This is the beginning of a new series of pieces on tactics that established market players can take to counter an Alien Invasion. The threat to those established players is dramatic loss of profit as well as overall share. Established players tactics’ can counteract Alien Invasions.
Ekalore has identified 10 strategies to counter an Alien invasion. This strategy focuses on how Pfizer leveraged its expertise to fend off an Alien Invasion by Moderna.
Pfizer vs. Moderna
Moderna launched an Alien Invasion in the Pharma markets with a new drug process keyed on mRNA technology. This technology promised to up end the entire vaccine industry by disruptive speed and costs for a new vaccine. Pfizer wanted to expand their market participation in vaccines and bet on mRNA as a strong possible technology in 2018. By 2021, in a worldwide pandemic, the Alien Invader has the smaller market. Moderna will have only a major (not most) of the Covid-19 vaccine market. Pfizer was able to counter this new strategy because of greater overall expertise.
Pfizer teamed up with BioNTech matching commercialization and regulatory strength with mRNA technology. Moderna had no products, never brought a drug from research to market, and had continued major financial losses. With the same starting research formula for an mRNA vaccine drug substance both enterprises raced to bring an extremely desired and hotly demanded product to market.
Pfizer’s key strength to counter an Alien Invader, seen in regulatory submissions, is expertise. This shows up in documentation of clinical trial, drug substance production, packaging (fill and finish), and global pharma supply chain. Moderna had key scientists familiar with a radical new process, but Pfizer knew manufacturing process to create, package, and deliver a new drug, while getting through the regulatory process faster.
Pfizer expertise continues to allow it execution excellence in key areas today:
1) Pfizer using 30% of the drug substance (30 mcg versus 100 mcg) per dose of vaccine
2) Pfizer engineered the logistics process to double the amount of vaccine that moves by one airplane to 6400 lbs at a time.
3) Pfizer used enterprise resources to self-fund vaccine commercialization to avoid regulatory and public entanglements
4) Of the 186 materials needed, Pfizer coached their downstream suppliers and made their own where absolutely necessary
5) Pfizer enlisted their competitors to help their success
In our next post, we’ll discuss what happened for the 2nd generation of Covid boosters and Vaccines
If you’ve got comments, questions, or something to add, please reach out to us at www.ekalore.com/contact
Comments