Written by Dan Spacie, CEO of SCIRIS
summation
Market access services are undergoing a twofold transformation. On the one hand, technological advances and procurement pressures are driving commoditization, standardizing deliverables and compressing margins. On the other hand, the strategic value of market access is increasing, especially in complex therapeutic areas and early-stage commercialization. This article explores the tensions between these forces and outlines SCIRIS’ strategic response.
The need for commercialization
Merchandising is driven by:
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- Procurement-led contracts: Increased reliance on reverse auctions, rate cards, and bundled service agreements.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation: Tools that streamline evidence generation, price simulation, and documentation.
- Output normalization: Global value dossiers, health technology assessment (HTA) templates, and pricing matrices are increasingly recognized as interchangeable.
These trends are reshaping customer expectations, especially at large pharmaceutical companies where cost-efficiency and scalability drive decision-making.
Strategic value of market access
Despite commoditization, strategic market access remains essential.
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- Initial Engagement: Aligning clinical development with payer expectations is critical to a successful launch.
- Complex HTA navigation: Tailor-made strategies for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and European Union (EU) agencies require deep expertise and bespoke modelling.
- Cross-departmental integration: Strategic market access links regulation, health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) and commercial planning.
Clients are increasingly recognizing that strategic inputs, particularly rare diseases, cell/gene therapies, and multi-indication assets, can have a significant impact on asset valuation and utilization.
Conflict: Efficiency and Professionalism
These tensions manifest themselves in several ways.
SCIRIS’ experience with Source Health Economics and Porterhouse Insights shows that while clients seek efficiency, they also demand strategic depth.
SCIRIS’ Strategic Response
To harmonize these forces, SCIRIS is pursuing the following combined strategy:
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- Drive early engagement: Partnering with companies earlier in the development lifecycle allows for deeper strategic alignment, faster market access planning, evidence generation, and stronger influence on value positioning.
- Encourage patient engagement: Collaborating with patient groups early in the development lifecycle helps shape treatments to real-world needs, improves trial design and recruitment, and builds trust and advocacy that can accelerate access and adoption.
- segmentation service: Productize repeatable tasks (e.g. paperwork) while keeping strategic advisory a premium service.
- Invest in AI tools: We will launch an AI commercialization planning platform by mid-2026 to expand strategic input, not replacement.
- extension: We seek talent who can deepen strategic expertise and geographic accessibility.
- customer education: Positioning strategic market access as a value driver rather than a cost focus, especially in investor and business development discussions.
Recommendation
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- interior: We continue to build differentiated capabilities such as pricing, HTA strategy, and initial planning. Avoid over-reliance on commoditized service models.
- client facing: Educate clients about the return on investment (ROI) of strategic market access. We use case studies to demonstrate launch success and impact on asset valuation.
- Investor face-to-face: Emphasizes strategic market access as a growth engine for the SCIRIS portfolio, particularly considering AI integration and geographic expansion.
conclusion
Commercialization is inevitable, but strategic market access is irreplaceable, especially as we move toward more complex treatments. Source Health Economics’ and SCIRIS’ ability to balance efficiency and expertise will define our competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving environment.
