Presentation Abstract

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, faced with the challenge of launching Incivek into the highly competitive hepatitis C market, identified critical factors key to launch success. With informational needs related to product labeling and messaging dominating the list, the question became how could Vertex be better-informed and more nimble in action throughout the launch cycle?

Vertex found the answer in real-time market data gained from accessing crowds of screened and targeted health care professionals via an innovative do-it-yourself (DIY) market research platform. Acquiring physician input within hours vs. days or weeks provided the fuel for rapidly informing launch decisions.

During this session Vertex will share a brief background regarding Incivek development, discuss current market dynamics in the hepatitis C treatment ecosystem and offer a case study highlighting the DIY platform and use of real-time data to gain a competitive advantage during product launch.

Session attendees will leave with an understanding of the challenges Vertex faced in launching a drug into a highly competitive market, an overview of the platform and methodology utilized to access real-time data as well as the value of immediate market insights during the product launch cycle.

This session demonstrates how a cutting edge organization, thinking outside of the box, can disrupt the cycle of wait-for-it data by using a new technology to access real-time data.

Speaker Biographies

Matt Grimley is a Sr. Market Research Manager at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for Health Care Professional Market Research for Vertex's HCV franchise and is part of the team responsible for launching INCIVEK, a recently approved therapy for hepatitis C. Prior to joining Vertex, he worked in a number of business intelligence roles at EMD Serono. Matt holds a M.B.A. from Babson College and a B.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Janet Kosloff co-founded InCrowd, Inc. in 2010. She has spent the majority of her career helping life science professionals and other medical businesses better understand the markets in which they operate through the use of primary market research. Janet has led sales, operations and product development teams at several startup organizations as well as fortune 500 companies.