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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 22:10:33 GMT -5
Stealing this from another thread, Felt it deserved it's own topic: How much notice does SNY or MNKD have to tell us before launch.. 1 week 2 weeks .......... a month??? Thanks in advance. Good question. Will it happen like Q says above? Dog and pony show, on stage, ribbon cutting and all that jazz? Or just an announcement? Or no announcement? Curious thoughts on this with others who have seen drug launches before |
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Post by BlueCat on Jan 6, 2015 23:56:24 GMT -5
You can pre announce. You can announce day of. Or they could do a 'post' announce - turn ordering on before, then tell us.
How to announce? One common way is using a public presentation as the vehicle, where industry press/analysts will already be around - if they are allowed at the event (some conferences don't allow, due to all the competitive vendors there). They say something like "we're pleased to announce that as of Jan X, we will start accepting orders... detail detail detail ....". There would then be media briefings/call downs, and of course the overall coverage on the presentation at the event. The two companies would also issue a joint press release on their respective websites. If they took this route, I would expect the senior exec of Sanofi diabetes US there too as part of the presentation and announcement. In this case, probably SNY would actually make the announcement - since this is actually their GTM launch (Afrezza already effectively 'released' when it got FDA approval.)
If they use a public presentation as the vehicle, They could do it now. They could do it later. But I don't think they would do it at the MNKD. It would not make sense to have SNY there, and IMHO, it would be odd if they do this style of announce, with SNY actually in more focus, without them.
Otherwise, It could be as simple as as joint press release. Not incorporated into a presentation at all.
Do I think they'll soft launch without any communication? Probably not because of the media attention already. And simply put- if they don't put the message out, others will find out and do it for them, and likely (or purposefully), get the facts wrong. Both because of the vested basher and competitive interests, and well, you don't piss on the media and ignore them. They get mad.
If I were advising them on this, frankly, I would recommend using the JP Morgan venue for it (again - if allowed) and if necessary, pre announce. But only if they can come out really strong. Otherwise, not clear on what the next ideal calendar event would be.
Curious to hear if any others have thoughts or insight ...
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Post by dreamboatcruise on Jan 7, 2015 12:21:55 GMT -5
How to announce? One common way is using a public presentation as the vehicle, where industry press/analysts will already be around - if they are allowed at the event (some conferences don't allow, due to all the competitive vendors there). They say something like "we're pleased to announce that as of Jan X, we will start accepting orders... detail detail detail ....". There would then be media briefings/call downs, and of course the overall coverage on the presentation at the event. The two companies would also issue a joint press release on their respective websites. If they took this route, I would expect the senior exec of Sanofi diabetes US there too as part of the presentation and announcement. In this case, probably SNY would actually make the announcement - since this is actually their GTM launch (Afrezza already effectively 'released' when it got FDA approval.) Do pharmas try to push supply out to retail level prior to a specific date they intend docs to start writing scripts or do they tend to announce a launch as the day they "start accepting orders" and then count on pull from script writing to generate the orders to fill retail pharmacy stock rooms? I know nothing about how these roll outs occur. It doesn't seem that docs would want to be writing script for a drug that the patient would then be told by the pharmacy that it needs to be ordered... but that is my uninformed guess. |
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Post by BlueCat on Jan 7, 2015 13:47:15 GMT -5
I speak only from a patient perspective on this one, but with the marketing expertise angle added.
As a patient of medication for acute conditions (e.g. asthma) that were recently FDA approved, its almost always been a 'not in stock' situation with the local pharmacy. The doc goes through the pre approval process. Then writes the script and advises me that the pharmacy will likely have to special order it. The order generally takes anywhere from a day to 14 days (but normally less than a week). The doc makes certain if needed, there is another medication currently used to control the condition while waiting for the new script to get delivered.
This to me seems more the rule than the exception.
What I'm not clear on is whether e.g. SNY (and BP in general) use a two-tier distribution system, or direct (1 tier).
In other words, when the local Walgreens retail pharmacy location goes online and hits the order button for Afrezza - will the truck be rolling directly from a SNY warehouse in their local region (and they get deliveries from SNY every other day or what), or does Walgreens have its own warehouse stocked, that gets weekly deliveries from SNY warehouse. If its the latter, I'd suspect we'd be seeing pre-order stocking to that Walgreens warehouse. If its the former, no preorders needed. In either case, SNY no doubt has an online catalog where the part number and its pricing will go live. And either Walgreens pharmacies have a direct link to that catalog (tier 1), or, Walgreens warehouse has that link, and then the pharmacies link to their Walgreens warehouse. Anyway, digress into the IT world there.
My guess is that it is two-tier for scale purposes. In which case, the announce would be to financial communities and retail pharmacies only (e.g. Walgreens) so that they start placing orders to SNY to stock their warehouses. If only 1 tier, I think we'd be seeing the announce not just to pharmacies (so that the actual pharmacists are aware), but also to doctors. But not yet to patients. As a controlled launch, I think they are depending on a 'push' strategy - SNY rep educates doc, doc educates patient - until production is ramped.
But of course, no one can control the viral marketing aspect (patient social media and other word of mouth between diabetics). Direct advertising and announce to patients wouldn't be in the form of PR on other more direct communication, rather, you'd start seeing digital ads on aarp.org to ask your doctor about Afrezza.
But this is all pure speculation on how logistics and marketing generally interchange.
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Post by dstevenson on Jan 7, 2015 13:58:56 GMT -5
do we have a numeber on our assigned sales force from SNY that will be pushing afrezza?
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Post by brentie on Jan 7, 2015 14:06:33 GMT -5
Unidentified Analyst Hi, this is actually [Brittany] on for Cory. Thanks for taking the questions, I have two questions. How many reps is Sanofi going to launch with? And also second, what are your thoughts on the recent commentary made by Sanofi about insulin pricing and how this may affect AFREZZA? Thanks. Hakan Edstrom Once again, unfortunately I have to tell you that certainly we know that Sanofi has a big and a large diabetes organization in the US including sales reps and MSLs. And that is being worked out together with Sanofi right now. And in a short period of time the JAC committees in between the two companies are getting together say to finalize the planning. But again, for competitive reasons I cannot give you the exact number or reps that are – and MSLs that are being part of the plan but it’s a well-resourced focused plans Alfred Mann And there will be one group of that those sales people whose first priority will be AFREZZA. seekingalpha.com/article/2661685-mannkinds-mnkd-ceo-alfred-mann-on-q3-2014-results-earnings-call-transcript?find=sales&all=false |
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Post by trenddiver on Jan 8, 2015 9:25:37 GMT -5
Maybe some clarity on the launch will be given at the JPM Conference Jan 12-14. Both Sanofi and Mannkind will be giving presentations.
Trend
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Post by bradleysbest on Jan 8, 2015 9:40:48 GMT -5
A launch date would be nice!
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Post by dreamboatcruise on Jan 8, 2015 12:48:43 GMT -5
Maybe some clarity on the launch will be given at the JPM Conference Jan 12-14. Both Sanofi and Mannkind will be giving presentations. Trend I think seeing Sanofi is before Mannkind at the conference might be a good thing. I suspect Sanofi will want to announce things first, so Mannkind being after them could allow Mannkind to elaborate on any details that are covered by Sanofi... or elaborate on the fact that they aren't giving any details yet  |
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How much notice does SNY or MNKD have to tell us before launch.. 1 week 2 weeks .......... a month??? Thanks in advance. 
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