunotherapy and cell and gene therapy, have given new hope to patients. COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time to help save the world during a historic pandemic.

But during that same period of groundbreaking innovation, pharmaceutical companies failed to keep pace with the capital markets. In fact, returns from pharmaceutical companies lagged the S&P 500 by about one-third, and biotech fared even worse.

Looking at the stock performance of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies, the divide between the leaders and laggards has been widening. In 2021, the five-year total shareholder return (TSR) for drugmakers in the top quintile was up by 29%, compared with a decline of 11% in the bottom quintile, according to a PwC analysis (figure 2). As performance pressures mount, investors are taking a closer look at which pharma companies are positioned to win and allocating their investments accordingly.

Overcoming the performance challenge

Market headwinds are well documented. Drugmakers are grappling with extended drug development timelines, pricing scrutiny, high costs of regulation and litigation, and increasing competition in nearly every category. Another wave of patent expirations is just around the corner, meaning more therapeutic areas will have generic or biosimilar alternatives. Gross margins for some novel treatments, such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, are well below historical averages and the increasing personalization of medicine means manufacturers need to generate returns on smaller populations of patients. All of these forces need to be overcome in pursuit of higher shareholder returns.

First, as leaders set the path ahead, they should incorporate a sharper lens on shareholder value creation into everyday decision-making. Connecting product-market decisions (e.g., portfolio choices, launch investments, production expansions) to shareholder value creation across the enterprise is essential to help translate great science into great returns. 

Similarly, another overarching imperative will be delivering on the promise of digital innovation. PwC  research shows results to date have been disappointing. Looking ahead, the pharmaceutical industry can learn a lot from leading tech companies in areas like developing digital products, personalizing customer engagement, harnessing new types of data, deploying intelligent automation and working in a more agile fashion.

With a foundation set on those goals, pharma leaders can gain competitive advantage by focusing on five key actions:

Build differentiated capabilities to outperform competition:

Key industry capabilities (e.g., decentralized trials, machine learning at scale) will help drive the business forward in a differentiated manner. Companies that execute flawlessly on these capabilities will have a competitive advantage.

Retain talent, prioritize culture:

 In the age of “The Great Resignation” and the ”war for talent,” having a differentiated culture to attract and retain the right staff will be critical. Employees want to find purpose and know that what they are doing can drive change in the world. For employees at pharmaceutical companies, work means saving lives. Doubling down on this mission, while building a unique culture that matches your strategic imperatives is critical. Communicating and executing on those values daily will help drive the most sustained loyalty from your personnel.

Protect the enterprise:

Given the aforementioned challenges in the industry, it will be critical to minimize any downside risk around cybersecurity, regulatory challenges and legal matters in order to preserve value.

Drive more returns from large IT and cloud investments:

Companies have made massive investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, artificial intelligence (AI), automation and cloud. Now is the time to capitalize on these investments, driving them to the front-end patient experience to improve customer satisfaction, while also improving the efficiency of operations.

Think broadly about portfolio and transactions:

The industry spends a lot of effort and focus on determining where best to drive the business strategically (e.g., geography, therapeutic categories, scientific modalities). There is no doubt that making the right strategic choices can provide a lot of headroom, however, we see returns accelerated by better execution of divestitures as well as in building out the best-in-class partnership ecosystem to drive leading science, technologies and talent to the business.

Download Next in pharma report

Build differentiated capabilities to outperform competition.

Assets, such as patents and products, have always been important to value growth in the pharmaceuticals sector. But assets come and go. Capabilities are enduring and can create a lasting competitive advantage. As pharmaceutical companies look to outperform in the future marketplace, six capabilities are expected to be critical to success:

Putting the patient at the center with decentralized trials

Adopting human-machine technologies at scale, capitalizing on digital innovation in the value proposition, taking real-world evidence to the next level, reimagining customer engagement with analytics and technology, taking a new approach to budgeting with value-based planning.

Patient-centric trial design is a hot topic today and is expected to be a defining capability for the future. The COVID-19 pandemic drove the industry to rethink the traditional paradigm for clinical trials, accelerating the development and use of decentralized design. The ability to design, execute and oversee clinical trials that run in the home, near the home in retail pharmacies and health clinics  and virtually is a must-have. Decentralized settings reduce the burdens on participants, such as the need to travel to a major academic medical center, and therefore increase the number of individuals willing to participate in a study. More convenient and less burdensome trials also increase the odds of retaining participants throughout a study. Furthermore, decentralized trials hold great promise for reaching underrepresented communities, resulting in more relevant research in which the study population looks like the disease population in the real world.

While the potential impact for patients (less burden, more access to trials) and for sponsors (faster trial enrollments, reduced dropout rates, more competitive trial design) is significant, creating a winning capability in decentralized trials means adopting significant changes. R&D leaders should evaluate their portfolios to assess which trials are best suited for a decentralized design, change processes related to trial enablement, update the vendor ecosystem to include suppliers that specialize in decentralized trials and upgrade the use of data and analytics to support the trial life cycle. All of this will need to occur while balancing the ability to execute and oversee traditional randomized clinical trial activities. Those who get it right will be living the industry’s “patient at the center” mantra, while increasing their own odds of success in the competition to recruit and retain patients.

Most pharmaceutical companies have explored opportunities to apply robotic process automation (RPA) and have developed use cases that leverage artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. But many pharma leaders see scaling these advanced technology plays beyond a handful of pilots as a challenge. Tackling a few high-value use cases in drug discovery or customer engagement helps, but the real opportunity is to reimagine the pharmaceutical company of the future, powered by intelligent technologies across the enterprise. The result will be an organization that can handle more sophisticated decisions with better outcomes and shorter time frames.

Leaders in tackling the human-machine possibilities will start with a clear, top-down vision of what they are trying to achieve. This might include vaporizing millions of hours worth of routine work across the enterprise, increasing speed on cross-functional processes or improving effectiveness. Enterprise-wide change requires a clear vision and specific goals. It also requires upskilling the business to have a stronger sense of what’s possible with predictive analytics and intelligent automation. Individuals should be well-equipped to generate and engage on ideas, and should have incentives to think differently. These technologies are powered by large data sets, so fit-for-purpose data strategies that are linked to the digital products and services they support can better enable scaling.

The drumbeat on value will continue into the future, meaning drugmakers need to enhance their value proposition. While advances in traditional measures of product efficacy and safety are still critical, digital innovations create new possibilities for helping physicians and patients achieve improved outcomes. Tracking digital biomarkers, offering digital therapeutics and innovative clinical decision support tools and creating connected treatment ecosystems offer new opportunities to predict disease progression, engage patients more deeply in their treatment and support their path to success.

Discovering, developing and commercializing these next-generation solutions is a different type of capability. Borrowing lessons learned from the tech industry, leaders in the pharmaceutical sector will have a deep understanding of human-centered design, device/solution regulatory pathways and ecosystem partners that can accelerate the journey. They will redefine operating models to incorporate digital solutions as part of product development and commercialization, starting early in the process. Beyond the direct value generated by these solutions, another important element of the value equation is the information that can be generated by these digital products. Winners in this domain will have great solutions, but they will also be world-class in envisioning what data will be valuable and putting the capabilities in place to take full advantage of it.

