In our new report Launch Readiness 2022, we consider how launch strategists may best navigate a fast-changing yet still commercially ripe environment for pharmaceutical launch readiness. We show how digital transformation and cutting-edge launch management software help companies track the status of launch activities and manage global launch challenges, in real-time and across both functions and countries.

Managing the global threat of COVID-19 and its variants has brought new urgency and agility to the development and delivery of pharmaceutical innovation. The wider impact of the pandemic on new product launches, launch readiness and related business strategies will become even more apparent as 2022 plays out.

From today’s perspective, and from pharma’s point of view, the prospects for new product launches in 2022 remain encouraging. Moreover, many companies have made the necessary strategic and logistical adjustments to maintain operational efficiency under COVID-19.

These changes will increasingly become established as long-term approaches to the traditional challenges of launch excellence and pharma market access. The pandemic has amplified some of those challenges and given pharmaceutical launch activities fresh impetus for the future.

In particular, with COVID-19 draining healthcare resources, companies can expect drug launches in 2022 to undergo more selective and rigorous health technology assessments (HTAs). That will put more onus than ever before on creating, executing and communicating differentiated value, even in a nominally free market for pharmaceuticals such as the US.