New Product Planning Spend Up to Half their Time on Business Development

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- A new survey of drug manufacturers found that new product planning teams dedicate upwards of 50% of their time on business development activities.

New product planning teams have taken on responsibilities beyond acting as a developing product’s commercial voice. The recent study published by Cutting Edge Information shows that among surveyed companies, 100% of new product planning teams are involved in business development. These activities range from generating commercial assessments to contributing to the go/no go decisions made by the business development function.

Company needs dictate the extent of new product planning involvement in these business development activities. Often, companies shift new product planning responsibilities and resources to reflect the current business quarter and the developing product’s timeline. While all surveyed companies leverage their NPP teams to provide initial input on upcoming business development deals, an estimated one third also use their teams either to identify potential opportunities early or to participate during the later decision making stages.

Companies benefit from incorporating the new product planning function into business development because new product planning teams are able to evaluate the commercial viability of a deal early and objectively. “New product planning teams use preliminary scientific evaluations and commercial profiles to provide business development teams with an unbiased perspective,” said David Richardson, research team manager at Cutting Edge Information. Consequently, new product planning support helps companies allocate their resources wisely and pursue advantageous pharma partnerships.

“Pharmaceutical New Product Planning: Building the Framework for Brand Commercialization,” (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/portfolio-management/new-product-planning/) features detailed data on new product planning’s early commercialization efforts including team structure and reporting lines, budget and spending, staffing—encompassing staff education levels, background and compensation metrics—and business development efforts. This study is designed to help pharmaceutical companies:

• Increase new product planning resources to support growing brand responsibilities as developing products move closer to launch.
• Communicate and work with clinical teams to insert commercially focused data collection into clinical trials.
• Facilitate easy transition of brand responsibility between teams by leveraging new product planning team members’ expertise.
• Leverage new product planning teams’ scientific and commercial expertise and unbiased perspectives to support business development groups.

For more information about new product planning benchmarking, contact Cassie Demeter at 919-403-6583.