Real-world evidence (RWE) is undergoing rapid evolution as its impact deepens in clinical development and expands across the product development life cycle. As pharmaceutical companies look to convert major investments in RWE into real returns for patients and shareholders, the trustworthiness and fit-for-purpose nature of the data sources, the approaches used to convert observations to evidence and the need to upgrade organizational decision-making are important elements in determining the capabilities of RWE in the future.

Real-world data (RWD) and the evidence derived from it (RWE) have become progressively more sophisticated as the patient journey has become ever more digital—from structured data in insurance claims 20 years ago, to the widespread adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) over the last decade and now to sources of near-real-time data directly from the point of care or from patients’ homes and phones. But more data has not always translated into better evidence, a fact that’s acutely understood by regulators and payers. To ensure this proliferation of data is of high quality and reliable, leaders will be out in front to define standards of trustworthiness for RWD and RWE.

Going forward, pharmaceutical companies have an opportunity to expand their collection of RWD and create the analytical capabilities needed to turn these new sources of data into compelling evidence. Beyond data and analytics, changing the organization’s mindset about evidence is a challenge. In the past, product and portfolio decisions often have been weighted toward experimental data from clinical trials and advice from key opinion leaders. RWD provides an additional view, and leaders should ensure this new class of evidence is incorporated into their company’s decision-making processes.

The early adopters of RWE are starting to reap the benefits of their investment, as regulators and payers increasingly recognize its benefits and learn to deploy it effectively. The rest of the pack is looking to leapfrog with vendors and partners that have already learned what didn’t work. Landing as a disruptor, and not as one of the disrupted, means having a leading capability in RWE.

With pricing scrutiny expected to persist, winning and retaining customers to drive volume will be essential to growth. And customers today expect a more digital experience. According to Wunderman Thompson’s research , more than three-quarters (76%) of global consumers say their everyday lives depend on technology, and this figure is even higher for Generation Z and millennials, at 79% and 80%, respectively. Eighty-one percent of global consumers say they “switch on” to unwind, and over half say they are physically (55%) and mentally (56%) healthier, thanks to technology.

As these trends and others like them continue, pharma’s commercial leaders have an opportunity to harness digital technologies to design the differentiated customer experience of the future.

Imagine a deeply immersive virtual reality environment where physicians can experience content (not just access it), interact with peers, ask questions of pharma staff and activate a range of support services. In contrast with a two- to three-minute detail by a sales specialist, this is an environment where a physician could spend a much more meaningful period of time. Predictive analytics would customize the environment for this physician, and orchestrate the right follow-ups based on the experience. Similar environments would be accessible to patients.

The next generation of experiences is just around the corner, and commercial leaders should ensure they are ready. This means strengthening human-centered design skills, shaping partnerships with new types of vendors such as metaverse players, creating branding concepts that are intriguing and unconventional to resonate in a digital-first environment and using the power of predictive analytics to identify and activate customers most effectively.

The coronavirus pandemic upended the traditional engagement model. Companies were forced to adapt in response to the crisis. Going forward, innovating the customer experience will be a source of competitive advantage.

If the pharmaceuticals sector is to outperform in the capital markets, it needs to boost the outlook for future profits and ensure plans are in place to deliver. How resources are allocated across the company is a big driver of both growth and returns. Are costs, capital and people allocated to their highest and best use, as measured by alignment to the strategy and ability to create shareholder value? In most large, complex global enterprises there are organizational realities that work against optimal resource allocation, such as fuzzy priorities, prior-year-budget inertia, “squeaky wheels” and gut-instinct planning.

The ability to align resources with their most valuable use year after year is a strategic capability that can convey a lasting advantage. But it is not easy. Value-based planning requires an objective understanding of where and how value is created in the enterprise (e.g.,products, markets, customers) and how resources are consumed by each of the units. Operational drivers of work (for example, speaker events, customer visits and scientific publications) should be connected to their true cost and tested for alignment to both strategy and value (realizing some activities cannot or should not be measured strictly by return on investment). Productivity should be analyzed through new lenses. For example, you could borrow the working-to-non-working spend ratio used in consumer products businesses to spark ongoing questions about how best to reallocate resources from lower-value to higher-value activities.

Traditional budgeting is not getting the job done, as seen in the sector’s lagging shareholder returns. Value-based planning offers CEOs and their teams a better capability for managing resources and ensuring all of the great work underway within the company translates into stronger results in both the product and capital markets.

Drive more returns from large IT and cloud investments

The six essential capabilities can only be delivered at scale with the power of the cloud . Companies should create the data, analytics and technology environments to power the modern pharma and life sciences enterprise and support new capabilities, such as leveraging cloud native services to extract key information from documents and cost-effectively managing large volumes of near-real-time data.

Cloud platforms are typically leveraged by pharmaceutical companies for either infrastructure (migration to cloud for compute power and storage) or for their innovative tools (services) such as natural language processing, speech-to-text conversion and machine learning.

Pharma companies are currently in various stages of migration to the cloud infrastructure, a transition that promises improved efficiencies, expanded service offerings and lower costs for operations. Moving legacy applications to the cloud could cut the cost, but in order to realize these savings, companies must make substantial investments in modernizing their IT infrastructure to take advantage of cloud-native architectures for their aging legacy systems.

A more rapid path to cloud benefits is acceleration of innovation through cloud-native services. For example, voice-to-text conversion services along with natural language processing services can detect safety events and product issues through call center operations, improving quality and reducing review effort and time. Machine learning can be used to automate product complaints and adverse events processing, reducing effort and duration. These examples are real and just a taste of the benefits to be had leveraging cloud-native services.

In a 2021 PwC survey of health industry leaders, 42% of respondents said that improving the experience for patients was the main goal behind investing in cloud technology. Among other patient-friendly offerings, cloud computing supports the planning of decentralized trials, identifying aspects of trial design that will or will not work at remote sites, helping to minimize burdens and boosting the likelihood of success. 

In the next five years we expect all of the top 20 pharma companies will adopt a comprehensive cloud strategy—encompassing migration to cloud infrastructure and cloud-native services to drive innovation.

Retain talent, prioritize culture

Over the past decade, PwC’s annual global culture survey has consistently shown that organizations with a distinct culture deliver higher growth and profitability than their industry peers. Culture can either accelerate or hinder the types of transformational changes that will define the drugmaker of the future. So there’s no getting around the role of culture in driving an uplift to pharmaceutical sector performance. 

While every company will make its own choices on the behaviors to emphasize in their unique culture, two themes will be important in the cultural underpinnings of tomorrow’s pharma company:

“Next-generation transformation at scale means every part of the enterprise will need to innovate.”

Trust comes first, owning ESG

The first is trust. Trust is a precious commodity, especially for a sector that asks individuals to participate in scientific experiments, share personal data and pay significant amounts of money for the promise of improved health. Organizational behaviors aligned to building trust with external stakeholders such as customers, partners and regulators are critical to living the industry’s purpose, and also to realizing the value that can be created in areas such as digital engagement, real-world evidence and decentralized trials. In particular, behaviors to build trust in underserved and underrepresented populations will be increasingly important to both improving societal outcomes and accessing new patients. 

