Situation: Our client had a novel orphan drug developed for the treatment of a rare form of thyroid cancer that showed strong pre-clinical promise. The scope of the work was to validate the value proposition of the product and understand the path to market/commercialization dynamics in the pharmaceutical industry.
Targeted cancer therapeutics are designed to selectively block an individual target. This treatment methodology however is highly effective only for the short term and over the course of treatment tumors develop a resistance to the drugs. The drug developed addressed this issue effectively by utilizing a unique pharmacology approach to cancer treatment. The challenge was in finding the best path to get this product adopted in the market and expanding their product portfolio.
Action: The SearchLite interviewed experts from pharma companies, investors and researchers in this area to gain insights about current research and development in the target market segment and factors that are critical for establishing collaborations, partnerships and facilitating acquisitions in the pharma industry. The SearchLite performed extensive research on the emerging regulations around orphan drugs, market trends related to deals, partnerships and acquisitions, and investment patterns that impact the commercialization of similar orphan drugs.
Results: From the research performed, The SearchLite was able to identify the technology adoption dynamics that impacted the early commercial success of orphan drugs entering the market. Evaluation of the client’s value proposition against the current state of the art revealed that the pharmacologic approach employed was not unique and required a further differentiated value proposition.
