February 2018 Edition Vol.11, Issue 2
By Maria Whitman, Jon Roffman & Sharon Karlsberg, ZS Associates Across healthcare, the promise of precision medicine has been a looming target for more than two decades. Oncology has been the area of acute focus as cure remains elusive due to the intelligence and ever-evolving permutations of this disease. That said, we have seen major leaps in precision oncology since the late 1990s: Scientific setbacks have also demonstrated limits to what may be possible. Nearly two decades ago, early interventions in the gene therapy space were halted due to safety concerns. Striking the right balance of efficacy and safety with precision medicine, especially given the toxicity of some combination targeted regimens, continues to be a sensitive topic for oncologists worldwide. 2017: The Future Is Now Although we’ve seen major leaps in precision oncology, significant debate on whether its promise can be achieved remains, as well as the overarching impact it may have on cancer as a disease. Still, we celebrate 2017, which definitively helped in the advancement of understanding the science and delivery of precision oncology. Here’s how: What Does It All Mean? With progress comes change. These advancements bring us closer to precision oncology and supporting patients in need. They also bring challenge and change for many stakeholders. Unquestionably, however, companies that integrate companion diagnostics into their clinical trial and drug development processes are more likely to succeed in the fight against cancer. How prepared is your organization for this shift to precision medicine on a broad scale? Here are four key implications of precision oncology advancements on treatment and commercialization: Seeing Around the Corner Manufacturers are already looking around the corner and jockeying for position in a crowded, precision-guided marketplace. In mid-January, Pfizer announced a broad partnership with Foundation Medicine, which will develop companion diagnostics for Pfizer’s full oncology portfolio. This is not a harbinger of things to come. This deal cements the fact that pharma’s biggest players recognize the importance of precision medicine in oncology. Advancements on the horizon will continue to evolve the trend from MRD testing and high mutational burden to next-generation gene-editing technologies. There are also clear markers for an increasingly complex and competitive therapeutic landscape. Today, 87% of oncology therapies in development are targeted, and a disproportionate amount of investment continues to be in overlap areas across manufacturers. As oncologists are armed with increasingly precision-guided diagnostic and treatment options, we can envision a shift in the structure of oncology treatment. Imagine biomarker-specific KOLs or centers of excellence in much the same way that we see tumor-site-specific (such as lung or breast) KOLs today. How will patients flow through such a system, and how will manufacturers identify and intervene to deliver the right therapies to those patients? Additionally, with increasingly reliable test results and a multitude of therapeutic options, treatment decisions are likely to be influenced increasingly (perhaps predominantly?) by algorithms and artificial intelligence. How will manufacturers ensure that their therapies are optimally positioned to maximize utilization in the patients who will benefit the most? As the Pfizer/Foundation Medicine deal illustrates, manufacturers need to start to prepare now for their customers’ evolution. There are still many uncertainties, so agility will be critical. However, it’s clear that the future will bring more precision to oncology treatment patients, and this will require manufacturers to be more precise in how they engage customers—bringing the right information (more specific and deterministic) to the right stakeholders (not just oncologists but pathologists, algorithm influencers, computer programmers and more) at the right time (each point in the patient journey through an increasingly dynamic healthcare system). Are you ready for the future? Precision Oncology: What Recent Advancements Mean for the Industry
About the Contributors
Maria Whitman is a managing principal of ZS’ specialty therapeutics work providing leadership in the oncology, orphan / rare, biosimilars, cell & gene, CDx/MDx and other critical spaces in this dynamic and intensifying area. Based in Philadelphia, Maria brings nearly 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She works with established and emerging companies on a range of strategy, marketing & sales, organizational capability building and excellence, value & access, launch excellence, customer insight and experience and early development / med-affairs / R&D issue areas. Prior to ZS, Maria worked in direct response and relationship marketing in and outside the healthcare space, including focus on customer behavior and patient programming. Maria earned her MBA with honors in marketing and healthcare systems from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in marketing (maxima cum laude) from La Salle University. In 2015, Maria was named one of Consulting Magazine’s Top Women in Consulting.
Jon Roffman is the managing principal at ZS’s Boston office and is the global lead for ZS’s oncology practice. He partners with clients to address sales and marketing issues in the oncology marketplace, with an emphasis on customer engagement and customer experience strategy, planning and execution. Jon has led many initiatives to design innovative customer engagement and deployment models in oncology. Jon also has advised more than 20 oncology companies on sales and marketing strategy issues, ranging from small biotechnology companies launching their first products to large pharmaceutical companies building out their portfolio. Prior to joining ZS in 2005, Jon earned his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and his B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University.
Sharon Karlsberg is a principal in ZS’s San Francisco office. She has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and she’s a founding member of the ZS oncology team. Sharon works on a variety of marketing and commercial strategy issues with leading biopharmaceutical manufacturers. Her experience includes market research, brand strategy, competitive readiness and scenario planning, biosimilars and new product launch. Sharon’s therapeutic area of expertise spans many specialty markets, with significant depth in oncology, both solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Sharon joined ZS in 2004. Previously, she worked in market research for the medical diagnostics industry, public and investor relations for the biotechnology sector, and product marketing at Boston Scientific, Neurovascular. Sharon holds an MBA and certificate in health management from the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and a bachelor’s in genetics and cell biology from Dartmouth College.
ZS is the world’s largest firm focused exclusively on helping companies improve overall performance and grow revenue and market share through end-to-end sales and marketing solutions—from customer insights and strategy, to analytics, operations and technology. More than 5,000 ZS professionals in 22 offices worldwide draw on deep industry and domain expertise to deliver impact for clients across multiple industries. To learn more, visit www.zs.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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