From “Product Push” to “Ecosystem Design”
- BBE Insights
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Bluebarna POV — October, 2025
How Pharma’s Value is Transforming and Why Few Capture It
Over the past 40 years, pharma has reinvented how it creates value. From massive product-centered sales models to complex (eco)systems that blend therapies, services and technology.
This evolution has brought innovation but also complexity: overlapping roles, inflated structures, and loss of focus.
The future doesn’t belong to those with the best product, but to those capable of orchestrating real solutions across fragmented environments.
From Selling Products to Designing Solutions
YESTERDAY
Since the 1980s, pharma has come a long way.Back then, value came from market saturation: large sales forces, small molecules, and the power of face-to-face promotion.
TODAY
Value comes from integrating advanced therapies, digital technologies, and patient-centered experiences.
This shift hasn’t been linear. It’s required deep cultural, organizational and technological transformationbut it’s also created entropy: too many functions, blurred roles, and complex structures that make it harder to capture the value being generated.
The Evolution of Pharma Value Models
1980 – 1990 — Saturation & Push. Volume-based, sales-driven, predictable R&D.
2000 – 2010 — Specialization & Evidence. Biologics, MSLs/KAMs, outcomes, Market Access.
2010 – 2020 — Advanced Therapies. CAR-T, gene therapy, real-world results, access challenges.
2020+ — Digital Ecosystems. AI, digital therapeutics, startups, value = Product + Service + Experience.
The Hidden Side: Complexity, Entropy & Loss of Focus
Progress hasn’t come without cost.The multiplication of roles — Reps, MSLs, KAMs, Access, Innovation, etc. — has led to functional overlap, unclear accountabilities, and fragmented customer engagement.
Each company amplifies this complexity, generating noise across the healthcare ecosystem.
The race to innovate has created expansions that often dilute accountability and focus.
The BIG Opportunity
The first company to simplify, truly understand the market, and design a coherent, differentiated, and customer-centric value proposition will win.
The future won’t reward those with more products or tools, but those who can articulate relevant, scalable, and coherent solutions.
The next pharma leaders will be those who:
Think in ecosystems, not products.
Reconfigure teams and clarify accountability.
Build new capabilities: data, UX, partnerships.
Measure what truly matters.
The Value Creation in Pharma
The diagram illustrates the historical transition from Small Molecules to Biologics, Gene/CAR-T Therapies, DTX, and finally Integrated Ecosystems. The blue arrow indicates the evolution from a product-centric approach to one focused on Product + Services + Innovation, culminating in a Value Proposition based on Integrated Ecosystems.
If you want to explore how the next wave of value creation in pharma will look… Let’s connect.
Download the PDF article here ->
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