Anthony Morton-Small, IMS Asia-Pacific Practice Leader for Commercial Effectiveness, lays out the benchmarks for launch excellence in Asia Pacific – maximizing opportunity, market share leadership, and promotion out-performance – and why so few launches reach this pinnacle. Morton-Small defines the Launch Readiness framework and explains how this approach will bolster launch preparations.

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Launch. The new realities in Asia-Pacific
by Anthony Morton-Small, Practice Leader, Commercial Effectiveness, Asia-Pacific
The new realities
• Launches are achieving lower market shares
• First six months are the most critical
• Small dynamic market
• A shift in the power of stakeholders away from prescribers
• Growth contributions of launches deteriorating

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Despite widespread poverty, trouble-
some overpopulation, and residual
political complexity, India is in the
midst of a remarkable evolution. A
consumer-oriented middle class is on
the rise. Improved patent protection,
an expanding health care infrastruc-
ture, and changing demographics
and disease profiles are all conspiring
to open this once-overlooked market
to a broader range of pharma prod-
ucts—and investment options.
In China, meanwhile, some 90% of
the population will soon be covered
by universal medical insurance—giv-
ing some 1.7 bil people access to a
growing number of primary and sec-
ondary care centers and raising the
ante for better medicines for a grow-
ing number of diagnosed conditions.
Similar dynamics are currently being
played out in countries as diverse as
Vietnam and Taiwan.
It’s all proof of the emerging pos-
sibilities in a part of the world that
continues to shrug off the global
economic malaise and trend toward
growth. It is no wonder, then, that
far-flung pharmaceutical companies
are increasingly focused on the Asia
Pacific region—seeking entre, build-
ing bridges, launching products.
But those that are serious about
making a lasting impact in this re-
gion must consider this: One doesn’t
succeed by merely introducing prod-
ucts to the APAC marketplace. One
succeeds by launching them within
the framework of true excellence.
Defining the term
What, in the end, is true excellence?
At IMS, we have defined the phe-
nomenon according to three quanti-
fiable measures:
MAXIMIZING OPPORTUNITY
Steep penetration curves within the
first six months, with no subsequent
drop in market share for the two
years post launch.
MARKET SHARE LEADERSHIP
Taking either first or second in mar-
ket share within two years, thereby
establishing a long-term, market-
leading position.
PROMOTION
OUT-PERFORMANCE
Achieving a high or low relationship
between market share and cumula-
tive promotional share at two years
post launch.
We have also tried to understand just
what percent of the pharmaceuti-
cal industry actually achieves such
excellence— canvassing more than
8,500 products launched in eight
study countries between 1997 and
2008 and identifying those launches
that actually met all three excellence
criteria. The results? A mere 61 out
of the more than 8,500 products we
studied met our criteria for excel-
lence. Our survey results unequivo-
cally demonstrated that MNCs were
failing, in most cases, to realize their
greater ambitions and to capitalize
on standing opportunities.
When launches go wrong
In many cases, launches were com-
promised early on by the failure of
companies to develop and apply a
deep understanding of the indig-
enous economies, historical trends,
cultural predilections, and public
policy of the launch country. We
found that companies had failed to
think, as well, both about how lo-
cal environments differ and about
how western approaches to pharma
marketing are often simply irrelevant
in APAC countries. Strategies that
spark success in Belgium, for exam-
ple, are not necessarily on point in
India or South Korea.
Despite our findings—and warn-
ings—we continue to see multi-
nationals relying on western-style
launch strategies. We see them ig-
noring the very pressing fact that
Asia’s emerging markets are far less
homogenous than the mature regions
of the world.And we seem them fail-
ing to wisely negotiate the absence
of clear forecasting data and the dif-
ficult reality that the vast majority of
patients remain underdiagnosed, un-
dercompliant, and underserved. All
of these failures are ultimately com-
pounded by a lack of locally available
information and knowledge from re-
sources such as disease registries, not
to mention a poor understanding of
the incidence and prevalence and the
burden of disease.
Awareness. Accessibility.
Affordability. And more.
Accordingly, we recommend that
MNCs honor the three As of phar-
ma marketing in Asia – “Awareness,”
“Accessibility,” and “Affordability,”
in addition to the standard five As of
successful launch uptake – “Approv-
al,” “Access,” “Advocacy,” “Adop-
tion,” and “Adherence.”
When we talk about Awareness,
we’re talking about MNCs actually
priming the markets for the drugs in
their portfolios. We’re talking about
educating patients and physicians.
We’re talking about establishing a
thorough understanding of disease
states, therapeutic options, and the
potential fall-out of non-compliance.
We’re talking about operating effec-
tively in environments that do not
offer access to traditional direct-to-
consumer campaigns or established
patient advocacy groups. Innova-
tive outreach mechanisms includ-
ing collaboration with NGOs, the
provision of language translation for
basic communications, and, where
appropriate, the sponsorship of fam-

