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Having identified possible
candidates for further development, commercial assessment
of their potential should to start early on. The candidates
have to be compared regularly with others already launched
on the market in terms of market penetration, potential usage and advantages, as well as
those currently in the R&D pipeline. While current market assessment
is valid, a longer term forecast is critical to see
the likely shape and value of the market when products might
ultimately be launched.
To determine
likely market penetration, companies can
also benchmark their drug candidates against products
already on the market whose
market positioning, degree of innovation and efficacy
is similar.
As the compounds progress and their efficacy on specific disease
areas become clearer, more sophisticated analysis of current treatments and prescribing patterns should
be undertaken to determine the best dosage regimens, target
market and potential prescribers.
As the level of investment increases so the impact
of new R&D candidates on the whole portfolio is
evaluated to see if the balance of the portfolio needs
to be changed. This may manifest
itself in possible divestiture of older products or licensing
out some R&D candidates to concentrate on those
with the best strategic fit.
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