Our Partner
A biopharmaceutical company founded to pursue treatments for metabolic and liver disease, and spent more than a decade developing one compound: a liver-directed therapy for a progressive disease that scars the liver and can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and transplant.
The company went public partway through that work, then spent years more in development. When FDA approval finally came, it was the first drug ever approved to treat the disease itself. A research organization had about a year to turn itself into a commercial one.
The scale of that change shows in the headcount. The company grew by more than 70% in a single year, and well over half its people now work in commercial roles: the sales force, market access, patient services and the medical teams supporting them.
PrincetonOne began work two years before approval.
The Challenge
Our partner was a start-up preparing to launch a first-in-class product in a disease area where other companies had tried and failed to bring a therapy to market. The stakes were high and the commercial organization did not exist.
Building it meant five functions, from the payer negotiations that decide whether a drug is covered, through the case-by-case work of getting individual patients approved, to the MDs and PharmDs who carry the science to prescribing physicians.
Medical Affairs, Market Access and Access and Reimbursement had to be in place ahead of approval. Thought Leader Liaisons and the field sales force followed. Each stage had its own talent market, its own hiring managers, and a deadline set by where the product was in its regulatory path.
One thing ran through all of it. The product was not yet approved, so every candidate was being asked to leave a job for a company whose lead asset might not reach the market.
Our Solution
PrincetonOne deployed Executive RPO and Sales RPO teams and built each function as its own program, with dedicated recruiters who worked directly with the leaders of that function.
The Medical Science Liaison searches called for advanced practitioners across four therapeutic areas, including MDs, PharmDs, and doctoral-level candidates, recruited for a product that was not yet approved.
For Market Access, the VP and Executive Directors were already in post, so we worked alongside them to build out the rest of the department rather than starting from the top.
The Thought Leader Liaison team was the hardest to scope. The roles sit across functions, so we worked with leaders in several parts of the business to agree what the role actually was before sourcing began, then ran a market analysis to build competitive compensation plans for it.
Across every program, PrincetonOne ran sourcing, live interviews, hiring events, and verbal offers, and advised through the decisions a first launch throws up.
Our Results
PrincetonOne achieved a 100% fill rate on every team required for launch.
The Market Access team came first. National Account Directors and Regional Account Directors were hired in under four weeks, with the Executive Director of Key Accounts and six Key Account Directors in seat within ten. The Access and Reimbursement team, 22 people including the Director, was built from nothing in the same ten weeks. The Medical Science Liaison expansion added 21 advanced practitioners across four therapeutic areas.
That was the pre-approval build. The year that followed brought the Thought Leader Liaison team, 25 people from the VP down and complete in under four months, the field sales organization of 41 representatives and 4 Field Development Managers, and the Clinical Practice Liaison team.
The work has continued since. Three further expansions added 133 hires across sales, access, and medical affairs, the largest of them 92 people in a single program. Most recently we built the Patient Support Services function: 28 Case Managers and the leadership above them, 34 hires in total. Across four years, PrincetonOne has delivered 434 hires. 302 of those came through ten structured builds. The rest is the attrition and growth hiring that keeps a commercial organization at full strength.
What Our Partner Says
“I would like to thank you for the amazing effort you’ve put forth in supporting us this year. Our management team for Market Access, Patient Services, Key Accounts, Health Systems, and Medical Affairs have all sung their praises for you. I think I’ve spoken to every candidate in the process and requested feedback on the PrincetonOne experience and it has always been extremely positive as a best-in-class professional experience.”
— VP, People & Talent Acquisition
“This was best practice. Excellent teamwork, collaboration, and communication. Most importantly we were able to recruit a team of highly qualified individuals that will fit well within our culture. I am proud of what you have built and excited about the access that will be created for many patients who need us.”
—VP, Global Market Access, Health Systems & Trade