Ensuring a culture of trust internally is similarly important. About half of the employees who participated in PwC’s 2021 Global Culture Survey reported not feeling listened to, seen or included at work. CEOs’ responses to the same survey revealed a much rosier outlook (figure 4). This disconnect tells us that managers might pay lip service to inclusion, but that employees aren’t feeling real effects from all the talk.

In an industry that relies on highly skilled knowledge workers, trust is essential for attracting and retaining talent, as well as bringing employees along in the transformation journey. Employees should believe that:

• The company is “doing the right thing”, living its purpose and owning its  environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities to society.
• They can be their authentic selves at work.
• They have the autonomy to integrate work and life, including more empowerment and flexibility in how they carry out their responsibilities.

The leaders of the future should nurture a deep sense of belonging and create a bond of trust with their people . Being bold and bringing back the feeling of pride to the industry will be critical to not only maintaining current employees, but becoming the employer of choice.

Take risks to innovate

The second key cultural theme is innovation. Of course pharma is innovative, right? Concerns about taking risks and going outside of traditional comfort zones can put a damper on new ideas, especially in large-scale, established companies. Next-generation transformation at scale means every part of the enterprise will need to innovate.

Emphasizing behaviors related to reimagination, creative destruction, lifelong learning and new types of multidisciplinary teaming will help to counteract institutional forces that can squash innovation. No corporate center is powerful enough or all-knowing enough to drive change exclusively from the top. Along with significant business-led investments, innovation will come from digitally upskilled employees who are close to the work, committed to the mission and feel empowered to pursue new ideas.This type of citizen-led innovation has the potential to become a self-reinforcing system of innovation and value creation. Encouraging these behaviors is a must for drugmakers who expect to be on the cutting edge of both science and business.

A culture deeply rooted in trust and innovation will be an accelerator in the journey ahead. The leader’s work is to ensure these themes are infused into everyday organizational behaviors in a way that creates a lasting advantage for the company.

Think broadly about portfolio and transactions

Transactions have always been the fabric of the pharma industry, and deal activity will accelerate as companies look to inorganic activities to achieve their growth plans. Transactions for products as well as capabilities are on the agenda for all CEOs. With the continued scrutiny of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on larger deals in pharma, most companies will need to drive a higher number of transactions to get the same outcomes.

While every company has structures and funding to maximize a variety of transaction types—from early stage investments to large-scale deals—given the competitive landscape, companies are going to need to revamp their business development process to drive more outcomes from their transactions.

So where are there opportunities for enhancement?

• Revisit and rethink
• Define a clear objective
• Reimagine the structure
• Commit to a long-term plan

Revisit and rethink your overall buy/build/partner strategy and decision trees.

In this dynamic and unstable business climate, having a clear yet agile approach to evaluating all of your options will be key. Companies should continue to push harder on asking themselves whether products and services need to be made in-house. Focusing on differentiated capabilities that will really be the critical value drivers for the business can provide the strategic path towards helping to clarify what is often muddied.

Define a clear objective of being the partner of choice and drive that mindset within the business.

Brand perception in the market will become more important as the business world moves forward. Internally competing views can lead to challenges, and so aligning company culture with the external market perception is critical. A real partner of choice can bring value in a manner that will make the decision obvious.

Reimagine the optimal structure to drive the external-facing market and opportunities.

Having a clear strategy on therapeutic areas and technologies at times can be the simpler part of the equation. Driving this systematically to the external markets in a holistic manner can be challenging. Due to lack of clarity on prioritization (internal versus external projects, or both) and conflicting agendas (investment thresholds, rewards and personal objectives), disconnects can occur. Teaming will be critical to make sure everyone is swimming in the same direction. Companies that will succeed in the long term will find a way to have the right combination of “not made here” and “made here.” Finding the balance of free-spirited innovators combined with disciplined investors will be the key to efficient returns.

Commit to a long-term plan to build an ecosystem, but one with the agility to move with the changing business world.

Setting up the right structure, focus and operations is likely not enough. Ensuring that the ecosystem can be agile to adjust to where the markets are moving and to business needs will be critical. Annual refreshes to the plan will be key, as well as good communication throughout and the ability to navigate in a fluid manner when necessary.  Ensuring the partnership enablers that are market-facing are aligned and working together in an efficient manner with the organization can drive the best outcomes.

Protect the enterprise

While creating capabilities to enhance competitive advantage and value for your business is critical, you must also ensure the business is protected from factors that can destroy value, such as cyberattacks, quality and compliance problems, legal matters and other ethical challenges. Driving technology-enabled digital change can be the most efficient path forward. Companies that have appropriately focused on the people and process side of the equation and are now addressing technology will be better equipped to manage threats.

Cybercrime continues to be a major focus of pharmaceutical company boards and executives as cyberattacks increase in sophistication. PwC’s 2022 Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey (GECS) found that, among the 19 types of economic crime, cybercrime stood out as the most widespread—and most disruptive—event experienced over the past two years globally and domestically. Hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are targeting large pharmaceutical companies, putting clinical discovery trial data, patient health information and other pharmaceutical trade secrets in jeopardy. For example, a 2020 cyberattack on the European Medicines Agency exposed data for a leading coronavirus vaccine.

We assess that the overall cyber risk to the pharmaceutical industry remains high due to the continued threat of ransomware. There has been a significant increase in ransomware attacks along with the solidification of ransomware-as-a-service groups as a preeminent threat. There is also a concurrent escalation of geopolitical tensions with a nation-state actor currently at odds with the US, which could significantly disrupt supply chain operations. Overall, nation-state actors continue to be a formidable threat, with many demonstrating interest in pharmaceutical development.

Given the broader labor changes, supply shortages and constantly changing supply chain strategies and operations, the focus on quality can be challenging to sustain, and the downside can have massive impacts on the business, including the potential inability to manufacture products.

Having high standards of ethics is not enough anymore. Given the challenging labor market and the need to drive better ESG results, ensuring that a company's core values and purpose are front and center and that employees feel the meaning and purpose of their work will be critical. Being bold and bringing back a feeling of pride to the industry will be critical not only to retaining current employees, but to becoming the employer of choice.

The winners in the industry will be able to optimize the human-technology interface by leveraging data across the enterprise to derive insights. For example, by using analytics to automate the batch release process, not just to mitigate risks, but to improve the manufacturing process and yields. Some companies are leveraging quality to improve clinical outcomes and accelerate the completion of clinical trials.

“Having high standards of ethics is not enough anymore.”

Tax strategy paves way for long-term success

Given the global nature of the industry and the impact of tax on many aspects of the business, we see taxes continuing to be an area of value retention and creation. With potentially changing supply chains from geopolitical instability, tax structuring and planning will be critical to prevent leakage.

Although pharmaceutical companies got a reprieve in the US this March with  changes to the corporate tax regime , global tax reform is still on the near horizon. Countries want their fair share of tax contributions from pharma companies and are applying pressure for more transparency and increasing the number of audits from government agencies. A two-pillar tax plan at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is complete and is set to take effect in 2023. Maintaining a clear and defendable tax strategy that is agile given the environment will be key to long-term success. The winners will have tech-enabled, real-time scenario planning on tax built into broader investment decisions to ensure operational decisions have tax efficiencies embedded in the outcomes.

The path forward

The pharmaceutical industry mission is more important than ever—vaccines are helping the world climb out of the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative medicines are healing our loved ones and clinical trials are providing hope for so many.

