Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Company Alliances: Proven Tactics for Profitable Partnerships.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2004

Increases in specificity and customization of therapeutic interventions drive a rise in partnerships between pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, but many partnerships have been riddled with inefficiencies, unmet deadlines and extended budget. A study by pharmaceutical research firm Best Practices, LLC reveals the processes, co-promotion agreements and marketing activities leading pharmaceutical companies employ to create profitable partnerships with diagnostic companies.

"Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Companies: Can They Work Together?", available at http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr338.htm, details many aspects of successful partnerships. The study found:

-- Diagnostic companies minimize investment risk by using a

variety of factors to determine tests' potential

profitability.

-- Diagnostic companies rely heavily on pharmaceutical companies

for marketing funding and sales force co-promotion support.

-- Diagnostic test development is a complex process that may take

up to five years, but pharmaceutical company support can speed

the diagnostic test commercialization and market uptake 

processes.

-- Diagnostic companies' marketing mixes focus heavily on

influencing key opinion leaders and clinicians.

-- Increasingly complex diagnostic test development processes

have shifted diagnostic product marketing timelines and

activities more toward the pharmaceutical model.

-- Discerning differences between small and large diagnostic

companies and large reference laboratories is critical to

understanding their abilities to market new products.

-- Diagnostic test development partnerships and strategic

alliances established early in the drug development process

tend to have a higher success rate.

-- Clear contracting agreements are key factor to successful

partnerships.

-- Pharmaceutical companies time new product to launches to

correspond with a test's market uptake.

Download a summary of "Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Companies: Can They Work Together ?," at http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr338.htm.

The best practices and managerial insights included in this report are drawn from interviews with executives from 18 diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. "Pharmaceutical & Diagnostic Companies: Can They Work Together?" includes best practices in:

-- Developing a Diagnostic Test

-- Preparing the Market for A Diagnostic Test

-- Pharmaceutical Companies' Influence on the Development of a

Diagnostic Test

-- Contributing to Market Acceptance of a Diagnostic Test

-- Critical Factors for Successful Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical

Companies Partnerships

-- Cholesterol Partnership Case Study

-- Herpes Partnership Case Study

"At the root of a successful pharmaceutical and diagnostic company partnership is a deep understanding of the other's business model," said Best Practices, LLC Vice President Paul Meade. "This understanding is the first step necessary to reach a successful partnership."

For more information, contact Susan Silverstein at [phone] or at [e-mail].

ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that works on the principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class organizations. For more information, call 919-403-0251 or visit http://www.best-in-class.com/