Biopharma companies need to balance many critical priorities, specially when those companies are pre-commercial. Most notably, that includes…
- The R&D strategy that drives discovery and generates differentiating data.
- The financing plan, including raising money, conducting business development deals, or grant writing for non-profit support.
- Building the capability to ensure the team is in place, including recruiting talent and establishing trusted external partners.
- Defining a strategy, clarifying your commercial story, developing goals, and ensuring talking points are aligned and delivered consistently across internal stakeholders and communications vehicles.
These ongoing priorities need to be crisply articulated in your JPM story. Further, in our ever-changing biopharma landscape, they will often come together in the weeks (or days!) before the actual event in the second week of January.
What follows are some key thoughts and considerations from our work with companies, focusing on multiple aspects of strategy support, commercial story development, and initiative integration as they prepare for or implement the commercialization of their innovative therapies.
The structure of what we want to share is in two parts:
#1. Consulting tips to improve the process
#2. Rethinking corporate and product storytelling in today’s market
Consulting Tips to Improve the Process
Create the shell deck early to outline the story and what will be needed.
This will enable parallel processing of important facts and figures that, although potentially less central to the strategic messaging, are still relevant.
Create a data repository that serves as a “single source of truth.”
This can be updated each quarter and could include clinical, financial, market, and company data. If this doesn’t exist today, create it now to ensure you have it for the future. Optimally, use a shared file, so functions can provide updates in real-time.
Mandate that the senior team meets early to clarify the strengths and gaps.
This should include overall strategy, company, and pipeline; key messages; understanding of the competitive set; and likely questions, both new and historical. The CEO needs to communicate what they would like to say to then have the team validate whether it is possible to say (and defend).
Develop a timeline for populating “the deck.”
Assign roles and identify a graphics resource that can polish the story once it all comes together. Do not underestimate the review time as well. Many cooks are in this kitchen (yes, chef!); they all need a chance to weigh in.
So, what is important as we get to the meat of the actual story? Part #2 dives deeper into the key elements we all need to keep front and center.
Rethinking Corporate and Product Storytelling in Today’s Market
In a capital- and evidence-constrained healthcare environment, the ability to tell a differentiated, credible story — at both the corporate and asset level — has become a strategic advantage. The market no longer compensates novelty alone. Rather, it rewards innovation that creates measurable clinical and commercial value.
To compete on those terms, companies need to sharpen how they position their science, products, and platforms. We recognize this can be difficult before the data is available, but here is an approach to help pressure-test the story across four key dimensions:
#1. Corporate Story: Strategy Anchors Credibility
A company’s story must be rooted in strategic clarity. Corporate storytelling should convey discipline and focus: how the organization allocates capital, manages risk, and leverages innovation to deliver lasting impact. Innovation for its own sake is not compelling… innovation guided by strategic intent is.
#2. Asset Story: Differentiation Beyond Mechanism
Scientific novelty must connect directly to improved patient outcomes and system value. A new mechanism of action that delivers the same result as existing therapies will not command market or payer interest.
Meaningful differentiation — measured in clinical impact, ease of access, or cost efficiency — is what defines a winning asset story. We have seen people pre-position their asset vis-à-vis the competition without ever mentioning another company, etc. Investors and partners listen for evidence that innovation translates into relevance.
#3. The Payer Environment: Shaping Access and Delivery
Payers have become architects of healthcare delivery. Their decisions influence not only which products succeed, but how they reach patients. The GLP‑1 marketplace illustrates this evolution: payer constraints and high-cost structures pushed market leaders to create direct-to-patient access channels, effectively bypassing traditional reimbursement models. This is a signal for all emerging companies: payer dynamics will shape your market entry as much as your clinical results.
Organizations must anticipate these forces early. Knowing what payers will pay for, how they will manage access, and how to communicate your product’s economic and clinical rationale must be embedded into development. When investors or partners probe on access readiness, confident, evidence-based answers build immediate credibility.
#4. Strategic Agility Defines Leadership
In today’s market, storytelling is strategy. We believe companies that align innovation with payer reality, market access, and clinical differentiation will define the next generation of leadership in healthcare.
Shape Perception, Drive Reality
Now is the time to sharpen your story, so that your company narrative reflects strategic clarity and your product narrative anticipates real-world barriers.
Those who lead this shift won’t just communicate value, they’ll capture it.