The Quest for Greater Channel Visibility in Pharma

PE: Model N’s State of Revenue Report touches on customer-data strategies in pharma, particularly as they relate to pricing decisions. What are some ways biopharma manufacturers can unlock more value from customer data?

Mendelsohn: The visibility into who is buying your drug, where it’s being sold, and also who is reimbursing and paying for your drug and at what level—real, accurate, and timely visibility—is crucial. Think about it more broadly; are you offering discounts with the GPO (group purchasing organization) but a lot of its members really aren't purchasing your drug? Are those discounts not enough? Are there geographical areas that aren't very well penetrated with your product? Could you offer additional discounts to that area or send your sales reps there? That type of channel data, tracing data, and chargeback data is really critical to getting you that visibility.

On the payer side, are the rebates that you're offering PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) for preferred formulary status—while, yes, that might be getting you preferred formulary status—is that really driving increased utilization of your product? Or are you just basically paying to play?

That type of channel visibility, at the end of the day, can help you make smarter provider and payer contracting decisions and also prevent revenue leakage.

For a deeper look at the evolving pharma pricing and access landscape, read this Q&A with Mendelsohn from earlier in the year.