Creating a scientific brand plan taking metformin as an example

It's the season for the annual brand plan - in fact, I think this newsletter is a little delayed as many teams would have already made their brand plans. I intended to put it up earlier but I have been under a heavy workload with no breather. Nevertheless, better late than never.

As we know, in healthcare, while the marketing team works on budgets, expenses, topline, bottom line, events, campaigns, sales force, etc. the scientific plan is the responsibility of #medicalaffairs. Needless to say, both teams work together because a brand plan cannot be created in silos if it has to succeed. Being a #medicalaffairs professional myself, in this article I will focus on scientific brand planning and share how I usually go about the process. As an example, we will look at metformin, the molecule that has tens if not hundreds of brands, hundreds of SKUs, and continues to see new launches despite being under price control in a country like India.

I begin with a SWOT analysis in conjunction with the marketing team. This is because the entire scientific strategy will depend on the positioning of the brand and I believe a SWOT analysis is a must to decide on the positioning. Some very common SWOT analysis highlights for all metformin brands would be-

• Strength- efficacy, still the first recommendation by guidelines.
• Weakness - too many brands, price control (e.g., in India), not much science to talk about (I disagree with this view, but it is a common perception), field force is not excited to promote the brand because it is very old and there are no more talking points.
• Opportunity - the ever-increasing diabetes burden; the emerging data, focus, and interest on other benefits of anti-diabetic agents other than blood glucose levels
• Threat - newer anti-diabetic agents with several other benefits like cardiac protection, renal protection, and weight loss.

Other than the above, each brand would have its own additional SWOT list. In such a scenario, how do you come up with a positioning? I would consider the following before coming up with positioning options

• what do I mainly want to focus my strategy around from the list of points that emerge from the SWOT analysis? In today's scenario, I would choose 'the emerging data, focus, and interest on other benefits of anti-diabetic agents other than blood glucose levels' because I think this is what is driving the diabetes market today. I would try to focus my strategy on this opportunity. Anyway, there is not much I can do about the threats because metformin is the oldest anti-diabetic. Yet, it has the support of the guidelines and I would use this strength along with the opportunity I selected above.
• what other cardiometabolic products do I have in my portfolio? Which kind of patients are prescribed these drugs? e.g., if metformin is the only anti-diabetic I have and the rest of my portfolio comprises cardiac drugs, I would like to come up with a positioning statement that focuses on the beneficial cardiac outcomes of metformin in patients with cardiac disease having diabetes.
• what is my existing portfolio and upcoming pipeline? - e.g., if my upcoming launch is an SGLT2 inhibitor, I would like to position metformin showing an enhanced benefit of combining SGLT2 inhibitor and metformin, or how patients who cannot be given SGLT2 inhibitors due to some contraindications, can benefit from metformin. (Please note that these are random suggestions and whether such positionings can be created depends on available scientific evidence)
• which segment of doctors are my top prescribers (e.g., GPs, diabetologists, cardiologists etc)? e.g., if my top prescribers are GPs, it may not be very helpful to position metformin for patients with creatinine levels at the upper limit of normal.
• most importantly, what is my brand objective? - e.g., do I just want to keep my customers associated with the brand name until the upcoming new launch and then withdraw the plain metformin? Or am i trying to get a wider patient pool by positioning metformin for a particular patient profile while my other brands are positioned for other patient profiles?
• what is the latest literature on metformin? Is there something new that will interest clinicians and help me target a wider patient pool or counter competing molecules?
• how is the sales force distribution? e.g., is a single team promoting all cardiometabolic products or are the products divided between different teams? What is the field force size?
• do I have an MSL team that can communicate novel scientific data in-clinic? If I do, I can plan how to communicate complex data to HCPs, which might be difficult for the sales team to do.

It is quite possible that after all the above analyses, the team decides to continue with the existing positioning and not make any changes. That is perfectly acceptable if the team thinks that the existing positioning will continue to work for us. In such a case, new literature supporting the positioning is necessary. If there are other brands with a metformin combination in the portfolio, a similar exercise needs to be done for them and a clear positioning for each is necessary. The objective should be that between the plain metformin and combinations, you can target as large a patient pool as possible- of course, backed by robust scientific evidence.

Once the positioning is done, the next step is to plan in-clinic and ex-clinic HCP engagement and communication strategies. It helps if these are planned in detail at the brand plan stage, although changes during the year might be necessary based on any new data or guidelines that emerge. I would plan the following items at the minimum:

• What core message should go on the visual aid?
• LBLs/newsletters/white papers/any other in-clinic inputs - what intervals should these go at and what should be the key message(s) in each? What literature will be used to create these?
• #Publication planning for the year involving KOLs and emerging KOLs
• #CME/webinar/or any other HCP-to-HCP engagement plans for the year - what key messages should the CMEs focus on, what kind of speakers and audience we should target?
• Advisory board/international speaker plans - do we want to conduct an #advisoryboard meeting at all? If yes, why? What are we aiming to achieve from it? What kind of HCPs should comprise the advisory board? What follow-up action should be planned after the advisory board?
• #Digitalcommunication plans - what will be the format of the communication? What will be intervals? What will be the key message in each input? What literature will be used for the inputs? Who will the digital input be sent to?
• #Campaign planning- if the marketing team wants to run a media campaign for patient awareness, what will be the scientific messages we will focus on (the brand name or the molecule name cannot feature in a media campaign as they are not legally allowed).
• If I have MSLs, I would also plan MSL communication strategy for the year - what data will they communicate, when, how, and in what sequence.

I think with all the above plans in place, my basic structure of the scientific brand plan is ready. Of course, the market is dynamic and one never knows what is the next surprise around the corner that might force you to change the plan midway during the year. Nevertheless, these are essential components of a scientific brand plan.

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