It is a privilege to serve this mission. Demands to do it well are rising, with discerning investors looking to back the winners. In this environment, executives should be asking themselves:

• Do we have a vision and roadmap for change?
• Are we developing capabilities for the future that are truly differentiated? 
• Are we making fast enough progress at scale?
• How strong are our enterprise protections?
• Are we positioned to get the most out of M&A activities and new ecosystem partnerships?

If you answered no to any of these questions, the time to act is now. Executive teams should ensure they have a game plan for transformation while also protecting the enterprise, in order to create the value patients and shareholders expect.

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{item.publishDate}}

{{item.title}}

{{item.text}}

Glenn Hunzinger

US Pharma and Life Sciences Leader, PwC US

Laura Robinette

Global Engagement Partner, Health Industries Trust Solutions Leader, PwC US

Principal, PwC US

Matthew Rich

Thank you for your interest in PwC

We have received your information. Should you need to refer back to this submission in the future, please use reference number "refID" .

Required fields are marked with an asterisk( * )

Please correct the errors and send your information again.

By submitting your email address, you acknowledge that you have read the Privacy Statement and that you consent to our processing data in accordance with the Privacy Statement (including international transfers). If you change your mind at any time about wishing to receive the information from us, you can send us an email message using the Contact Us page.

© 2017 - 2024 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

• Data Privacy Framework
• Cookie info
• Terms and conditions
• Site provider
• Your Privacy Choices

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Please enable javascript to use our site

Inpharmation — Case Studies

Case studies.

• White Papers

Real-world evidence of delivering strategic insights to the pharmaceutical industry

Inpharmation runs global projects for the majority of top-50 pharmaceutical companies, across all major therapy areas., below you can browse a selection of projects showcasing examples of real-world strategic insights inpharmation delivers., to receive your full free copy of any case study:.

• Click on the business scenario that most interests you.
• Submit a request via the download instructions.

Delivering gene therapy pricing strategy where payer interviews had failed: The power of Behavior-Based Pricing

Our client had a novel “one and done” gene therapy for an ultra-orphan disease. Despite previous payer research, the client lacked direction in which patient segments to target, what list to net pricing strategy to take, and what net price they could achieve. They needed an efficient and quantitative solution to inform their key development […]

Informing pricing prospects for a gene therapy in-licensing deal

To in-license, or not to in-license? Our client wanted to evaluate the price potential of a promising new product. The indication had a high unmet need and there was potential for the product to be used in future combination therapies. A lack of analogues and tight timelines added further complexity to the project. Inpharmation’s combination […]

Second indication, a second chance?

Analogue-based pricing had previously failed our client. They now had just eight weeks to make a launch or no-launch decision for a second indication. An evidence-based approach was needed to prevent repeating past mistakes.

Where do you start with pricing when the future landscape is unknown?

Limited clinical trial data, multiple lines of treatment and a changing pricing landscape presented challenges for the pricing assessment of an innovative oncology asset. However, Inpharmation’s evidence-based techniques were able to provide a flexible solution within the customer’s tight timelines.

How a flexible approach to pricing research allowed a rapid change of direction when unexpected trial results emerged

A pharma company wanted to launch its asset into a second indication. However, just as Inpharmation’s research was coming to an end, unexpected clinical trial results were revealed. This required a rapid change in strategy.

One chronic illness, many unlicensed treatments and one pipeline asset: Where do you start with pricing?

A leading pharma company needed to understand the price potential of their novel first-in class asset. Without any direct comparators, they were unsure what price they could achieve and how payers were going to behave. Inpharmation’s evidence-based approaches provided the perfect solution…

A clinical advance with a novel mechanism of action: What will its uptake look like?

With no obvious analogues and mixed messages from previous demand and qualitative research, our client was unsure what their novel asset’s uptake would look like. Inpharmation had the ideal approach to provide validated insights and evidence-based results…

How preconceived ideas of sample size nearly soured a great project

Pharma Specific Conjoint offered an ideal solution for our client. However, the significantly smaller sample size, compared to that of discrete-choice conjoint, lead to the project being met with reservations. A solution was needed to demonstrate the accuracy of our methodology.

How a lack of analogues could have undervalued a promising in-licensing opportunity

High unmet need offered a promising environment for a new asset; however, with no obvious analogues to quantify price potential, an approach ideal for an indication with no current treatments was needed…

A promising cardiovascular treatment in a highly prevalent disease

A highly prevalent disease with existing inexpensive therapies presented a challenging pricing environment for our client’s cardiovascular treatment. To deliver the optimal pricing strategy, Inpharmation used a combination of primary and secondary pricing techniques.

How analogue-based pricing confused a team of pricing experts

Traditional analogue-based pricing and qualitative payer interviews left our client confused when pricing an asset in a previously untreated disease with an uncertain patient population. Behavior-Based Pricing provided much needed clarity by drawing upon thousands of real-world payer decisions.

Case studies

Applications of artificial intelligence in the pharmaceutical industry

Credit: Bert van Dijk/Getty images.

Alto Neuroscience uses AI to develop brain biomarkers

Founded in 2019, Alto Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical start-up that uses its AI-enabled platform to measure brain biomarkers, including electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and behavioural patterns, wearable data, genetics, and other factors to drive targeted drug development in mental health.

Alto Neuroscience has several drugs in clinical development, including three in Phase II studies for major depressive disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (ALTO-100, ALTO-202, and ALTO-300) and four in Phase I for unspecified psychiatric disorders.

In October 2021, Alto Neuroscience announced that it had raised $40m in funding to advance its drug development process, including $8m in a seed funding round, and $32m in a Series A round led by Apeiron Investment Group.

In December 2021, Cerebral, a mental health start-up, and Alto Neuroscience announced a partnership to launch a decentralised clinical study in precision psychiatry to boost drug development and treatments for patients with mental disorders. The companies joined forces to conduct a Phase II clinical trial for Alto Neuroscience’s ALTO-300 depression drug candidate, and around 100 participants from Cerebral’s member network were enrolled from January 2022.

Participants undergo in-home evaluations measuring their brain activity, sleep, activity patterns, and genetics, as well as clinical outcomes such as depression and PTSD. Using Alto Neuroscience’s analytical approach to predicting patient outcomes, it will assess whether certain biomarkers are the best way to identify patients most likely to benefit from a given drug candidate. The Phase II study is expected to complete in June 2023.

In January 2023, Alto Neuroscience announced positive results for a Phase IIa trial of ALTO-100, a new drug for MDD. The trial recruited 228 patients with MDD or PTSD, of which 59 had an MDD biomarker profile that Alto identified as predicting drug efficacy. The trial's primary endpoint was a change in depression severity compared to baseline after six weeks. The biomarker-defined patients saw a greater reduction in the clinical assessment used for this compared to those without.

For clinical response, defined as a 50% reduction in symptoms of depression, a higher number of biomarker-defined patients (61%) achieved the desired result compared to patients without (33%). The trial is now in Phase IIb, focused solely on biomarker-defined patients to further demonstrate patient safety and efficacy.

The Phase IIb trial has been supported by a $35m Series B funding led by Lightswitch Capital and partners of Alkeon Capital secured in October 2022, and a further $25m equity investment added to the Series B fund by Alpha Wave Ventures in January 2023. Alto Neuroscience also entered into a $35m credit facility with K2 HealthVentures in 2023. The proceeds will be used to expand and continue the development of other mental-health-related therapeutics.

