Originally published by Innovative Edge, now part of Lumanity

As Day Zero of commercial launch approaches, after years of pre-launch and launch planning, launch teams may feel elated, thinking their job is nearly done.

However, no matter how much effort has already been invested in the pre-launch journey, the first 90 days will usually make or break your launch.

And the subsequent 90 days seal your launch’s fate with 80% of pharmaceutical launches’ sales trajectories defined by their performance in the first six months, and only 20% able to recover from a weak start1.

Day Zero

Get a head start on Day Zero

Most data to assess performance isn’t available in the critical first six months, and post-pandemic, we continue to see the need to break from tradition due to: 

  • Ongoing changes to healthcare systems (e.g., increasing market access stakeholders and requirements, backlog, disruption, and changes due to COVID)
  • New supply models, diagnostic, testing, and screening services
  • The increasing importance of omnichannel with the emergence of digital patient journeys and hybrid commercial models for customer engagement and education

Consequently, it is essential to create agile mindsets and processes so you can respond quickly to deviations in strategy and adapt and evolve plans as necessary.

Surprisingly, given the importance of a strong start to launch, by the time Day Zero arrives, less than 10%2 of pharmaceutical launch teams have plans, processes, roles, and responsibilities in place to cover the first 90-days of launch.

How ready are you for Day Zero?

If you want to ensure you set yourself up for success and hit the ground running, there is no substitute for proper planning and internal alignment.

This raises three questions:

  1. Does your launch project plan go beyond Day Zero for all your core launch functions and field teams?
  2. How confident are you that from Day Zero, you’ll be able to:
  • Identify early issues, opportunities, and best practices?
  • Swiftly agree and implement corresponding actions?

3. How can you tell you have a good first 90-day plan?

Checklist for launch success: The first 90 days

Above and beyond your commercial excellence processes, what else should you be considering?

We’ve identified eight key areas to assess your 90-day plan. How many are you confident your organization is prepared for?

  1. Is there organizational alignment and belief in the strategy and early ambition for the asset?
  2. Does everyone from the leadership team, head office, and field understand each other’s roles, responsibilities and focus from Day zero to Day-90?
  3. Have gaps in risk mitigation or enhancement plans been closed, and are teams ready to immediately deploy contingency plans if needed?
  4. Are your early insights and rapid response processes agile enough? Have you agreed on who, when and how you will share early stakeholder responses, issues and opportunities? And who can take immediate decisions on appropriate actions so these can be swiftly implemented?
  5. Do you have a simple and easy best practice sharing process so that you can quickly identify and replicate early wins at scale?
  6. Do all teams have ongoing support from the organization to embed new capabilities?
  7. Are all team members excited and motivated by the challenge? Do you have the right communications channels and plans to share and celebrate early successes and drive momentum?
  8. Do you have a cross-functional project plan, processes, and resources in place to manage all of the above at pace?

Are you ready for launch lift-off?

Contact us today if your launch is fast-approaching and you aren’t confident your preparation is where you would like it to be.

Let us know your most significant pain points and book a free 30-minute consultation. One of our launch excellence consultants will be in contact to discuss your brief.

Contact us

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Benjamin Franklin

Sources: 1 IQVIA 2 IE Industry benchmark data