James Forte, VP of marketing at Campbell, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com, “Our initial focus in Japan will be on providing services in the areas of market assessment, opportunity identification, pricing and market access, market entry and go-to-market strategy, product launch, commercial excellence, and in- and out-licensing.”
Campbell expects there will be regional variations in Japan as the company attempts to offer services it currently offers in the US and Europe.
“For example, from a pricing and market access standpoint, commercial implications of the Affordable Care Act are a timely topic in the US, while in Japan, communicating a product’s value proposition for coverage on the National Health Insurance system in Japan is critical,” Forte said.
As far as the expansion, Forte noted that there are no plans to relocate staff from the US or Europe to Japan.
“Many of our projects are global in nature, so our team is accustomed to collaborating across borders under our current infrastructure. For other projects, working in Japan requires expertise and knowledge of the Japanese market. An area of strength for us in that regard is our ability to collaborate with our inVentiv Health colleagues (our parent company) who have been on-the-ground in Japan for several years,” he added.
The launch of the new consulting business comes just a year after inVentiv announced a partnership with one of Japan’s largest CROs – Bell Medical Solutions. It also follows moves by other CROs looking to nab a portion of the growing trials sector in Japan.
The office, which will be led by Pawel Komender, will operate as inVentiv Health Consulting.