Pharmaceutical New Product Planning Excellence: Structure & Activities that Drive Profitability & Growth

Best Practices, LLC undertook this research to examine the role and impact of New Product Planning function on product commercialization. In particular, this report will provide benchmarks on the structure, resources and activities of New Product Planning groups.

Insights from this report will serve as a reference point for executives as they determine number of employees, budget and timing of key activities for the NPP group.

Note: Data in this research are presented into two segments: Region-wise (Global & Regional) and Structure (Centralized, Decentralized and Hybrid).

Industries Profiled:
Biopharmaceutical; Biotech; Pharmaceutical; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Diagnostic; Medical Device; Health Care; Clinical Research; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
Alkermes; Allergan; Astellas; Bayer; Cytokinetics; Galderma; GlaxoSmithKline ; Medicago; Novartis; Pfizer; Roche; Sanofi; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Wockhardt; Zydus Cadila

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 19 marketing & commercial leaders from 15 leading pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences companies for this benchmarking research.

Key Findings

• Responsibility of NPP Team Impacts Commercial Aspect: Commercial aspect of global and regional NPP teams varies. For 56% of global teams, transition from NPP to inline marketing starts at the onset or before submission for approval during phase III. In contrast, half of regional teams’ transition happens at the end of phase III.
• Global Teams Value Segmentation; Regional Teams Value Market Research: More than 70% of global teams highly value segmentation and positioning, while 89% of regional teams value market research activities. Other activities valued by global teams are TPP (57%) and market assessment (57%) while segmentation (56%) and TPP (33%) are the activities valued by regional teams.

• New Product Planning: Pillars of Excellence
• Which Department Does Your NPP Group Report To?
• Who Oversees the NPP Group and Who Does That Person Report To?
• Structure of NPP Function within Participating Companies
• Integration of NPP Group
• Issues with NPP Structure & Process and their Solutions
• Evolution of the New Product Planning Function: Maturity Curve
• Effectiveness of NPP Group Structure
• Ways to Improve Structure of NPP Group to Maximize its Impact
• NPP's Role and Influence in Shaping Portfolio Decisions
• Case Example: Coordinating Regional and Global Activity
• When is the Commercial Development of Compounds Transitioned from NPP to In-Line (Brand) Marketing?
• Key NPP Deliverables
• When Does the Transition from New Product Planning to Inline (Brand) Marketing at Your Company Occur?
• NPP Activities during Each Stage of the Development Process
• NPP Activities during Phase 2 – Pre-Clinical and Phase 3 - Commercial Hand-off
• Timing of Market Planning Activities
  • Timing of Disease State Opportunity & Mechanism Assessment
  • Timing of Competitive Assessment
  • Timing of Life-Cycle Planning
  • Timing Of Market Assessment
  • Timing Of Epidemiology/ Patient Flow
  • Timing of Target Product Profile Creation & Financial Evaluation
  • Timing of Draft Launch Label Creation
• Timing of Market Research Activities
  • Timing of Exploratory – Disease State/Therapeutic Insights
  • Timing of Patient Segmentation
  • Timing of Patient Flow & Treatment Algorithm
  • Timing of Healthcare Professional Segmentation
  • Timing of Positioning Research
  • Timing of Core Message Development
  • Timing of Draft Launch Label – Market Research
  • Timing of Managed Care Research/Health Outcomes
  • Timing of Pricing – Secondary Data
  • Timing of Pricing – Primary Pricing Research
• Timing of Medical Affairs Activities
  • Timing of Publication Strategy & Planning
  • Timing of Branding of the Science
  • Timing of Medical Meeting Plan
  • Timing of Thought Leader Management (HCP/Payer)
  • Timing of Thought Leader Identification (HCP/Payer)
  • Timing of Advisory Boards
  • Timing of Advocacy Groups ID/ Management
• Timing of Brand Strategy Activities
  • Timing of Positioning
  • Timing of Development of Brand
  • Timing of Generic Naming
  • Timing of Trade Naming
  • Timing of Trade Packaging/Formulations
• NPP Budget (in USD Million)
• NPP Budget as a Percentage of Revenue
• NPP Budget per Pipeline Product
• NPP Budget per Marketed Brand
• Allocation of New Product Planning Budget to Different Activities
• Total Number of FTEs Working in NPP Groups
• NPP FTEs as a Percentage of Corporate FTEs
• Anticipated Changes in NPP Roles and Responsibilities in the Next 2 to 3 Years
• Most Valuable NPP Activities
• Ways to Optimize the Contributions of NPP