Why it feels good to be a strategic market access agency

by Warren Dunn

 

During the pandemic, I had the chance to rewatch “Mad Men”, and it was an inspiration. Although the days of treating clients to 3 martini lunches and everyone smoking throughout the office are long gone (thank goodness), what stands the test of time is seeing a group of brilliant, dedicated people rally around a brand to not just tell its truth but tell it well.

While three-piece suits and petticoats have been replaced by jeans and the flexibility to work remotely, there are some core, foundational aspects that remain, including what it means to be a strategic market access agency and the benefits we bring to clients seeking to optimize access for new or existing therapies.

We’re an agency founded on distilling the concept of value

Almost 3 decades ago, Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen/Xcenda) was built on the notion of proving value. Our founder, Robert Mauch, who came from a family of pharmacists, realized that by examining the health economic outcomes of particular therapies, one could actually identify how a specific product not only delivered better results healthwise, but also offered measurable financial benefits through less healthcare utilization. Thus, an entirely new way of distilling value was born. Unlike brand/consumer or HCP-focused agencies, our team would develop a new expertise around communicating to formulary decision makers.

We’re an agency that values your total brand

When you contract with a market access agency’s rich, diverse history, you’re receiving far more than dedicated services to launch your product. You’re securing experience – experts who have seen and launched similar products, competitive products, disruptive products – and are ready to apply what they’ve learned across their broad careers to create strategies that mitigate risk and create opportunity for your brand. We work in tandem with your other agency partners to ensure synergies and leverage brand constructs, but with a special focus on formulary decision makers.

Over the past 5 years alone, we helped inform the market access launch of over 715 products, including multiple biosimilars and cell and gene therapies. From breaking through a crowded market, creating a niche that distinguishes your therapy from others to even introducing a novel, never-before-seen agent, your market access agency’s immense knowledge is on tap to ensure formulary decision makers not only understand the unique place in therapy your product serves but also the value it brings to the market.

We’re an agency dedicated to proving value

All value propositions are not created equal. In today’s world of increasing evidentiary demands, transforming the product information (PI) into a presentation doesn’t make it a compelling story. Our deep bench of clinicians, brand strategists, payer communicators, and creative experts use our proprietary Value Identification Process — a multi-step workflow informed through group discussion, clinical and market research, interactive workshops, key message development, and full visualization of a brand’s unique evidentiary and positioning assets. The result is a dynamic tool that showcases your concrete proof in support of value-based care. This value prop is your crown jewel at the center of your market access communications strategy.

Whether you’re seeking to create a payer value proposition from the ground up or have us evaluate and pressure test your existing value prop with a bench of formulary decision makers, we’re ready to help you tell your best evidentiary story.

We’re an agency specializing in one area, across many areas

Former payers. Senior pharma executives. ICER wizards. Certified market researchers. Clinicians. Masters of public health. Experienced brand and launch authorities. Global market access professionals. HEOR and modeling scientists. Health policy pundits. Reimbursement specialists. Patient services gurus. Client service experts. Trainers guided by adult-learning principles. Award-winning creatives.

Working with an agency means you have access to a microcosm of launch-critical talents - all backed by the world-renown commercialization expertise of Cencora.

We are a diverse team, with each of us bringing unique skills to your product’s story and journey. Asking the right mix of questions. And perhaps most importantly, meeting you where you are at – building, demonstrating, and communicating value at the stage where it’s needed most – pre-launch, peri-launch, or post-launch. Every action we take is based on strategically thinking what will serve your brand’s mission best at the moment you are in – with an eye on always looking forward as well.

We’re an agency that thinks differently

It’s really a story of left brain meets right. Your agency team represents a blend of clinical expertise and creative expression to fully inform the way we craft your story, visualize and develop your communications, and ultimately produce a compelling message mix. We make it our business to understand your targets more deeply. For example, you’ll hear us remark, “Payers are people, too!” It’s our job as marketers to forge connections with your target audience, and we are one of the leading architects of creative campaigns specifically connecting manufacturers with formulary decision makers.

We’re proud of the many creative awards we’ve won for our work. From videos and branding campaigns to digital solutions and the totally unexpected, our approach is grounded by our philosophy of developing “Science that enlightens and creativity that excites!” However, winning awards isn’t why we push ourselves. We embrace being stewards of your market access brand. But admittedly, garnering accolades is a challenge we love – and a thrill to celebrate when we win together.

We’re an agency that values your time and respects your budget

Whether you’re seeking a world-class partner to assist in all launch activities or only looking for a world-class deliverable as part of your overall story, working with an agency means making your life easier by having one point of contact to produce powerful communications - whether it be a single project or an entire spreadsheet of them.  

If we get the opportunity to engage, we look forward to demonstrating how science, strategy, design, and client service align on your behalf to ensure formulary decision makers understand your product’s inherent worth and do their part to ensure it is available to appropriate patients. 

We’re an agency that’s ready to get down to business

It’s fun to wax nostalgic. But we prefer to keep an eye on what’s to come. It feels good knowing we’ve played a small part in an incredible timeline of thinking, research, and hard decisions all in the pursuit of improving the health of humankind.  

While Mad Men may represent the golden age of advertising, a time long past, we believe we’re just entering market access’ version of it now. Innovative therapies. Harnessing healing power at the genetic level. Personalized medicine. There’s never been a more exciting time to introduce formulary decision makers to your breakthroughs via our creative approach to proving value and maximizing access.

Award-winning creative

From impactful reports that blend visual appeal with valuable content to interactive booth designs guaranteed to elevate your conference experience to powerful peer communications, our expertise extends to creative awareness campaigns, enabling seamless patient access through innovative measures. Trust us to captivate payers with persuasive data and powerful visuals, effectively communicating your value story.