I'm pleased now to be returning to expanding our data to new markets, with Finland the latest addition! (Adding Lapland and Santa at this time of year felt appropriate!)
Earlier this year we were adding new markets regularly, but this slowed down in the last few months. This was because we have been revising the way that we collect and process country data, to ensure accuracy of our data with far greater confidence than ever before. We continue to roll this out across the markets we already cover, but can now start to do this in parallel to adding new markets
If you'd like to catch up about all the latest developments, and our plans for 2025, just reply to this email and we'll plan in a call!
I'll be heading to ExpoPharm in Munich on the 10th and 11th of October, if you'll be attending please let me know and we can have a catch up! I've plenty of developments in the works for PharmaFootpath, and would love to get your feedback.
I'll also be attending GCSG EU Knowledge Forum in Malta on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of October. Let me know if you'll be at this one too!
Creating a shortlist of new suppliers to get an edge
When searching through Pharma Footpath for a product you may not have sourced very often, or even entirely new, you can sometimes find that a suprising price in a market you don't have strong relationships. What then?
Using the EU WDA License tool in Pharma Footpath gives you chance to review who has licenses in different markets, and the conditions on their licenses!
Search WDA licenses in Pharma Footpath
Let's imagine you need a cold chain product, and you've seen the list price information in Greece suggests this might be a good market to speak to suppliers. It's not a market you've strong relationships with, so you're looking for all options. By applying a couple of simple filters, you can select all WDA license holders in Greece who have both 'cold chain' as a license condition, as well as 'export'.
Select license conditions in dropdown
In which case, you only have 48 WDA license holders that meet these conditions. Some of these may be irrelevant, logistics providers for example, and now you're left with a shortlist of companies to evaluate and see whether there are potential new partners.
This may take a little bit of time to evaluate, but this time invested expands your network and can reveal some opportunities that competitors haven't taken the time to explore!
If you'd like to discuss more about the information in WDA licenses, or how we can use data to enhance your business, please reply to this email and let's discuss!
Some markets are more difficult to gather detailed information from, and the Italian market falls in that category. That means that when we do run analytics on the market, it's important to share!
- 1,482 parallel trade licenses have been granted to bring stock into Italy, though 248 are no longer commercialised.
- 17 different companies hold these licenses. GMM Farma being the biggest with 269 licenses approved, including 24 licenses granted in 2024.
- Bayer's oral contraceptive Yasmin is the most contested parallel import product, with 12 different companies holding PI licenses for this.
- Of the 223 different products imported (that is, excluding different strengths and pack size variations), 67 are held by a single company without competition.
- In line with the wider PI industry, the number of licenses granted per quarter has increased steadily over the last 10 years. From an average of 9.75 licenses per quarter in 2013, to 48 per quarter in 2023.
Italian Parallel Import licenses granted per quarter since 2014
The rise in competition for parallel import products, and the growth in the industry more broadly, has resulted in companies looking for a new 'edge' that allows them to compete more effectively. Pharma Footpath has been working with parallel import companies to identify new opportunities before others, and track competition more effectively.
If you're interested in seeing what data analytics we can provide for your business, you can reply to this message and let me know what you're keen to learn more about!
As Pharma Footpath develops its databases, we're able to quickly drill down into the commercial opportunities. Where I think this is most interesting currently is in looking at renegotiated prices in different markets, and taking advantage of these before others do.
Examples of this include:
- 50% reduction in price for Australian Xolair PFS, bringing this below EU market. Valuable for the 54 clinical trials globally, and for the wider number of trading opportunities that come from these English language packs
- The centrally authorised product Pradaxa has had over 300 parallel trade licenses granted, and is listed in 65 clinical trials globally. A recent price reduction of over 20% in Hungary makes this an import area to review
It's clear from the data that when price changes occur, they don't happen in a synchronized fashion. That creates opportunities for finding the markets that have the earliest price movement, but also acts as a warning to companies about committing to purchasing product that may be about to undergo significant market changes (Revlimid is a prime example in Europe!)
If you'd like to talk more about these points, please get in touch! I'm always keen to talk more about the insights we're finding, and what we can build from it to make your business win more.
