Jacques van Meel
Pharma Consulting e.U.

Competitive Analysis in Drug Development

Competitive Intelligence is all about seeing your competition clearly, understanding their strategy, and acting early on that knowledge. We can guide you on how to use the available information efficiently and to make decisions on a less-than-perfect picture.

The number and stages of development of competitor products will give you an insight into the time frame available for a successful IND and later clinical development. Particularly for oncology, clinical phase I studies are already an essential part of a clinical development strategy for your product. Frequently, supportive measurements of efficacy (for example biomarkers, PET and/or MRI scans) are part of this study, which should enable the definition or the determination of your anticipated phase II dosages.

Similar preclinical studies could help you understand the practicality of these clinical studies (i.e. designed study plan, support by ethic committees, duration of study, additional number of patients, etc.) and therefore early discussion with clinical experts is needed. These studies will confirm your concept and the route for clinical development and will help to determine desirable combination studies for the clinical indication(s) which should already be considered in preclinical development.

Competitors' moves do not happen in a vacuum. In analysing competitors, try and see their perspective on where the market is going. Several techniques can be used for these exercises, such as Michael Porters Four Corner Model as described in Competitive Strategy (1980) and Ben Gilads' Blind Spot Analysis (1996). For further details see the Fuld Gilad Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence.

• Continue: Competitive Analysis in Drug Development