In today’s pharmaceutical market, simply having a clinically effective product is not enough to guarantee launch success. The competitive environment is dynamic, with multiple players vying for the same prescribers, payer contracts, and patient populations.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the discipline that allows companies to anticipate these dynamics, and adjust before market forces dictate the outcome. Far from a passive monitoring activity, CI is a strategic function that informs decision-making from early development through post-launch optimization.
Why CI Matters More Than Ever
The pharmaceutical industry has always been competitive, but several trends have raised the stakes:
- Shorter time to peak sales: Companies have less time to secure market share before generics, biosimilars, or next-generation competitors arrive.
- More informed stakeholders: HCPs, payers, and patients have access to more data than ever before, making differentiation harder.
- Aggressive competitor responses: Rivals are more likely to pre-empt your launch with their own strategic moves.
In this environment, CI is not optional. It’s the foundation for building and defending market position.
The Three Pillars of CI in Pharma Launches
Early Competitive Landscape Mapping
Before a single sales call is made, companies need a detailed understanding of the therapeutic landscape:
- Who are the current and emerging competitors?
- What are their clinical, regulatory, and commercial strengths and weaknesses
- How do their trial designs and endpoints compare to yours?
This early mapping informs everything from trial design to value proposition development. For example, if a competitor’s Phase 3 trial is likely to report before yours, scenario planning can help adjust timelines, communications, and payer strategies in advance.
Scenario Planning and War Gaming
Scenario planning allows teams to anticipate and prepare for competitor actions. War gaming exercises simulate market dynamics, testing how internal teams would respond under different competitive conditions.
These exercises can uncover vulnerabilities in your launch strategy before they become real-world problems, such as:
- Gaps in sales team messaging for competitive comparisons.
- Underdeveloped counter-arguments for payer negotiations.
- Lack of clarity on internal decision-making authority during market disruptions.
Real-Time Intelligence Integration
Once a launch is underway, CI must move in step with execution. Real-time intelligence should feed directly into tactical adjustments, such as:
- Refining messaging to address competitor counterclaims.
- Redirecting resources toward geographies where uptake is lagging.
- Identifying prescriber segments most responsive to specific positioning angles.
Case Example: CI Driving a Competitive Advantage
A biopharma client preparing to enter a crowded immunology market engaged Sedulo Group 12 months before anticipated approval. By integrating CI into every stage of launch planning, they:
- Identified a competitor’s likely strategy to lock in payer contracts ahead of their launch.
- Adjusted contracting timelines to secure preferred access first.
- Prepared field teams with data-driven rebuttals to competitor counterclaims.
As a result, the client captured 14% market share within the first six months — outperforming the launch forecast by 20%.
Best Practices for Integrating CI into Pharma Launches
- Start Early: Begin CI as early as Phase 2 to shape trial design, pricing, and access strategies.
- Make It Cross-Functional: Share CI insights across commercial, medical affairs, and market access teams to ensure alignment.
- Scenario Test Routinely: Regularly run simulations to test your preparedness against competitor moves.
- Act on Insights Quickly: Intelligence has a shelf life; speed is critical to capturing its full value.
The Sedulo Perspective
At Sedulo Group, we view CI not as a “nice to have” but as a launch necessity. By making intelligence a continuous, integrated process, life sciences companies can move from reactive to proactive, shaping their own launch destiny rather than having it shaped for them by competitors.
Is your CI launch-ready? Download Sedulo Group’s Insights-Driven Launch Planning white paper to learn how to leverage competitive intelligence for a faster, stronger, and more sustainable product launch.