Why Early Communication is Crucial for a Successful Drug Launch

The article mentions that Verona Pharma is developing its own "playbook" for commercializing ensifentrine. What specific advantages do you see for a small biotech company in crafting a unique commercialization strategy compared to following established industry practices? 

I think the biggest thing for us is we don't come in with any predetermined way that we have to launch a product. We allow for the experiences of the team to come in and shape what's appropriate for the company, a company like Verona. So, one of the things I talk to my team a lot about is the experiences that we've had coming to Verona shape us, they give us the experiences, the work that may make may have made you successful. But when you come to Verona, we have to think about the best ways to tackle the problems and solutions that we need for Verona today. And so, what we want to do and what I want to do is be able to have our team think about things that are particular to Verona situation so that we can solve them Verona's way, I think when you build, when you're a small company, and you're able to build your own solution to there's more buy into those solutions, there's potentially more thought into those solutions. It also allows you to potentially see the traps and hurdles that other launchers have had and try to overcome them before you ever have to face them.

You emphasize the importance of "starting early and getting aligned" across departments in the article. Can you identify some of the potential challenges of achieving this alignment within a company, particularly for a first-time product launch?

this is a really important question on alignment. Because you know, without alignment, you won't be able to achieve the goals that you've set out for through the organization, I think the biggest thing that ensures alignment is proper communication. And for me, proper communication is not when you're done the solution, it's at the beginning of a solution. So, bringing in the appropriate stakeholders at the right time. I think all too often sometimes we get caught in our processes. And we bring people along too late that either bog down the process, or potentially allow people to not be heard, or feel like their voices actually heard. So, they ended up not buying into the solution as much as we want them to. So, what I found key throughout my career is involving people earlier in the process, I think, you know, in the article we talked a little bit about it's never too it's never too early to start the commercialization process. It's also never too early to really start communicating. I think one of the things that I see at Verona that's been very special as we've been aligned from an organizational standpoint, from clinical, to commercial to medical affairs, even in defining its HR and other functions that are in it, that are critical to ensure that we launched successfully. That's very different than what I've seen in other companies. Sometimes we end up working in silos, and those silos have their different priorities. So that alignment in your function, but more broadly within the organization is critical for success.