Clarify Health unveils GenAI copilot for predictive analytics

California-based enterprise analytics start-up Clarify Health Solutions (Clarify Health) has launched a closed beta of its GenAI copilot dubbed Clara. It is based on the startup’s Clarify Atlas platform that maps over 300 million patient journeys to deliver more than 18 billion AI-powered predictions and surface insights with speed and precision.     The copilot leverages Clarify’s healthcare claims dataset and employs advanced ML and NLP to deliver precise, relevant, and actionable data to healthcare professionals. It enables organisations to gain insights into influenceable behaviour changes that are pivotal in lowering healthcare costs and improving the quality of care. Users can access these insights instantly reducing the time for decision making.

Incentivised, higher-value care decisions can lead to better patient care and reduced costs. These strategies include pay-for-performance programs, bundled payments, shared savings models, value-based insurance design, patient education and decision support, and health information technology. Implementing these approaches requires collaboration among healthcare providers, payers, policymakers, and patients to align financial incentives with improved outcomes and cost-effectiveness.     Healthcare providers are always aiming to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance patient outcomes. Clarify Health aims to empower organisations to identify opportunities to encourage and incentivise decisions that lead to higher-quality care and lower costs for patients by utilising Clara.

In April 2022, the start-up raised $150m in Series D funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 along with other existing investors. It intended to utilise these funds to strengthen its clinical informatics capabilities and broaden its value-based payments technology. Clarify Health anticipates that Clara can transform the healthcare delivery landscape by offering organisations the opportunity to shape their development and tailor their capabilities to their unique needs.

REPROCEL streamlines big data analysis in drug development

Japan’s REPROCELL, in collaboration with IBM and STFC Hartree Centre, has launched Pharmacology-AI, a platform designed to simplify and accelerate the analysis of big data from drug development studies. The platform aims to help researchers identify inter-individual differences that significantly influence drug response or related clinical outcomes. It is designed to make the process of finding actionable insights from data quicker and easier, without the need for bioinformatics expertise.     Pharmacology-AI platform uses AI to analyse large datasets related to precision medicine. It simplifies analysis of large datasets, enabling researchers to quickly and easily reveal the genomic or clinical features driving drug response data, biomarker levels, or other clinical data outcomes.

The platform provides AI analysis outputs in an easily interpretable and interactive format via a secure web portal built in compliance with industry standards. It also allows for the combination of analysis with preclinical human tissue research to enhance translational data sets and increase the chances of clinical success.     Conventional analysis of large datasets in precision medicine can be time-consuming and complex, requiring high-level bioinformatics expertise. Pharmacology-AI addresses this challenge by employing AI. The platform can help improve the design of clinical trials, making them more successful and less costly.

It can also help identify patient populations most likely to benefit from new drugs much earlier in the drug development process. Furthermore, it can reveal why some patients respond to commonly prescribed drugs, while others gain little or no benefit. This could lead to more personalised treatment plans and improved patient outcomes. REPROCELL plans to expand the use of this technology across various organ systems and therapeutic areas.

GlobalData , the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Thematic Intelligence uses proprietary data, research, and analysis to provide a forward-looking perspective on the key themes that will shape the future of the world’s largest industries and the organisations within them.

Consultancy for large companies

• Roadmapping for strategy and innovation
• Prioritising and selecting innovation projects
• Turning R&D into successful products and services
• Competitive advantage through network design
• Transforming global production networks
• Managing the end-to-end supply chain
• Developing service supply networks
• Configuring global value networks for disruption
• Addressing tomorrow's network challenges
• Case Studies
• What our clients say
• Why transform your service capabilities?
• Assess your capabilities
• Making alliances
• Identifying opportunities
• Digital service strategy
• Automation strategies
• Industrial resilience audit
• Information Quality Risk Assessment Tool
• Design for transformation
• HR consultancy
• Digital Supply Chains Consortium
• What is the Open Innovation Forum?
• Current Members
• Professional development
• Corporate partnership

Pharmaceutical industry

Project aims.

This ongoing project seeks to explore possible future global value network configurations for the pharmaceutical industry that align with a disruptive switch in technology from batch-based manufacturing processes to continuous process manufacturing. It is a phased multi-year project involving a cross-sector consortium tailoring and applying the CIM approach. One key aspect is the integration of critical sub-systems within the total network.

Approach and key findings

A four-step process was used to identify alternative value network opportunities.

POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES

• Plant footprint reduction by 70%
• CapEx reduction by 25%
• Operating cost reduction by 30%
• Yield improvement by 10%
• More consistent quality
• More controllable, repeatable processes

POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTION

• Regulatory uncertainties
• Under-utilisation of existing capacity
• Technological readiness and uncertainties
• No clear and specific vision as to how continuous manufacturing may impact industry structure
• Transformation challenge and behavioural issues

Step 1: Identifying potential opportunities, barriers and target markets

Initial research identified a number of opportunities for the implementation of continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry, and potential barriers to their adoption (as illustrated in the table below). The aim of the project is a highly ambitious step-change in operational performance. The barriers, however, are significant, and require a coordinated and systematic approach to redesigning the entire value network.

Potential benefits of continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry

The analysis identified, at a conceptual level, the potential end-user target markets and products where continuous processing technology might provide attractive value network opportunities, either in meeting unmet user needs or providing step changes in cost, flexibility or reliability.

Step 2: current state mapping and definition of critical sub-systems

The second step involved mapping the current state of the batch-based global value network for the pharmaceutical industry (using the mapping approach described in section 1.2). This led to the identification of the critical sub-systems that would be affected by the shift to continuous manufacturing. Initial analysis was conducted to identify the potential of the shift for each sub-system.

Step 3: sub-systems analysis against desired benefits

Deeper analysis of the sub-systems was then carried out to support a tailored future configuration aligned with the specific benefits identified in step 2. The graphic below illustrates the outputs, where the five graphics refer to the five sub-systems. The ‘bubbles’ in each graph represent the different product-process segments making up each sub-system. Shaded areas signify attractive boundary conditions for continuous processing. This analysis supported deeper understanding of the ideal future configuration for each sub-system.

Step 4: integration of the critical sub-systems

The final step of the process guided the integration of the sub-systems. This involved detailed examination of the interactions between the five areas (clinical, primary/secondary manufacturing, packaging and distribution, end-to-end supply) to identify target applications for continuous manufacturing that could work within and across the sub-systems. The target applications were then assessed in terms of different transformation scenarios, bringing together inputs on technology readiness and business viability.

Future work

This study is part of an ongoing research agenda that seeks to understand future disruptive changes in the pharmaceutical industry global value network. This involves extending the preliminary analysis described above to cover other key areas in terms of patient populations and product-process segments. This work will seek to explore the attractive business propositions alongside technological feasibility, and will consider the behavioural changes and dynamic capabilities required to make the transformation across the total value network.

Capturing value from global networks

Strategic approaches to configuring international production, supply and service operations.

