Shooting for the stars: how to get pharma launches right

It’s 60 years this month since Alexei Leonov stepped out of the Voskhod 2, more than 300 miles above the earth’s surface, and became the first human being to walk in space. Today, humanity is launching more rockets into space than ever before - one every 34 hours in 2024, which was the fourth year in succession to break all previous records.[1]And it’s not just the pace of rocket launches that’s accelerating – closer to home, the pharma industry is launching more products than ever before. As with the 21st century space race, where countries and companies are competing for interplanetary power and prestige, there’s a huge territorial struggle for the global pharma market. Getting launches right has become a major front in the battle pharma companies now have to fight for wallet and head space.

If a rocket launch goes wrong, the results are usually instant, obvious and catastrophic, as we saw only this month with the explosion of SpaceX’s StarShip. For pharma the signs of failed launch are much more subtle, but they do eventually show up on the balance sheet. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that this is happening more and more often, with more than half the drug launches in key therapeutic areas missing their expected trajectory and falling well short of their targets.

So, what can pharma learn from today’s rocket innovators? Well, the big uptick in efficiency has been one key enabler for rocket tech. Moving to differentiated launch platforms and making more effort to adapt and repurpose resources so that the heavy lifting doesn’t have to start anew with each launch has helped – as have the constant incremental improvements in analytics. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now used for multiple purposes in space flights, from simulations to split-second course corrections to real-time refinement of landing algorithms. Efficiency, more intelligent use of resources and better deployment of data and AI are all smart moves pharma companies should be making here on earth as they ponder their own launch strategies.

There are other lessons for pharma companies seeking to optimize launch, as captured in the new EY report Tech and people balanced for a successful launch | EY - Global, published this week. We see the ultimate challenge for companies as finding the right mix of launch capabilities, data and AI, and “humans at the center.” This will help to ensure an enhanced focus on building relationships and leveraging networks better to give new products the best chance of launching successfully.

The other big picture message I’d like the industry to take from the space race is simpler: new launches should be inspiring. Every new pharma product represents a huge scientific accomplishment. Back in 2016, the US government launched its new, national “Moonshot” initiative to “eliminate cancer as we know it.” The moonshot metaphor underlined that a cure for cancer will need to be a huge, long-term, high-investment program comparable to the original Apollo missions to the moon. In fact, curing disease is arguably a lot tougher than sending rockets to orbit – biology is much more complex than ballistics.

Creating a new drug is an enormous triumph for the companies that – incredibly – keep pulling it off year after year. Given the baked-in failure rate of new molecules in clinical trials, each clinical program that makes it to the finish line is also a victory of hope over experience in many ways. And these drugs are arguably far more important for most humans than reaching the moon could ever be. One small step for a man on the moon is less important than one small step for a man or woman who has been able to get out of their wheelchair or sickbed only because of the healing powers of the pharma industry.

Ultimately, pharma’s new launches aren’t just “products” like those of any other industry: pharma is saving people, uplifting human health and adding years of life, love and lived experience to humankind. That ought to be something as inspiring and iconic as those images of the first spacewalks back in the 1960s. Being able to launch more products and get them to more patients faster is a matter of major human importance. It should be a serious priority to everyone in the industry – and partnering with it – to help biopharma tackle this challenge.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

[1] The Space Report 2024 Q4 Shows Record Annual Launches, Strong H2 Market Performance, and Growing Demand for Tracking and Removal of Orbital Debris