XCOPRI entered the epilepsy market with compelling clinical data and significant physician interest. Then COVID-19 eliminated traditional field access just as the product was preparing to launch.
The challenge became more than launching a new drug. We had to develop an entirely new way of reaching accounts, building the capabilities of a newly hired team and solving the operational barriers between a prescription and a patient receiving therapy.
Situation
XCOPRI was preparing for its U.S. commercial launch in May 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 shutdowns.
The product entered the market with compelling clinical data, including notable seizure-freedom results in patients with difficult-to-control partial-onset seizures. My region also included physicians who had participated in the clinical development program, creating a strong foundation for launch.
Under normal circumstances, the opportunity would have supported an intensive field launch.
Instead, physician offices and institutions closed or severely restricted access. In-person meetings largely disappeared. Traditional speaker programs and launch activities were disrupted. Nearly every interaction had to be conducted remotely.
There was another challenge.
The sales organization was newly hired, and with one exception on my team, the representatives had limited experience managing complex institutional accounts.
Launching successfully would require more than product knowledge. The team needed to learn how to manage accounts, identify decision-makers, navigate institutions and solve problems across the patient-access process—remotely.
Approach
I began by reviewing the highest-priority physicians and accounts within each territory and identifying where the greatest launch opportunities existed.
In selected situations, I personally contacted important physicians to help establish relationships and better understand what was happening within the accounts.
I then worked with the representatives to develop an account-management approach rather than relying primarily on traditional call activity.
They learned to work from the top down—identifying influential physicians and other key stakeholders, contacting providers directly and determining what needed to happen within each account for appropriate patients to begin and remain on therapy.
As prescriptions increased, additional barriers became apparent.
Writing the prescription was only the beginning. Pharmacy processes, prior authorization requirements, office workflows and prescription renewal all had the potential to delay or interrupt treatment.
We therefore expanded the focus beyond generating prescriptions to understanding the complete process required to convert physician interest into sustained patient access.
At the same time, we adapted traditional launch activities to the COVID environment.
The team conducted virtual physician meetings and speaker programs, developed new ways to reach high-priority accounts and progressively became more confident managing complex interactions remotely.
The objective was not simply to reproduce traditional pharmaceutical selling on a computer screen.
It was to create an effective launch model for an environment in which the traditional model no longer worked.
Result
The region progressively increased XCOPRI adoption throughout the critical launch period and achieved #1 national launch performance.
The result was achieved by a newly assembled team during one of the most disruptive periods the pharmaceutical industry had experienced, while simultaneously developing new capabilities in virtual engagement, institutional account management and patient-access problem-solving.
The PharmaKonsult Principle
A strong product and compelling clinical data create opportunity. They do not guarantee a successful launch.
Commercial leadership requires understanding what stands between the product and the patient—and continually removing those barriers.
During the XCOPRI launch, COVID changed the operating environment almost overnight. The answer was not to wait for traditional physician access to return.
We changed the model.
Identify the highest-value accounts. Develop the people. Work from the top down. Understand the complete patient-access process. Solve barriers as they emerge. Adapt execution to the environment. Measure the result.
That combination of problem-solving, account strategy, leadership and execution helped turn an unprecedented launch environment into #1 national launch performance.
About Joseph McCoy
Joseph McCoy is Founder and Principal Consultant of PharmaKonsult and an executive commercial strategy advisor with more than three decades of pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial leadership experience across neuroscience, rare disease, endocrinology, institutional healthcare and specialty pharmaceuticals.
