“Commercialization is the last obstacle for a successful biotech. It is also the one obstacle most biotechs are least prepared for.”
– Jim Hussey, Chief Executive Officer at Seneca Therapeutics
As a commercial pharma leader, how do you organize yourself and your teams to best prepare for drug commercialization?
In our commercialization checklist, we break down various activities commercial leaders need to complete in advance of commercialization. One of these activities is ensuring you have the right systems in place to support your organizational shift, such as the right content management system software. With content management software for pharma, you’re able to:
- store approved and in-progress regulated content
- cross-departmentally review content as it’s going through development, and
- provide your medical and sales teams access to approved content.
You know you need these systems in place as a fully commercialized company, but when is the right time to invest? The answer: prior to commercialization.
3 reasons to implement content management software prior to commercialization
Reason 1: Achieve competitive advantage with faster speed to market
In today’s market, competitive advantage is key. You want to beat your competitors to market which means producing favorable clinical trial outcomes, timely regulatory approvals, and fast turnaround times on content approvals for your launch materials.
A compliant content management solution that is easy to learn and use is one way to gain an edge. With a user-friendly, end-to-end content management system in place prior to commercialization, your marketing, medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) teams can quickly and collaboratively review materials like press releases announcing trial results and websites prior to launch. After you receive governmental approval to market your new drug, your team can quickly and efficiently launch your marketing materials, providing your sales teams easy, tailored access to approved content. With a system in place before your competitors, you gain an edge in the race to the finish.
Reason 2: Empower your teams with an organized process from the start
Part of your role as a commercial leader is to energize and empower your teams to accomplish their goals. You want to streamline operations, optimize organizational performance and start your teams off on the right track with an organized process for end-to-end content management.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are a powerful tool for achieving uniformity across processes and minimizing errors. In an ideal world, your content management software partner works with you to set up configurable workflows in your system that match your SOPs (or they work with you to define your SOPs). This ensures compliance with relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations and industry codes. Not only that, but this step goes a long way in getting your team organized.
Even if you don’t have a full review team in place yet, it’s a good idea to think through what your ideal content review process looks like so you can prepare for the future. Your teams will thank you when they have clear expectations for how to quickly and easily manage regulated content leading up to the official product launch.
Reason 3: Save time by preparing for company growth and scaling
As a commercial leader, you are constantly looking for ways to save time in a high pressure environment. Having a content management system in place early will save your team time as your company grows and scales. Here are a few ways you can use content management system software before and after official marketing approval to save your team time:
Pre-marketing approval:
- Store scientific and medical materials and push them to medical science liaisons (MSLs) with strict user permissioning; empower MSLs to quickly retrieve them to aid in conversations with healthcare providers
- Collaboratively review and approve public facing presentations, press releases, website content, explainer videos and social media posts cross-functionally
Post-marketing approval:
- Quickly review and approve public-facing launch materials for your newly approved drug
- Push approved launch materials to your sales teams with strict user permissioning; empower sales to quickly retrieve them to aid in conversations with healthcare providers
- As your company and product portfolio grows, seamlessly scale by using your system for a full range of content, such as scientific and medical materials, advertising and promotional materials, and more that can be pushed to various teams with strict user permissions
- Uncover data and process insights in the system to optimize internal operations and measure closed-loop content performance
By setting up an end-to-end content management system before commercialization, you only gain by speeding up your operations at a critical stage in the lifecycle of your pharma company. Looking for additional resources to help you plan for drug commercialization? Download our commercialization checklist to aid in planning your key initiatives. DOWNLOAD NOW