Sound Strategies Needed in Oncology, Just As Much As In Smartphones

Last week it was about sku management of smartphone applications. This week, it is how do you think the commercial implications of oncology commercial programs.

Oncology is the fastest growing therapeutic areas, going from $48 billion in 2008 to $80 billion in 2012. For the pharmaceutical industry, oncology is an intense area of activity with 1,000 clinical compounds in development and over 2,000 pre-clinical compounds being considered.

As in many other business areas, like smartphone apps and other fast moving consumer goods, the oncology disease space, spurred by new pathway discoveries, is becoming increasingly fragmented with the identification of different patient and disease sub-segments. It isn't just prostate cancer, it is six different variants of prostate cancer.

In targeting the commercial opportunity, companies can benefit from a differentiation strategy that goes after well-defined patient segments, with those definitions aided by the use of bio-markers to help call out cancer indication.

As a result, discovery is increasingly focused on targets vs. tumors, with the opportunity for the same compounds to address multiple different kinds of tumors. Then, with even greater success, in many instances, cancer treatment has the opportunity to evolve into a chronically managed disease, like diabetes and high cholesterol, with the use of adjuvant and maintenance drug therapies.

As these sub-segments develop, companies also have the possibility of facing less competition when they are focused on very narrowly defined indication sub-segment and lines of therapy. This focus could also allow the company to realize a premium for its drug given a lack of other efficacious and safe alternatives. Here, as in many product developments, early to market strategies are critical and novel partnerships may be required, especially given combination therapies.

That said, good sound commercial strategies, applicable across a broad range of industries, and understanding the target audience and the delivery process, are critical to success in the market, whether it is a cancer drug or a smartphone application.