VOLKER GALLICHIO
Volkpharma Consulting, Winter Garden, Florida, United States

Abstract

The growing demand for products targeted at central nervous system (CNS) disease offers opportunities for makers of alternative therapies to expand into these markets worldwide. A “tailwind” strategy can reduce costs and speed market entry by turning physicians into co-marketers for alternate options, such as supplements, than can be combined with drug therapies they’re already prescribing. Key to this strategy is identifying a niche within a larger market category. To illustrate how to deploy the strategy, the article presents a case study of the Magtein^® Pro supplement and how it identified the cognitive impairment niche within the Alzheimer’s market and positions itself not as a competitor to drug therapies, but as a complement to them.

Worldwide, the market for products targeted at central nervous system (CNS) disease is growing: by 2026, data from Reports and Data forecasts the global market for Alzheimer’s therapeutics alone will reach USD 12.43 billion (1). North America accounts for almost 30% of the current market share and is expected to maintain this share given the growing pipeline of drug development and the market’s access to and buying power for expensive drugs.

Therapies prescribed by physicians are currently dominated by two types of pharmaceuticals: cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil (Aricept, marketed by Eisai in collaboration with Pfizer) and NMDA receptor antagonists such memantine (Namenda, marketed by Actavis).

With a “tailwind” strategy, however, alternative therapies can enter this same market not as competitors but as complements to drug therapies.

The strategy is to accelerate market entry by riding the tailwind created by the awareness, audiences, and professional relationships that major drug makers have already created. This reduces market-entry obstacles such having to compete with the ...