PI Commercial established to help clients commercialize regulated healthcare products and build strong businesses

Planet Innovation has launched a commercial services unit, PI Commercial, to provide our clients with business guidance and expertise from idea through to product launch.

PI Commercial will help start-ups and established companies plan and execute key product commercialization activities. This includes developing business strategies and capital raising guidance, new technology market fit investigations, developing focused and actionable plans for regulatory approval and clinical trials, and establishing early IP strategies, branding and product marketing.

PI CEO Stuart Elliott said the new business unit was set up in response to client demand for early and ongoing support to help commercialize products and build strong businesses.

“At PI, helping our clients achieve strong commercial outcomes has always been our focus. We believe commercialization is key to success­, and we’ve worked hard to embed a commercial mindset across our product development, manufacturing and digital divisions, as well as offering specialized market development services such as our Product-Market Fit program,” Stuart said.

“The establishment of this dedicated commercial unit is a natural evolution, allowing us to build out our team and scale our capabilities so we can now provide ongoing commercial support and guidance to all our clients.

“This expertise, combined with the product development experience of the 350+ staff in our Services division, puts PI in a uniquely strong position to help our clients successfully commercialize their products.”

A team of commercialization experts with deep healthcare experience

The PI Commercial team is headed by General Manager Sue Dafnias. Previously PI’s Vice President of Market Development and Strategy, Sue brings over 25 years’ experience in strategy, sales, marketing and product commercialization in healthcare.

The rest of the commercial team includes experts across all aspects of product commercialization. Every person brings deep healthcare experience, allowing them to provide specialist and tailored support in developing commercial strategies for regulated products.

Sue said that while many clients came to PI actively seeking commercial help, others were so focused on R&D that they had not properly considered the market development activities that need to progress alongside product development.

“Unfortunately, it is not as simple as build it and they [the customers] will come. There are often important factors outside the technology that will influence market pull and technology adoption – such as clinical guidelines, stakeholder engagement or reimbursement to mention a few,” Sue said.

“Commercialization is one of the most important yet challenging aspects of launching a new product – all commercial activities form part of larger puzzle. There are loads of different business opportunities and potential product options to consider. It is easy to lose sight of the target market opportunity, ability to demonstrate market pull, and new market entry considerations like varying regulatory requirements. It can also be difficult to decide which commercialization activities to prioritize for the budget and stage of new product development.

“Through this commercial services offering, we provide our clients with a cross-functional and integrated approach to product commercialization that is closely aligned to product development. We help our clients understand the key drivers for their business, determine the right opportunities to target and focus their efforts, and use their budget efficiently. The first step can be an early-stage workshop or short program, which could cover market exploration, MVP definition, design readiness, business model design or manufacturing .”

End-to-end commercialization services

PI Commercial has six core offerings to help clients navigate the complex process of commercializing a regulated healthcare product.

Sue said PI Commercial would have the flexibility to scale up or scale down these services to suit each client’s needs.

“We tailor our services to match the client and client needs – whether they be big multinationals looking to fill a specific knowledge gap or start-ups looking for holistic guidance to ensure that all the key commercial aspects are considered at the right time,” Sue said.

The six core offerings are:

Business Strategy and Advice: Develop business strategies and materials to support capital raising or grant submissions; and advise on the most appropriate business model and path to market.

Product-Market Fit: A structured program to thoroughly investigate the market fit and customer needs in order to define the best product solution, before starting and to inform product development.

Intellectual Property (IP) Insights: IP insights bridge the gap between traditional IP services and the commercial world to provide initial support to develop or enhance clients’ IP Strategy and align it with business goals.

Regulatory Strategy and Advice: Develop a regulatory strategy to streamline product development, regulatory approval and market entry. This includes identifying the best regulatory path to market and aligning marketing claims, product design, and verification and validation activities.

Clinical Development: Help with arranging clinical trials for regulatory approval, and to determine the safety and efficacy of a solution. This includes supporting the clinical trial development needed to gain ethics approval, and support with finding study sites.

Branding and Product Marketing: Develop strong brand positioning and identity, support product strategy development and the creation of key marketing material and training tools to proactively prepare for product launch and post-launch support.

Learn more about PI’s Commercial Services or get in touch.