The Art of Agility

A common thread across our content offerings in the June issue of Pharma Commerce is the need for life sciences companies—and their supply chain partners—to be perhaps more agile than ever in the face of today’s host of industry challenges and disruption.

Take, for example, our lead piece by guest experts from Kotter, a management consulting firm, who lay out a game plan for embracing and scaling agility and adaptability into biopharma operations.

“Pharma leaders need to think differently about how to run their businesses—and bring their people along with inevitable transformative change,” they write. “In addition to a continued focus on growing drug pipelines, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence and data in research and development, companies have a renewed focus on the supply chain.”

While providing Big Pharma examples of the latter, the authors go on to outline the three key characteristics they believe “adaptable” organizations must possess. In turn, they also outline three core strategies to help execute on those characteristics. I won’t give them all away here, but suffice to say, they impact all levels of business and encompass varying aspects—from internal technology systems to developing “stronger change muscles.”

“To keep up with customer demands, emerging technology, and shifting regulatory changes, pharma leaders need to evolve how work gets done,” the authors state matter-of-factly.

The messages this month from our regular contributing columnists and KOLs are as compelling as ever, in my opinion. Particularly echoing the agility theme, I thought, is our June patient support column by Chris Dowd of ConnectiveRx. Dowd reminds us that, despite all the policy maneuvering, or “whiplash” as he describes it, occurring in the US today, patient hubs remain the one constant where pharma manufacturers maintain direct control—a reality that he believes will endure regardless of which policy changes end up materializing.

So, in essence, a doubling-down, if you will, on tapping patient hub services/channels to conquer drug access hurdles is crucial in the current climate. It’s crucial if all the efforts toward boosting patient adherence are to rise above the noise of policy.

“Manufacturers must maintain laser focus on the speed and efficiency of their hub onboarding tactics, particularly in those critical first 24 hours after prescription,” writes Dowd.

These are just a couple highlights of similar-toned articles and discussions in the June issue. It’s safe to conclude that agility and adaptability are no longer just buzzwords. They have become strategic imperatives.

Thanks for reading.

— Mike Hennessy Jr is chairman and CEO of MJH Life Sciences