3. 32
ily networking support systems and
tele-counseling are all tried and of-
ten true solutions.
At the same time, MNCs must take
a very smart approach to combating
prevailing access to medicines chal-
lenges. “Accessibility” to medical
treatment is simply not on par with
the mature markets, nor is it consist-
ent within geographic borders. At
IMS, we see substantial variation be-
tween top-tier urban markets, lower-
tier cities, and rural environments in
terms of the quality of health care
infrastructure, the distances patients
must travel for care, and the availabil-
ity of the physical treatment centers.
We see a need, therefore, to pay at-
tention, and to act with knowledge,
to prioritize target markets carefully,
and to consider how pharma can
work with distribution channels and
the healthcare system to maximize
reach.
Further, MNCs must be willing
to accept that relationship selling,
so key to western success, be bal-
anced alongside the power of selling
through science—of demonstrat-
ing a product’s therapeutic benefits
through clinical trial data. Local
pharmaceutical companies typically
have the corner on relationship sell-
ing. Scientific selling, in countries
such as Thailand, China, and India,
provides MNCs with a competitive
advantage over the extremely strong
local players. This may well require
investment and expertise in phase IV
trials and registry studies to generate
local data.
Around the world, price matters. But
it matters even more in the APAC
region, where inflation rates, GDP
growth rates, rising patient incomes,
and elevated expectations combine
to make “Affordability” a crucial de-
cision point for those who need the
products, not to mention those in a
position to prescribe them.Thus, we
are seeing an increasing number of
cases—GlaxoSmithKline in India is
a prime example—where companies
leverage a local pricing strategy across
the portfolio. In China, we are see-
ing companies pursue price points in
the top urban cities that are different
to those implemented in outlying
cities. At the same time, we’re see-
ing MNCs take smart approaches to
improving the affordability of their
products through such tactics as the
forging of local manufacturing and
supply relationships, the establish-
ment of differential pricing within
geographies, and the search for pos-
sible tax exemptions.
It goes without saying that global
and regional forecasting and pricing
models need to reflect local sensi-
tivities regarding both the ability and
willingness to pay. In emerging mar-
kets especially, pricing and position-
ing count, and both challenge estab-
lished norms of traditional launch
approaches, stretching the ingenuity
of MNCs.
Finally, there’s this: Mature markets
represent a highly restrictive mode of
operation, not just in terms of payer
constraints surrounding re-imburse-
ment and pricing decisions, but also
in regard to clinical constraints sur-
rounding indications and labeling.
Emerging markets,on the other hand,
are often less fettered with regulato-
ry constraints and offer substantially
more choice throughout the launch
process. In out-of-pocket environ-
ments, pricing considerations are
usually oriented around ability and
willingness to pay. But in the absence
of tight guideline restrictions, MNCs
have more opportunity to optimize
messaging and positioning around
the patient needs and to maximize
the potential source of business.
Achieving excellence through
Foundational Success Factors
Every day, we’re talking to clients
who are intent upon investing in
the emergent and wholly dynamic
APAC region—clients who, despite
numerous potential pitfalls and hur-
dles, believe, as we do, that the risks
are worth taking. We’re helping
them build proven strategic frame-
works. Often, we’re helping them
create a regional or local nerve cent-
er—essentially an on-the-ground
operation or network—that will en-
able the company to orchestrate and
manage the launch planning process
in Asia-Pacific. (See figure 1).
At the same time, we’re focusing our
clients on what we call the Founda-
tional Success Factors. We’re help-
ing them, for example, to become
an Aligned and Prepared Organi-
zation—one that understands the
product’s potential and builds effec-
tive launch plans replete with readi-
ness assessments, contingency plans,
and underlying support processes
and systems.
We call the second Foundational
Success Factor Powerful the Perti-
nent Value Proposition, and through
it, we ask our clients to create a
proposition that incorporates an op-
timized target product profile, gener-
ates an evidence base, solidifies prod-
uct positioning, sets the right price,
and facilitates access.
We call the final foundational factor
Effective and Efficient Stakeholder
Engagement Strategy. Here our focus
is on helping organizations develop
the means by which they might map
and segment key stakeholders, op-

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timize resource allocation to maxi-
mize message impact, and monitor
and drive performance.
Taken in total, these foundational
factors don’t just predict launch suc-
cess; they ensure that it happens—if
and only if clients are fully engaged
and not merely substituting a gener-
ic checklist of activities that leaves
them lacking alignment, impeded
by poor organizational visibility, and
deficient in terms of timeliness and
precision.
We know—we daily see—that suc-
cess depends as much if not more
on how MNCs prepare for launch
as on what actual activities they un-
dertake. We’re serious about helping
our clients prepare for launches that
achieve the gold standard—launches
that align strategic objectives with
launch success factors, prioritize key
activities, establish best-in-class qual-
ity standards, and map critical time-
lines and interdependencies. It’s our
job, across the APAC region, to help
see the process through.
Launch Readiness – key challenges can be
addressed using a launch readiness framework
Launch
Readiness
Framework
What are the strategic objectives & the critical
activities for delivering them?
What are the best-in-class quality standards
for carrying out each activity?
What are the critical timelines &
interdependencies across activities?
Launch Readiness Framework
Part 1: Alignment with strategic objectives
Launch Readiness Framework
Part 2: Prioritised critical activities
Launch Readiness Framework
Part 3: Best-in-class quality standards
Launch Readiness Framework
Part 4: Critical timelines & interdependencies
1
2
3
4
Figure 1