Building Credible, Relevant, and Timely Evidence in Oncology: How a Pharma Company Aligned Strategy Across an Alliance

In oncology, where competition is fierce and therapeutic innovation rapid, evidence is currency. For pharmaceutical companies, it’s not enough to generate clinical trial data — what truly matters is whether the evidence resonates with patients, providers, payers, and regulators in a way that’s timely, credible, and strategically aligned.

This case study highlights how a leading pharmaceutical company and its alliance partner developed an Integrated Evidence Generation Plan (IEGP)to prepare for label expansion of a class-leading oncology drug, securing cross-functional alignment and market readiness in an increasingly crowded space.

The Challenge
The client’s oncology therapy already had a strong presence, but expanding its label presented several challenges:

Stakeholder needs beyond RCTs: While randomized clinical trial (RCT) data formed the backbone of approval, real-world relevance and supplementary evidence were needed to address payers, physicians, and patients.

Intensifying competition: New entrants and emerging therapies were reshaping the market landscape.

Alliance complexity: Coordinating across two partner organizations required a shared evidence vision and streamlined execution.

The client needed to align on value messages, identify data gaps, and establish a coordinated evidence generation plan that would stand up to scrutiny and ensure continued leadership.

The Approach

The project unfolded through structured discovery and collaborative alignment:
1. Stakeholder InsightsInterviews with key stakeholders across the alliance mapped priorities, surfaced pain points, and identified data gaps critical for shaping the strategy.
2. Competitive LandscapeA targeted literature review highlighted competitor-generated data, ensuring the team understood external benchmarks and risks.
3. Cross-Functional Workshop IThe first workshop brought commercial and medical functions together to:Align on evidence gaps and business threats.Connect brand strategy with value messaging.Lay the foundation for an integrated evidence strategy across both organizations.
4. Cross-Functional Workshop IIA second workshop focused on action:Brainstorming and prioritizing evidence generation tactics.Mapping dissemination strategies for patients, providers, and payers.Assigning clear roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability.

The Impact

The outcome was more than a plan — it was a transformation in how the alliance approached evidence strategy:
Cross-functional alignment: Both organizations rallied around a unified value strategy and evidence roadmap.
Clear prioritization: Evidence needs and value messages were ranked, ensuring focus on the highest-impact activities.
Operational clarity: Roles and responsibilities were clearly defined, reducing duplication and inefficiencies.
Market readiness: The alliance strengthened its ability to support label expansion, defend against competition, and engage stakeholders with timely, credible, and impactful evidence.

Why It Matters

In oncology (and across biopharma)clinical trial results are just the beginning. To sustain leadership, companies must ensure that their evidence is: Credible (trusted by regulators, payers, and KOLs), Relevant (aligned with real-world needs), Impactful (differentiating in crowded markets), and Timely (ready when stakeholders demand it).By embedding these principles into their IEGP, the client built a model that not only addressed current challenges but also set a template for future expansions.

The key takeaway: Integrated evidence planning isn’t just about generating data , it’s about orchestrating credibility, relevance, and impact across every stakeholder touchpoint.