Correspondence: Sanjay K. Rao, CRA International, 1201, F Street, NW, Washington DC 20004, USA. E-mail: srao@crai.com

¹is vice president, Life Sciences, CRA International. During the past 15 years, he has designed and led projects impacting product and portfolio development strategy, clinical trial investments, pharmaceutical brand development, new product commercialisation, clinical and geographic market development, sales force design and optimisation, new product and portfolio pricing, access and evolution strategies. Between 2001 and 2006, he led US and Global Business Analysis and Information Teams at Amgen for blockbuster brands Aranesp and Neupogen Neulasta. Before that, Dr Rao was a management consultant at ZS where he solved strategic marketing, research and corporate strategy challenges facing each of the top 10 bio-pharmaceutical firms in the United States and the European Union. Since graduating with a PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School, he has also led consulting teams developing innovative solutions to strategic marketing challenges at Microsoft, American Express, ATT, Pizza Hut, Coca Cola and US Sprint.

Received 25 September 2008; Revised 25 September 2008; Published online 12 December 2008.

Abstract

As the bio/pharmaceutical industry braces for a slowdown characteristic of a maturing industry, viable strategic options for growth and expansion are few and far between. Inevitable structural changes in how new compounds are discovered have set in motion adjustments characteristic of an evolution that encourages efficiency and innovation at the expense of size and bureaucracy. Considerable opportunity, however, continues to exist in mining the full potential of compounds in the pipeline through better commercialisation. This paper presents a new paradigm for developing bio/pharmaceutical positioning strategy that can significantly alter existing commercial processes, readying them to realise the full potential inherent in effective bio/pharmaceutical products. Devising – and continually evolving – positioning strategies based on this scientific, market-driven paradigm will make for a commercialisation process that effectively defines and communicates product value at every stage of the life cycle. Utilising state-of-the-art techniques and tools from disciplines such as strategic marketing research, marketing science and decision support sciences enables the process of translating such a paradigm into effective strategy.