Accenture embeds science to power its pharma offerings with Bionest

Pharma enterprises acknowledge that the prevalence of disease, rapid mutation of variants, and competitive forces require pharma’s science and product management to enhance sophistication to deliver high-efficacy cures. Accenture’s recent acquisition of strategy and consulting firm Bionest brings niche skills that will help pharma develop precision medicine and diagnostics, cell and gene therapy (CGT), and treatments for rare diseases.

Additional Bionest capabilities will aid in complex decisioning to accelerate pharmaceutical companies’ go-to-market to get drugs into the hands of those that need them most. Bionest’s unique combination of scientists and industry experts helps biopharma in their commercialization, operational, and strategic decision making that complement Accenture’s technology enablement and platform capabilities.

Specialized science is critical to emerging complex treatments and go-to-market strategy

Advancement in science and technology paves the way for precision medicine, overcoming longstanding hurdles around delivery. Pharmaceutical companies delivering differentiated patient outcomes in oncology, precision medicine, and CGT treatments are expected to experience higher-than-average growth in these areas, attracting investments that will further accelerate growth in precision medicine and CGT. Accenture is now better equipped to provide solutions for this emerging area of treatments.

Additionally, Bionest specializes in developing strategies for complex pharma challenges. It devises novel go-to-market strategies to support launching complex therapies, which require non-traditional or hybrid methods and a deep, scientific understanding of treatments. Bionest employees have scientific expertise and a background in biomedical engineering. They understand their products’ biological and scientific characteristics, which they translate into strategies to help sophisticated treatments successfully reach the market. Thus, Bionest helps clients navigate complex product development, pricing issues, and changing regulatory and economic conditions to ensure innovative treatments reach the right market and patients in need.

Accenture’s Bionest acquisition is synergistic, integrating bioengineering and technology

Founded in 2003, the rapidly growing Bionest is headquartered in New York with offices in Paris and four locations in the US and Europe. Its clients include major established and emerging pharmaceutical and biotechnology logos in North America and Europe, like Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis, GSK, and Novartis. Although Bionest’s team is minuscule compared to Accenture, the unique skill sets and scientific backgrounds of its 46 employees are a great addition to Accenture’s talent pool and strategy team.

In our conversation with Accenture, we learned that Bionest has the right cultural fit and will add science depth and asset-level strategy. Bionest’s specialization culminates at go-to-market strategic advisory, then Accenture’s capabilities take over, developing a long-term, profit-making road map, which includes reassessment consultations for these innovative and complex treatments. Together, Bionest and Accenture can provide pharmas with advisory capabilities layered with scientific know-how and deliver and execute technical expertise and services over a treatment’s life cycle.

The Bottom Line: Accenture has become a more rounded partner for life science enterprises by embracing and incorporating science into its offerings.

Accenture can help its life science clients realize value by impacting health outcomes, accelerating speed to market, and addressing the strategic requirements of tech-enabled complex treatments. It has differentiated its life science services for biopharma clients with the acquisition and integration of Bionest, potentially establishing a long-term edge compared to its peers.