Pressure-Testing Commercial Strategy

When market access negotiators confront significant budget pressure from payers, intense competition, and resistance to new therapies — how can we defend product value, develop a practical launch strategy, and execute successfully?

Access negotiations are complex and require a strategic, cross-functional approach — one that responds to the market landscape, creatively meets your needs as well as those of health systems, and transcends the usual discussion of study endpoints and trading over discount demands. Success requires early stakeholder engagement; and ongoing internal strategy discussions including global, local, and cross-functional team members; and the skills to create locally customized materials and execute nuanced negotiation tactics.

There are many ways to augment your negotiated outcomes — below you will find a sample of the advice we offer clients looking to optimize their access negotiations.

From Harvard Business Review

Getting in the Shoes of Your Negotiation Counterparts

Jonathan Hughes and Danny Ertel offer nine principles that underlie a strategic (vs. reactive) approach to negotiations. “Strong emotions stunt thinking and warp rational analysis,” they warn. One solution can involve “putting yourself in the shoes of your counterparts [by] formally charter[ing] a team to analyze the negotiation from the other party’s point of view.” The authors also recommend war-gaming and other structured approaches to pressure-test your negotiation strategy.

Read “What’s Your Negotiation Strategy?”

Case Study

Access Negotiation Strategy: Expanding the Menu

Sometimes pharma companies and their partners need to expand “the whole menu, not just the pie” in market access negotiations. This is one of a several transformative negotiation strategies described by my Vantage Partners colleagues Jonathan Hughes and Danny Ertel in the July/August 2020 Harvard Business Review. Consider one case example of this not uncommon conundrum — and how, instead of haggling with payers over the discount level, the biopharma opted to reimagine the payer’s problem.

Read “Market Access: A Payer’s Challenges, Reimagined”

In the Vantage Insights Center

Uncovering Interests: Price is Rarely the Sole Concern

Who do pharma and device makers engage different stakeholders, generate better options, improve deal structure? “While most payer organizations care about price, rarely is price their sole concern,” note Jacqueline Codair, Bridgette Bousquet, and Ben Siddall in a recent blog post. “Pivoting the discussion to include payer (and health system) interests beyond price is essential to protecting the value of your therapy.”

Read "Uncovering Interests in Market Access Negotiations"

On the Blog

Where's the Value in VBAs?

It takes very different set of skills to prepare for and negotiate value-based agreements that actually create significant value for key stakeholders — including, most importantly, patients seeking access to new and often high-cost therapies. Vantage’s Ben Siddall delves into the key components of a strategic approach to VBAs — identifying opportunities, building the significant alignment they require, and negotiating deals that deliver value for patients, providers, payers, as well as the therapy provider.

Read "Finding Real Value in Value-Based Agreements"

Creating and Defending Product Value in a Challenging Commercial Environment

How to Better Prepare for High-Stakes Market Access Negotiations