Commercial teams should contribute during early development, including Phase II planning, while their input can still inform the evidence collected for Phase III. Understanding what patients, physicians, and payers will value helps teams select relevant endpoints and assess how a potential therapy could compete. The level of commercial investment can grow as the program progresses.

A live conversation at Future Pharma 2026, now DigiPharma, examined how early commercial insight can influence development decisions. Farrell Simon, Chief Commercial Officer at Trevi Therapeutics, observed, "The challenge is that most companies don't start thinking about commercial until Phase III." He described using a target product profile and a minimally acceptable commercial profile to align colleagues on the evidence and product characteristics needed to support a viable launch.

Another conference presentation indicated that commercial and market access teams should help shape Phase II development plans by identifying the evidence payers will need to evaluate a therapy. Addressing those requirements early gives clinical teams time to incorporate relevant endpoints into planned studies.

Chief commercial officers and precommercial biotech leaders should work with clinical colleagues to review the target product profile before major trial design decisions. Use patient and payer research to test assumptions about meaningful outcomes, then document which evidence questions the next study must address. For smaller companies, fractional pricing and access specialists can provide early expertise while hiring remains tied to development milestones.

Join us at DigiPharma to discuss how early commercial insight can connect drug development decisions with patient access and launch readiness.