Posting date:
24/02/2020
US public immuno-oncology-biotech, commercial launch in Europe
Case study
The overview
A highly focused immune-oncology biotech had a compound – expected to be a blockbuster – to launch in Europe. We worked with the leadership team to identify and attract senior leaders to run the affiliate countries in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany. Next, we built out their medical affairs and commercial presence.
The challenge
Our partner had a strong brand reputation in the USA as an award-winning employer, however the brand was largely unknown in Europe. As a start-up, they were seemingly high risk, so the main challenge was to address the lack of brand recognition. We needed to educate the candidate community on our partner, their values, and their reputation in the USA. They perceived themselves as being entrepreneurial in nature, with a ‘sleeves rolled up’ mentality and wanted people who worked accordingly.
Another challenge was that their clinical data was arriving at a critical time. There was not enough data to prove that they had the market leading compound, so they were competing in a highly competitive inhibitor market, unable to officially confirm that they had the best product. This was all being conducted under extremely tight timelines, and so a rapid turnaround time was going to be vital to the success of the recruitment project.
The solution
We met and consulted with the leadership team to agree and forge a path that best suited these strict timelines. We conducted extensive talent mapping to identify candidates that were technically suitable, followed by running rigorous assessment centres at our offices across Scandinavia, the UK, and Germany, as our partner did not have sufficient office space available. We worked with them to build and develop the assessment centres, with various exercises including role plays, and remained incredibly active in the interview process.
The outcome
Through our collaboration with the company, 5 commercial hires were made in the UKINOR territory and 12 commercial hires in the DACH territory.
We provided our partner with a comprehensive map of their top 3 competitors, highlighting their commercial strength across UKINOR and DACH territories.
We educated the commercial candidate community on our partner and their plans moving forwards, building a talent pool of exceptional individuals for their future needs.
TThey have now partnered with us across their regulatory affairs and HEOR/market access divisions, consolidating the relationship further.
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