Read inside

• Purchase the full report

ISBN: 978-1-902546-30-8

Quick Links

• Annual International Manufacturing Symposium

• Institute for Manufacturing
• 17 Charles Babbage Road
• Cambridge CB3 0FS
• +44 (0)1223 766141
• [email protected]
• Site Map | Freedom of Info | Privacy
• Stay in touch:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Asset Management
• Business Model Innovation
• Computer Aided Manufacturing
• Decision-Making for Emerging Technologies
• Design Management
• Digital Manufacturing
• Distributed Information & Automation Laboratory
• Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing
• Industrial Photonics
• Industrial Resilience
• Industrial Sustainability
• Inkjet Research
• Innovation and Intellectual Property
• International Manufacturing
• Manufacturing Industry Education Research
• NanoManufacturing
• Science, Technology & Innovation Policy
• Strategy and Performance
• Technology Enterprise
• Technology Management
• Service Alliance
• University Commercialisation and Innovation Policy Evidence Unit
• About IfM ECS
• Consultancy
• For business
• For government
• For universities
• Open courses

Department of Engineering

Accessibility | © University of Cambridge 2016

• Global (EN)
• Albania (en)
• Algeria (fr)
• Argentina (es)
• Armenia (en)
• Australia (en)
• Austria (de)
• Austria (en)
• Azerbaijan (en)
• Bahamas (en)
• Bahrain (en)
• Bangladesh (en)
• Barbados (en)
• Belgium (en)
• Belgium (nl)
• Bermuda (en)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (en)
• Brasil (pt)
• Brazil (en)
• British Virgin Islands (en)
• Bulgaria (en)
• Cambodia (en)
• Cameroon (fr)
• Canada (en)
• Canada (fr)
• Cayman Islands (en)
• Channel Islands (en)
• Colombia (es)
• Costa Rica (es)
• Croatia (en)
• Cyprus (en)
• Czech Republic (cs)
• Czech Republic (en)
• DR Congo (fr)
• Denmark (da)
• Denmark (en)
• Ecuador (es)
• Estonia (en)
• Estonia (et)
• Finland (fi)
• France (fr)
• Georgia (en)
• Germany (de)
• Germany (en)
• Gibraltar (en)
• Greece (el)
• Greece (en)
• Hong Kong SAR (en)
• Hungary (en)
• Hungary (hu)
• Iceland (is)
• Indonesia (en)
• Ireland (en)
• Isle of Man (en)
• Israel (en)
• Ivory Coast (fr)
• Jamaica (en)
• Jordan (en)
• Kazakhstan (en)
• Kazakhstan (kk)
• Kazakhstan (ru)
• Kuwait (en)
• Latvia (en)
• Latvia (lv)
• Lebanon (en)
• Lithuania (en)
• Lithuania (lt)
• Luxembourg (en)
• Macau SAR (en)
• Malaysia (en)
• Mauritius (en)
• Mexico (es)
• Moldova (en)
• Monaco (en)
• Monaco (fr)
• Mongolia (en)
• Montenegro (en)
• Mozambique (en)
• Myanmar (en)
• Namibia (en)
• Netherlands (en)
• Netherlands (nl)
• New Zealand (en)
• Nigeria (en)
• North Macedonia (en)
• Norway (nb)
• Pakistan (en)
• Panama (es)
• Philippines (en)
• Poland (en)
• Poland (pl)
• Portugal (en)
• Portugal (pt)
• Romania (en)
• Romania (ro)
• Saudi Arabia (en)
• Serbia (en)
• Singapore (en)
• Slovakia (en)
• Slovakia (sk)
• Slovenia (en)
• South Africa (en)
• Sri Lanka (en)
• Sweden (sv)
• Switzerland (de)
• Switzerland (en)
• Switzerland (fr)
• Taiwan (en)
• Taiwan (zh)
• Thailand (en)
• Trinidad and Tobago (en)
• Tunisia (en)
• Tunisia (fr)
• Turkey (en)
• Turkey (tr)
• Ukraine (en)
• Ukraine (ru)
• Ukraine (uk)
• United Arab Emirates (en)
• United Kingdom (en)
• United States (en)
• Uruguay (es)
• Uzbekistan (en)
• Uzbekistan (ru)
• Venezuela (es)
• Vietnam (en)
• Vietnam (vi)
• Zambia (en)
• Zimbabwe (en)
• Financial Reporting View
• Women's Leadership
• Corporate Finance
• Board Leadership
• Executive Education

Fresh thinking and actionable insights that address critical issues your organization faces.

• Insights by Industry
• Insights by Topic

KPMG's multi-disciplinary approach and deep, practical industry knowledge help clients meet challenges and respond to opportunities.

• Advisory Services
• Audit Services
• Tax Services

Services to meet your business goals

Technology Alliances

KPMG has market-leading alliances with many of the world's leading software and services vendors.

Helping clients meet their business challenges begins with an in-depth understanding of the industries in which they work. That’s why KPMG LLP established its industry-driven structure. In fact, KPMG LLP was the first of the Big Four firms to organize itself along the same industry lines as clients.

• Our Industries

How We Work

We bring together passionate problem-solvers, innovative technologies, and full-service capabilities to create opportunity with every insight.

• What sets us apart

Careers & Culture

What is culture? Culture is how we do things around here. It is the combination of a predominant mindset, actions (both big and small) that we all commit to every day, and the underlying processes, programs and systems supporting how work gets done.

Relevant Results

Sorry, there are no results matching your search..

ServiceNow | Pharmaceutical industry case study

Transforming service management for a global pharmaceutical company

Leading pharmaceutical company

The challenge

A leading global pharmaceutical company wanted to improve the way they organized, deployed, and managed IT services worldwide. For almost a decade, they had been using a legacy service management tool that had become highly cumbersome and fragmented, with disconnected processes forming silos across the organization. They wanted to introduce a standardized process model that could be rolled out internationally to create a comprehensive, consistent, and lasting solution. And they wanted this new model to be enabled by a single, market-leading ITSM platform.

Initially, KPMG was brought in to help with the review and comparison of ITSM platforms. After selecting ServiceNow as the technology provider, the client retained KPMG as an advisor to help them transform their processes and harness the full potential of the platform. Ultimately, we would advise and support the program from end-to-end, laying out a detailed, three-year road map and overseeing its delivery.

The solutions

Adjusting to the scale and pacing of this project demanded all of our experience, flexibility, agility, and leadership. We needed to get business units with specialized and localized ways of working, entrenched over a period of almost 10 years, to start using 1 platform with shared processes. This would involve harmonization of processes across disparate groups, development and configuration of a unifying service management platform, support for data collection, design and delivery of organizational adoption and training programs, as well as a HyperCare model that offered continuous assistance after the solution went live.

Core activities:

Gradual change, long-term benefits.

Our years of industry experience, knowledge of the client, and understanding of how different departments function made the difference on this project. It was these advantages that allowed us to unlock the potential of the ServiceNow platform quickly and apply it across the organization. To achieve speed to value, we produced a road map and implementation approach that deployed the platform in stages, with release times based on the client’s various business drivers and priorities. We created a single global model for all core IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes within service management, including streamlined reporting and metrics, and a successful training program to support employees as it was launched.

Over a period of two years and through incremental releases, the client went live with a complete platform. The platform included an end-user portal, service catalog, request fulfillment capability, and management applications—which is now being used by over 4,000 IT employees and over 70,000 end users worldwide.

