Once a new drug
application (NDA) or biologic license application (BLA)
is submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
the marketing role in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies
becomes more apparent. The traditional roles of product,
placement, price and promotion become central to the success
of the launch; it typically takes 12-18 months of planning
to effectively prepare for a product launch (Garret 2002).
However, early collaboration between R&D and marketing,
via market planning and development, are crucial and often
overlooked by small biotechnology firms. Pharmaceutical
companies, conversely, have a better understanding of the
importance of this relationship.
By evaluating
biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms and their successes
and failures in new product launches, we can begin to understand
the impact of marketing in the early development of new
treatments. In this paper, we first present a series of
general observations on the current status of the marketing
role in biotechnology, we then evaluate the marketing function
for three biotechnology/pharmaceutical products (Viagra,
Enbrel, and Natrecor) and how it was incorporated or neglected
in the development of the drugs. From these development
cycle profiles, we formulate our hypothesis that sophisticated
early-stage marketing enhances the value of the products
being developed. Furthermore, we postulate that both biotechnology
and pharmaceutical firms stand to create more productive
alliances if they attain a solid understanding of their
market opportunities before entering such partnerships.
Finally, from the findings of this paper we will make several
recommendations to optimize marketing efforts in the development
of biotechnology and pharmaceutical products. These observations
and recommendations are based on a series of interviews
and analysis of a panel of 30 biotechnology companies.
