The “Absolutely Critical Thing”: Pharma Alliances Needed Now More Than Ever

In this era of COVID-19, we often talk about the challenges that come with sheltering in place, remote work, and social distancing. It’s tougher to read a room on videoconference; new employees often can’t get the deep, hands-on training and onboarding they need without their mentors literally by their side; and many professionals simply hate not being able to have a coffee or a drink with their colleagues in person.

The Alliance Manager’s Challenge

Meanwhile, alliance managers in the pharmaceutical industry have other unique obstacles to overcome as well.

“The inability to get into a room together has made complex transactions very, very hard, except the whole system requires people to do complex transactions, and requires people to have alliances and to be able to manage them,” said Ed Cox, executive vice president of strategic alliances and global head of digital medicine at EVERSANA.

However, where there are challenges, there are also opportunities. On that score, Cox wants alliance managers to embrace the moment and let the chance to put our economy, our lives, and our public health back together again galvanize them.

“You can go a lifetime and the things that you do [for a living] can never be one of the most critical things in a moment for your civilization, but that’s what is happening. Strategic alliances in pharma are this absolutely critical thing in keeping our civilization moving forward,” he said. “That’s exciting.”

That excitement and sense of mission are sentiments Cox hopes attendees of his upcoming ASAP 2020 BioPharma Conference keynote presentation, “Strategic Alliances Within Pharma: Why the World Needs Alliance Management More Than Ever,” will come away with.

No Question, Pharma Alliances Are Exponentially More Complex

And make no mistake, the initiatives at the center of biopharma alliances are usually more complex than those in other industries, and by orders of magnitude. Where the purchase of a basic commodity represents the simplest of transactions—no previous relationship with the seller or any intimate knowledge of the product is required—biopharma alliances by contrast lie on the opposite end of the spectrum.

“Life sciences products are more complex by factors. If you think about the due diligence of a licensing transaction for a pharmaceutical product, there are between 100 and 150 entire lines of questioning—not questions, lines of questioning—and the truth is there should be another 100 that the person doesn’t know to ask,” said Cox, who will outline a four-point scale illustrating the range of transaction complexity in his BioPharma Conference session.

Given this complexity, trust, always an evergreen topic in ASAP circles, has never been more essential.

In Normal Times or Today’s “Radically More Dramatic” Turbulence, Trust in Alliances Is Essential

“In even the most normal circumstances, you need strategic alliances to hold very complex transactions together because the products and asset class are incredibly complex. If you do not believe or you do not know the person on the other side has yours and their relationship first and foremost in their mind, then it is impossible to do these types of transactions. That is in the normal era. In an era of COVID, it is radically more dramatic,” said Cox.

Cox, who is involved in dozens of alliances in all stages of the pharmaceutical product life cycle at EVERSANA, hopes his presentation will spark a lively Q&A and discussion during the latter half of his session. But, again, his real mission is to create impassioned alliance managers who are eager to use their skills and relationships to battle COVID-19. While he has the benefit of working for a company that fosters a strong alliance culture, Cox recognized that not every alliance manager is so fortunate.

“There have been times that alliance management doesn’t always feel as appreciated as they could. They don’t feel that it is viewed as it should be,” said Cox. “If ever there was a time for alliance management to be viewed as critical as it always was, it’s now.”

The first-ever virtual ASAP BioPharma Conference will take place Sept. 14–16. Cox will deliver “Strategic Alliances Within Pharma: Why the World Needs Alliance Management More Than Ever” on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 1:00 p.m. Register for the BioPharma Conference today to catch this presentation and many other great sessions!