Dive into our thinking:

Servicenow client stories.

Meet our team

Explore more

Thank you for contacting KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

Contact KPMG

By submitting, you agree that KPMG LLP may process any personal information you provide pursuant to KPMG LLP's Privacy Statement .

Job seekers

Visit our careers section or search our jobs database.

Use the RFP submission form to detail the services KPMG can help assist you with.

Office locations

International hotline

You can confidentially report concerns to the KPMG International hotline

Press contacts

Do you need to speak with our Press Office? Here's how to get in touch.

Pharmaceutical Industry Cases

Mylan’s EpiPen Pricing Scandal Each year about 3.6 million Americans are prescribed EpiPen, the epinephrine auto-injector. The EpiPen is a life-saving treatment for anaphylactic reactions, which are caused by allergens such as nuts, seafood, and insect bites. A sharp increase in EpiPen’s price between 2009 and 2016 caused outrage, and prompted debate over whether Mylan N.V, the owner of EpiPen, acted unethically. Beyond the behaviour of Mylan, EpiPen’s price increases raise questions about the conditions of the US pharmaceutical market, and whether existing regulations and laws are sufficient to protect consumers. READ MORE…

Pharmaceutical Industry Ethics: Part 2 of the Valeant Pharmaceuticals Series  In a capitalist free market , the goal of business is to sell a product to satisfy demand. The company’s objective is to maximize profit, without breaking the laws of the land. This profit motive is generally accepted as a characteristic of the free market and rarely raises ethical questions. However, there are industries where social good may take precedent over profit. The pharmaceutical industry presents one instance. READ MORE…

  The Valeant Pharmaceuticals Case: Part 1 of the Valeant Pharmaceuticals Series This case study is about Valeant Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian-based multinational pharmaceutical company. The company is under investigation for its pricing practices, which have allegedly resulted in extremely high prices on medicines in the U.S. market. Additionally, its inappropriate disclosure of inter-corporate relations alarmed investors, who are concerned about possible manipulation of the insurance system. READ MORE…

China and Corruption: The Case of GlaxoSmithKline GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is Britain’s biggest drug maker. Chinese authorities found GSK guilty of bribing both hospitals and doctors to help promote their products in China, using a network of nearly seven hundred travel agencies to pay medical professionals, health-related organizations, and government officials. According to Chinese authorities, GSK funneled about 3 billion yuan, or US$482 million, through this network to recipients. Receipts were forged for purchases and transactions that never took place, including fake conferences. At first, GSK denied any involvement in the bribes. READ MORE…

• Free Market
• Name First Last
• Your Message

What marijuana rescheduling would mean for Illinois, from tax changes to heath studies

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As the federal government considers reclassifying marijuana to a lower level controlled substance, the billion dollar industry and cannabis community in Illinois say it's a cause for celebration.

The proposed change is to move cannabis from a Schedule I drug, on par with heroin and fentanyl, to a Schedule III controlled substance.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

"I think it's fantastic," said Dominique White, people and operations director for Ivy Hall. "A great day in cannabis and a huge win for us. Especially to help destigmatize the plant."

Ivy Hall was the first social equity licensed dispensary in the state of Illinois, and White said the potential for cannabis to become a Schedule III controlled substance on par with Tylenol with codeine is much needed reform.

"It's a step closer to getting federally legalized," she said.

READ MORE: DEA will move to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug

But dispensary operators say that the biggest win if this goes through would be the tax implications that would allow them and other canna-businesses to finally deduct business expenses.

"It will likely be the difference between being profitable and not," said Matthew Brewer, co-founder of Grasshopper Lounge in Logan Square.

ILLINOIS CANNA-BUSINESS: Illinois touts marijuana equity improvements, critics say more needed

Brewer said that could level the playing field and allow for more business growth and investment.

"Every business has its ramp to becoming profitable," he said. "It's a way steeper ramp when you're unable to deduct business expenses."

RELATED: Why does smoking pot give you the munchies?

"A lot of the promise of the industry was based on there being federal reform, "said Charlie Bachtell, CEO and co-founder of Cresco Labs. "And to a certain extent it's taking longer than some of the early investors would have wanted to see it take."

Bachtell said if cannabis is changed to a Schedule III drug, it could mean millions more for operators, and more competition.

"We paid an additional $70 to $80 million in taxes than a normal business in a normal industry would have paid," he said. "You can't outgrow that."

Another aspect of a Schedule III drug is the potential for large scale in depth pharmaceutical study.

"I think there is a huge untapped therapeutic benefit of THC and CBD that we have just not explored because it's been too prohibitive," said Brianna Hudak, UIC College of Pharmacy clinical pharmacist.

That's not to say cannabis is completely benign; Hudak said about 10% of people can develop a use disorder. And of course there are legal and legislative hurdles to traverse before any rule change would be put into place.

Related Topics

• LOGAN SQUARE
• SMALL BUSINESS

DEA will move to reclassify marijuana: AP sources

Truck driver's case over CBD elixir to go before Supreme Court

5 children taken to hospitals for suspected cannabis overdose

Why does smoking pot give you the munchies?

Top stories.

Officer Huesca murder suspect arrested in Glendale Heights

LIVE: Police begin removing barricades at UCLA encampment

• 7 minutes ago

Pritzker aides meet with Bears on stadium: 'Proposal is a non-starter'

CPD releases new photos of man wanted in attempted West Loop sex abuse

Burglars steal at least 4 cars from South Side dealership

Harry Caray fans to raise toast to Chicago baseball legend

• 13 minutes ago

2 dead after apparent murder-suicide in north suburbs: police

Cyclist killed in Melrose Park hit-and-run ID'd as Chicago man

World Intellectual Property Report 2024: Making Innovation Policy Work for Growth and Development

Geneva, May 2, 2024 PR/2024/916

A new WIPO report probes the intersection of human innovation, economic diversification and industrial policy and finds that the key to sustainable growth for countries is to focus policy making on developing local innovation capabilities.

The biennial  World Intellectual Property Report (WIPR) “Making Innovation Policy Work for Development” documents a recent resurgence in industrial policy making, including in many developing and least developed countries, aimed at ensuring a wide and growing economic structure base - and the innovation, creativity and technology required to achieve it.

The WIPR establishes a novel methodology that maps 20 years of innovation capabilities across 150-plus WIPO member states, pinpointing how different countries have boosted their economic diversification in areas of technology, science and exports. Through this, the WIPR results help governments design their policies in a highly dynamic economic and political environment.

We hope this report will guide policymakers across the world on how to leverage innovation for improved productivity, competitiveness, and development amid global economic shifts, geopolitical tensions and digital acceleration.

Our report shows that countries that leverage on local strengths, build diverse innovation ecosystems and develop deep capabilities are in a better place to win the innovation race.

said WIPO Director General Daren Tang , adding

We hope that policymakers will find the data and insights in this report useful and interesting as they build durable innovation ecosystems that brings real growth over decades.

