Topics › Shaping commercial situations
Pharma market access
Your product is approaching launch, and the price that will be reimbursed decides whether the business case holds. Dossier, benefit assessment and price negotiation each follow their own rules and deadlines, and positions taken in one phase can constrain what is possible in the next.
What is at stake
The reimbursed price serves as a reference in many other countries, so a weak result in one market can follow the product across Europe. A delayed agreement means patients wait for access, and lost revenue cannot be made up, because patent life keeps running. What is conceded to secure the launch also shapes the value story for every indication that follows.
What typically goes wrong
- The dossier is written for the benefit assessment alone, and the arguments needed later in the price negotiation are missing.
- Global headquarters sets price expectations that ignore the national process, and the local team negotiates without room to move.
- Medical, market access, legal and commercial teams each optimize their own phase.
- Physicians, patient groups and payers are engaged too late or not at all.
- The negotiation is treated as a single event, although the agreement shapes later indications and other countries.
What changes for you
- A consistent line of argument from the dossier through to the price negotiation.
- A negotiating mandate agreed with global headquarters before the first meeting with payers.
- One team across functions, with clear roles in each phase.
- A negotiating position that protects the business case and preserves options for the indications that follow.
How we approach it
We work backwards from the intended reimbursement outcome, connecting the evidence and arguments in the dossier with the benefit assessment, the national pricing process and the negotiations that follow. We bring medical, market access, legal and commercial perspectives together, while aligning the local team’s mandate with global expectations. We also examine how decisions for the initial indication may affect subsequent indications and other markets, and stay with the team through each phase, including the payer negotiations.
What we clarify first
- What price does the business case require, and what price can the evidence support?
- Which arguments have to be in the dossier now so that they are available in the negotiation later?
- Who sets the negotiating mandate: the local team or global headquarters?
Tell us what’s at stake
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.