Can Otezla be saved?

[anonymous]

thoughts?

 

[anonymous]

Not under this leadership and with the reps that are currently promoting it.

 

[anonymous]

No, it cannot.

Otezla is not very efficacious and has some troubling AEs. It required a unique, performance based sales culture to explode it to $2+ BILLION. That culture no longer exists. It died when Amgen purchased it. The only chance it has was if Kave could have kept them independent of us for just a bit longer. He couldn't and we got our tentacles all around them.

Amgen is only good at selling products that are efficacy leaders and have strong protocol driven mandates that demand their use. They aren't very good at products that require actual competitive selling or innovative marketing. They are good when they have the best product on the market and their Big Pharma, metrics driven, KPI focused approach force multiplies what the market has already decided.

Amgen now has zero, and I mean zero dermatology moxie in sales leadership or marketing. 8 Otezla Marketing Directors in 5 years, all with no experience just rounding out their Thousand Oaks rotations. Furthermore, Amgen no longer has the sales stars who have the relationships and competitive chops with key dermatology writers to make a difference.

Otezla let the pediatric indication chance to inflect sales pass by because a bean counter looked at some research and said it's a "small part" of the business, focus elsewhere. Complete whiff.

Otezla will continue to exhibit a slow bleed until next summer when the erosion will accelerate. Price increase chances are limited so cost containment will be ramped up the final 4 years of the life cycle. The remaining sales members who have value will leave. Marketing will continue to see a new director every 12 months for the life cycle.

Your only real hope is that you get a transfer to maridebart cafraglutide.

Until then, you better make your execution goals.

 

[anonymous]

Otezla is a success. Placebo pill that sells 2 billion. It hasn't grown since Amgen acquired it, despite the little Scotsman's boast to the Street that he could grow it double digits. At the end of the day, it sells 2 billion with 1.987 of that being profit. Otezla is a success.

You are asking the wrong question.

What would Otezla have been had Amgen not acquired it?

Probably $3.5 billion a year by 2024.

 

[anonymous]

Otezla is a success. Placebo pill that sells 2 billion. It hasn't grown since Amgen acquired it, despite the little Scotsman's boast to the Street that he could grow it double digits. At the end of the day, it sells 2 billion with 1.987 of that being profit. Otezla is a success.

You are asking the wrong question.

What would Otezla have been had Amgen not acquired it?

Probably $3.5 billion a year by 2024.

Well said.

Moving forward, it’ll continue to be a cash cow. There will be territorial cuts, program cuts, spend cuts etc. Most of which have happened. In terms of growth? That ship sailed. Leadership lost sight of what retaining solid reps can do to a brand. Instead of asking what they need, they told them what they needed and that what they were doing wasn’t good enough. A smart leader would have taken their skills, embraced them, commended them, and sprinkled new ideas to help move the needle. That field ride with RA could have been the moment that changed the trajectory of the sales team’s culture. All ya had to do was be nice.

 

[anonymous]

Well said.

Moving forward, it’ll continue to be a cash cow. There will be territorial cuts, program cuts, spend cuts etc. Most of which have happened. In terms of growth? That ship sailed. Leadership lost sight of what retaining solid reps can do to a brand. Instead of asking what they need, they told them what they needed and that what they were doing wasn’t good enough. A smart leader would have taken their skills, embraced them, commended them, and sprinkled new ideas to help move the needle. That field ride with RA could have been the moment that changed the trajectory of the sales team’s culture. All ya had to do was be nice.

All SM had to do was either prepare him for the culture of fake getting ready to get in his car, or defend him when she thrashed R's reputation up and down the halls. He did neither.