To help guide policymakers, the report documented:

• Power of local capabilities: Countries often use their existing innovation capabilities as a springboard for diversification. Innovation capabilities based on scientific, technological and production know-how in a particular country or region can be measured by studying the data on scientific publications, patent applications and international trade respectively. For example:
• Economic Specialization and Diversification: Analysis of nearly 40 million patent filings, over 70 million scientific papers and economic activity worth more than 300 trillion dollars in goods and services exports, reveals that innovative outcomes are highly concentrated. Over the past 20 years, for example, the top eight countries account for 50 percent of exports, 60 percent of scientific publications and 80 percent of international patenting. But change is occurring: China, India and the Republic of Korea saw big increases in their technological diversification over the period. China jumped from being specialized in only 16% to 94% of all technological capabilities, the Republic of Korea's technological capabilities went from 40% to 83%, and India saw its technological capabilities double from 9% to 21%.
• Innovation Complexity: Innovation complexity is the knowledge in an economy as expressed in the diversity and sophistication of the science, technologies, and products it generates. Complex capabilities are rare and only diversified innovation ecosystems can make use of them. Of the three types of innovation capabilities, technological capabilities are the most complex and also more likely to generate higher growth.

Case Studies Spotlight

The WIPR focuses on three case studies across eight countries to reveal insights on how innovators and policymakers leveraged and enhanced existing industrial capabilities to create the advanced and sophisticated motorcycles, videogames and agricultural technologies of today.

Motorcycles Industry - full throttle on innovation

The documented evolution of the motorcycle industry is a key example of human innovation and economic diversification, which economists and policymakers can use to spur sustainable, long-term growth across the globe.

The experiences of Italy, Japan and India show how historical ties with closely related sectors - including bicycles, automobiles, and aviation – have allowed them to carve out their own unique specialized trajectories within the same innovative and complex industry.

For instance, Italian motorcycles excel in high-performance and groundbreaking design thanks to vibrant know-how in racing and top of the line craftsmanship; the big four Japanese motorcycles companies (Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki) dominate the global market by exploiting Japan’s complex innovation capabilities on advanced technologies, product reliability, and sophisticated supply-chain logistics ( keiretsu ) ; and Indian motorcycle companies have emerged as a key global industry player catapulted by India’s capabilities on cost efficient production, particularly prioritizing fuel-efficient engines.

The motorcycle case study provides evidence of strategic implementation of industrial policies, such as those that enhanced the rise of national champions in Japan or faster adoption of electric two- and three-wheelers in India. 

Today, the motorcycle industry is in a new and disruptive transformational journey driven by changing consumer preferences, a heightened focus on sustainability and technological shifts. Electrification, artificial intelligence, and enhanced connectivity technologies are revolutionizing the industry.

Agricultural Leveraging Technologies  

The agricultural sector is undergoing a spectacular technological transformation as shown by the 239% increase of patent protected agriculture inventions in the last decade. New scientific breakthroughs in genetic engineering and the adoption of frontier robotic and digital technologies are increasing the innovation sophistication of one of the oldest economic activities.

The increase in innovation complexity in the agricultural sector is happening around the world. For instance, scientists in Kenya have leveraged their plant breeding capabilities to create a pest-resistant maize variety successfully being used across the African continent. In Brazil, sugarcane and sugar production capabilities were the standpoint for Brazil's global leadership of ethanol related technologies helping consumers find sustainable fossil-fuel alternatives.

The Rise of the Global Videogame Industry

The videogame case study showcases how seemingly unrelated existing capabilities can be used to create an innovative and sophisticated new industry.

The video game industry is a breeding ground for new businesses, with around 45% of game developers being newly founded companies. This dynamic environment fosters competition and innovation, contributing to the industry's rapid growth.

In addition, the report finds that around 15% of new video games launched each year are based on existing intellectual property (excluding sequels).

The development of the global video game industry has seen regional hubs navigating unique challenges and capitalizing on local strengths. The four video game industry hubs discussed in the chapter demonstrate how local expertise, cultural capital and interconnected industries collectively have influenced the industry's evolution and offer strategic insights for policymakers.

World IP Report 2024: A Guide for Policy Makers

The report provides a new policy toolkit that can help countries replicate these success stories. By identifying over 600 technological, scientific and production capabilities spread around the world, the new framework allow decision takers to design smart policies based on empirical evidence.

Policy makers can see where, when and how to target their innovation policies, either by nurturing their strengths, or by leveraging them to attain new and exciting scientific, technological and production opportunities.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the United Nations agency that serves the world’s innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas travel safely to the market and improve lives everywhere.

We do so by providing services that enable creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to protect and promote their intellectual property (IP) across borders and acting as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues. Our IP data and information guide decisionmakers the world over. And our impact-driven projects and technical assistance ensure IP benefits everyone, everywhere.

• Tel: (+41 22) 338 81 61 / 338 72 24

Your company may already be a member. View our member list to find out, or create a new account .

Forgot Password?

Content Library

You can search our content library for case studies, research, industry insights, and more.

You can search our website for events, press releases, blog posts, and more.

Pet Marketing: Examples of Successful Campaigns

By Morgan Strawn     May 1, 2024    

T he lawyer and dog owner, George Graham Vest, who is said to have coined the "man's best friend" epithet for canines, took an opportunity, in addressing congress as a U.S. senator, to expound upon the theme, remarking that "the one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. ... When all other friends desert, he remains." Felines are no slouches either; famed editor Tay Hohoff is said to have once highlighted the advantages of owning one when she observed that "there are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat."

It's fitting, then, in light of such truisms, that pet parents across the U.S. devote May to celebrating their pawed compatriots with National Pet Month. With pets on our mind, there is no better time to highlight ANA case studies and other pet care content that showcase excellence in innovative approaches to the marketing of pet brands. Explore summaries of pet brand marketing campaigns below, with the full case studies and event recaps accessible through the embedded links.

This NGO Integrated Real-Life Shelter Animals into a Video Game to Encourage Adoptions

La Societé Protectrice des Animaux (La SPA) spread the word about the need to adopt animals from overcrowded shelters in France through an integration with the popular video game Stray .

How Meow Mix Leveraged Influencers to Bring a Classic Cat Food Brand into Cultural Relevance

The '90s heartthrob and former *NSYNC member JC Chasez partnered with Meow Mix to record a "purr-fect" remix of the brand's iconic jingle. Launched during America's Got Talent, Meow Mix's TV commercial featured the Tabby 5, a cat boy band fronted by Chasez.

Integrating Digital In-Stadium OOH Marketing with Live Action on the Field to Promote Pet Food

Pet food brand Ultima capitalized on in-stadium LED screens to engage soccer fans with a 3D video of a dog chasing after the match's ball.

Dogtopia Enables Localized Digital Advertising for Franchisees

Dogtopia enabled franchisees to deploy, fund and measure their own lead-generation campaigns within a common branding and messaging approach.

Dechra Revolutionizes Veterinary Product Marketing with Great Creative

Dechra's Pharmaceuticals created a campaign that targeted veterinarians and dog owners to help them understand Cushing's syndrome — an often-undiagnosed, lifelong illness in dogs — and how to treat it using Dechra's Vetoryl.

As we celebrate National Pet Month 2024, we're reminded of the special bond between a pet and its owner. Through innovative marketing strategies, pet brands can use May as an opportunity to meet the needs of existing and potential pet parents. Whether it's promoting adoption, enhancing mealtime with premium dog food and treats, or playing with cat and dog toys, the pet industry should continue to explore creative approaches for enriching the lives of our creaturely companions.

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.

Morgan Strawn is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.