Launch Challenge: Closing the Gap from Drug Pipeline to Patient

Oct 03, 2025 | Chris Moore

“Technology is a key enabler for every step of a product launch. Building comprehensive IT capabilities within the complex and regulated pharma industry while meeting strict deadlines is possible with a readily available platform like Veeva that covers the full technology stack, from clinical to commercial.” Joseph Bejjani CIO at Idorsia

The life sciences industry is preparing for a peak of product launches — a surge stemming from maturing advanced therapies and increased R&D investment, necessitated by a number of patent expirations. In a recent poll of 12 of the top 17 pharma companies, 92% predicted an increased volume of launches between now and 2030, with all but one of those companies assuming a static headcount to conduct them.¹ In short, companies will be expected to do more with the same resources, triggering the need for new ways of working.

While this is a significant opportunity for patient care, commercializing new, complex therapies requires sophisticated go-to-market strategies that are field-driven, high-touch, and personal. This implies identifying the right healthcare professionals (HCPs) and providing them timely, personalized information through their preferred channels to accelerate product uptake. Pre-launch scientific engagements with HCPs can lead to 40% faster treatment adoption. However, only 44% of HCPs are satisfied with pharma engagement at launch.

Closing the gap from pipeline to patient demands effective go-to-market strategies that deliver consistent value to HCPs. Rather than expanding field teams, companies can optimize launches by strategically aligning roles across commercial functions for more impactful engagements. To avoid the cycle of hiring for peak launches and subsequent downsizing, biopharmas are learning how to achieve more with the same resources. In fact, 83% of large biopharmas plan to manage more launches with existing commercial teams between now and 2030.¹

Meeting this challenge requires an evolved commercial model for connected engagement. Unifying sales, marketing, and medical teams on one platform with a single customer record streamlines information flow for more coordinated, customer-centric interactions. Embedding AI at the heart of this ecosystem can help access information and insights quicker to increase productivity and outcomes. AI makes processes more efficient through task automation and engagement intelligence, fostering a system of insights-to-action and collaboration.

Fragmented teams and data hinder HCP engagement

FDA approvals for cell and gene therapies are projected to double by the end of the decade. But today’s commercial models fall short of effectively bringing this new wave of treatments to market. As specialty drugs target specific patient populations, the need to precisely identify the HCPs providing treatment access intensifies. Finding and educating them with high-value content requires synchronized, data-driven engagement strategies. However, 63% of leading biopharmas identify disconnected teams and data as the biggest obstacles to delivering enhanced HCP experiences.¹

Segmenting and targeting HCPs based on their potential, influence, and activity is often limited by inaccurate data and siloed systems. Conflicting HCP role names (‘prescriber’ vs. ‘physician’) or excessive variations in specialty values prevent a unified customer view and impede effective cross-functional collaboration. Unstructured and disconnected data can lead to expensive, multi-year integration projects that complicate launch and scale. Only 10% of companies report having their data fragmentation issues under control.

Incomplete customer information leads to disjointed HCP experiences and missed opportunities. Less than 20% of HCPs say messages are tailored to their needs, and they often receive repetitive content and experience information overload as a result of disconnected commercial teams. Territory managers, account managers, medical affairs, and other specialists are usually organized into functional silos and nearly half of key opinion leaders (KOLs) cite poor coordination across them. One telling example: a medical science liaison (MSL) presents a new drug to a KOL, unaware that the individual was a key investigator for the company’s clinical trial. Such lack of visibility into previous interactions creates inefficiencies and undermines trust.

Breaking down silos demands robust integration between the data foundation and the systems driving commercial execution. By sharing a 360-degree view of the customer, field teams can tailor messages and interventions to ensure they resonate. This unified approach allows biopharmas to allocate resources more efficiently to scale launches without scaling teams.

A connected ecosystem powered by AI

Biopharmas need agile, customer-centric engagement models that synchronize field teams’ efforts, deliver consistent value to HCPs, and maximize new product uptake. Connecting software and data provides the technology foundation to accelerate personalization insights and streamline commercial execution.

Start by building a high-quality data infrastructure through global master data management and use the common data architecture (CDA) to integrate information across internal functional systems and external sources. Consolidated data then flows from and to the CRM platform, enabling sales, marketing, and medical teams to operate in unison from a centralized, trusted view of customer records. This unified approach is critical for field teams to build off the last interaction and deliver timely, meaningful HCP engagements during product launch.

Embedding AI into this connected ecosystem accelerates customer-centricity and drives field teams’ productivity to achieve more using the same resources. AI analyzes vast amounts of data and delivers actionable insights that power crucial commercial activities such as engagement planning, voice-to-data entry, compliance monitoring, and content review. AI that is built into the core of industry-specific software like Veeva Vault CRM offers a structural advantage: the industry’s fundamental logic and regulatory guardrails are already in place. Infusing AI into this ecosystem ensures it is pervasive, compliant, and context-aware. AI insights are embedded directly within users’ workflows, making the effort to act on them often just one click. Realizing these productivity gains requires strategic change management to adapt to new ways of working and optimize commercial operations.

Scaling launches without expanding commercial teams

The challenge of launching an unprecedented number of new, complex treatments compels biopharmas to scale smarter, not larger. Success in today’s market demands a new level of coordination across commercial teams to deliver more impactful HCP engagement without expanding resources.

A simplified, connected ecosystem of industry-specific software and high-quality data lays the foundation to achieve more with existing teams. A unified platform powered by AI accelerates insights and efficiency, enabling customer-centric, coordinated engagement at scale. This synchronization of sales, marketing, and medical activities allows companies to truly operate as one. By breaking down silos and achieving greater team productivity, biopharmas achieve launch excellence, delivering life-changing treatments to patients faster.

Discover how Veeva Commercial Cloud together with Veeva Data Cloud accelerates launch success and drive better customer engagement.