Disease Awareness Program Excellence in Oncology: Structure, Activities, and Resources Needed for Effective Pipeline Support

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Manufacturing; Biotech; Consumer Products; Diagnostic; Medical Device; Chemical; Health Care; Communications; Biopharmaceutical; Clinical Research; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
Bayer; Daiichi Sankyo; EMD Serono; Eli Lilly and Company; Genentech; Merck KGaA; Merck Sharp & Dohme; NexGen Healthcare; Sanofi; Tokai Pharmaceuticals

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 11 leaders from 10 life sciences companies specializing in oncology therapies for this benchmarking research. Select executives participated in detailed operational interviews. Relevant secondary research is incorporated to enrich the analysis.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Oncology disease awareness program structure
• Timing of disease awareness activities
• Budget and spending for oncology disease awareness campaigns
• Partnering with Advocacy Groups and Legal
• Use of social media in oncology disease awareness

• Structure: Manufacturers with large, single country footprints or extensive portfolios tend to default to decentralized and hybrid disease awareness structures.

• Disease Awareness Funding: Plan for a long-term commitment as disease awareness resourcing often starts at the end of phase 3 and ends three years after launch.

• Evaluating effectiveness of oncology-focused disease awareness programs
• Best practices for maintaining an effective Oncology-specific disease awareness program
• Common pitfalls in planning or executing cancer-focused awareness initiatives

• Organizational structure of oncology disease awareness programs – Total benchmark class
• Organizational structure of oncology disease awareness programs – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma, Global teams vs. Country level teams, Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Functional involvement and leadership of oncology disease awareness campaigns
• Presence of a distinct group for handling oncology-specific disease state awareness programs

• Start and endpoints for resourcing oncology disease awareness efforts – Total benchmark class
• Start and endpoints for resourcing oncology disease awareness efforts – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma
• Start and endpoints for resourcing oncology disease awareness efforts – Global teams vs. Country level teams
• Start and endpoints for resourcing oncology disease awareness efforts – Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Start and endpoints for resourcing oncology disease awareness efforts – – Highly competitive market vs. Less competitive market
• Interview narratives around the dividends from disease awareness programs
• Timing and use of disease awareness activities
• Most utilized oncology-specific disease awareness activities

• Timing of oncology disease awareness investment across development and launch cycle
• Total budget for oncology disease awareness initiatives, activities and programs – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma
• Peak year oncology disease awareness investment – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma
• Total budget for oncology disease awareness initiatives, activities and programs – Global teams vs. Country level teams
• Total budget for oncology disease awareness initiatives, activities and programs – Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Oncology-specific factors that shape disease awareness funding – Total benchmark class
• Oncology-specific factors that shape disease awareness funding – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma
• Oncology-specific factors that shape disease awareness funding – Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Functions providing funding for oncology disease awareness programs
• Disease awareness investment for new oncology products addressing unmet clinical needs

• Interview narratives around patient advocacy group relationships
• Importance of each patient advocacy group activity and support service from a disease awareness program perspective – Total benchmark class
• Importance of each patient advocacy group activity and support service from a disease awareness program perspective – Global teams vs. Country level teams
• Importance of each patient advocacy group activity and support service from a disease awareness program perspective – Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Best approaches to support disease awareness activities with cancer patient advocacy groups
• Importance of highly effective patient advocacy group activities and support services from a disease awareness program perspective – Global teams vs. Country level teams
• Importance of highly effective patient advocacy group activities and support services from a disease awareness program perspective – Highly competitive market vs. Less competitive market
• Timing of disease awareness activities with patient advocacy groups
• Level of involvement of legal department in each of the listed disease awareness program areas – Total benchmark class
• Level of involvement of legal department in each of the listed disease awareness program areas – Global teams vs. Country level teams
• Level of involvement of legal department in each of the listed disease awareness program areas – Single brand teams vs. Portfolio teams
• Interview narrative around managing successful programs with legal groups

• Oncology disease awareness activities conducted on social media and timing of first initiation of each activity – Total benchmark class
• Oncology disease awareness activities conducted on social media and timing of first initiation of each activity – Large pharma vs. Mid-small pharma
• Utilization ranking of social media activities for generating disease awareness in oncology
• Interview narrative around ensuring patient access via social media
• Interview narrative around getting direct feedback and insights
• Total investment in social media disease awareness activities – Total benchmark class
• Total investment in social media disease awareness activities and percentage of overall disease awareness budget spent on social media – Large pharma
• Total investment in social media disease awareness activities and percentage of overall disease awareness budget spent on social media – Global teams
• Total investment in social media disease awareness activities and percentage of overall disease awareness budget spent on social media – Portfolio teams

• Geographic and marketing perspective of participants represented in the study
• Job titles of benchmark participants