National Account Director, PBM and GPO

Summit Strategic Search•Princeton, NJ

14h•Remote

About The Position

Win the formulary decisions that decide whether a new rare disease therapy reaches the patients who need it. Our client is a specialty biopharmaceutical company preparing for a U.S. product launch in rare disease. The company is building its U.S. commercial organization now, and its Payer Access team is adding a National Account Director to lead the relationship with one of the country's largest pharmacy benefit managers and its affiliated group purchasing organization. This is a hands on account leadership role, not a seat where contracts are signed and the rest is handed off. You will own the strategy, the negotiation, and the clinical conversation for your accounts. That means presenting the efficacy and safety story to formulary decision makers yourself, building the contract economics yourself, and staying with the account through pull through. It suits an experienced account director who wants to build something at launch rather than maintain something that already exists.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
10 or more years of pharmaceutical or biotech experience in market access, managed markets, or national account management.
Direct contracting experience with CVS Caremark and Zinc Health Services, with established working relationships among their trade relations and formulary decision makers.
A track record of securing favorable formulary coverage at national accounts.
Strong clinical fluency: able to discuss efficacy, safety profiles, and drug interactions for your products and for competing therapies.
Hands on analytical skills, including building contract models and share shift analyses and explaining price protection calculations.
Proven negotiation, problem solving, and executive communication skills, with the ability to make a clear case in a short meeting.
Working knowledge of commercial, Medicare Part D, and Medicaid benefit design, contracting, and reimbursement.
Ability to travel domestically, including occasional nights and weekends.

Nice To Haves

Rare disease or specialty pharmaceutical experience.
Launch experience with an oral specialty product covered under the pharmacy benefit.
Advanced degree, such as a PharmD, MBA, or MS in a scientific field.
Experience with regional and downstream health plans and their P&T processes.
Experience launching a product into a therapeutic class that already has established competitors.
Experience helping build a commercial function ahead of a product launch.
Specialty pharmacy or hub contracting experience.

Responsibilities

Lead the company's relationship with a top national PBM, its affiliated GPO, and the downstream health plans that use that PBM and run their own P&T reviews.
Write and update annual account plans with clear objectives, success measures, and the tactics to reach them.
Build senior, long term relationships with trade relations, clinical, and formulary leaders, and establish the company as a credible partner at a new account.
Negotiate rebate and access agreements that secure appropriate formulary position and smooth patient access.
Model the economics of proposed deals, including rebate scenarios, share shift against competing therapies, administrative and data fees, and price protection terms.
Work with pricing, contracting, legal, and finance partners to execute and manage agreements across commercial and Medicare Part D business.
Engage accounts ahead of approval through appropriate pre approval information exchange, and prepare them for formulary review at launch.
Present the clinical and economic value of the therapy to P&T committees and clinical pharmacists, including efficacy, safety, and drug interaction data, with the confidence of someone who could present it to a physician.
Partner with Medical Affairs and Value teams on dossiers and clinical materials, and shape coverage criteria that support appropriate use.
Translate account wins into action in the field with Sales, Marketing, Medical, Patient Services, Trade, and Commercial Operations.
Build a process with field leadership to triage coverage problems, denials, and appeals, and resolve access issues quickly.
Keep internal teams informed on account activity, coverage changes, and what they mean for the brand.
Track policy, benefit design, and PBM industry trends across commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid markets, and recommend how the company should respond.
Represent the company at key industry meetings, including PCMA, AMCP, and Asembia, as well as internal planning and sales meetings.