How can a global pharmaceuticals leader mobilise patients earlier?

ALK-Abelló, a global research-based pharmaceutical company, has been highly successful in taking a leading position within immunotherapy products for the prevention and treatment of allergies. The prevalence of allergic diseases has been on the rise over recent decades, significantly impacting the quality of life for approximately 500 million people worldwide.

 
Current predictions are that by 2025, half of the entire EU population will be affected, making allergy the most common chronic disease in Europe. Up to 20% of people with allergies struggle daily with the fear of a possible asthma attack, an anaphylactic shock or even death from an allergic reaction. This makes allergy treatment critical to the global state of health.
 
 
 

The challenge

Currently, ALK-Abelló’s autoimmune treatment (AIT) only targets less than 1% of the individuals who suffer from allergies. Often, AIT is introduced very late on their allergy journey, and the route to treatment is complex, confusing and sometimes even intolerable. This prompted ALK-Abelló to explore new ways to engage with patients across the allergy journey.
 
The challenge for ALK-Abelló was to engage people suffering from allergies earlier on their allergy journey. It calls for a transformation from primarily winning in AIT, where feasibility is king, to making viable strategic choices through the entire allergy journey, where desirability is king. ALK Growth Lab has been an essential part of this transformation.
 
 
 

The solution

ALK-Abelló Lab was set up to build a stronger ALK-Abelló by pursuing new opportunities over 90-day sprints, optimising and reallocating towards growth and identifying and entering adjacent business areas, including prevention and diagnostics. Dedicated, cross-functional and co-located teams worked in fast learning loops with a clear market focus and a human-centric approach to prototyping and validating strategic choices and solutions.
 
 
 

The impact

The innovation process resulted in three new strategic initiatives with a +300m DKK business impact and a double-digit growth outlook. In addition, 25 corporate entrepreneurs were educated in the process, all with a new business-building toolbox and changed mindset.
 
A cornerstone in the roll-out of the new strategic initiatives was the launch of ALK-Abelló’s consumer division Klarify.me and the award-winning allergy companion app KLARA. It has made living with allergies easier and more bearable for millions of people by delivering insights, tools and personalised data to mitigate their conditions. As usage and adoption grows, the solution provides more accurate and targeted recommendations to each user. It is a small and simple solution with a dramatic impact on people’s lives. KLARA is available to millions of people in Germany and the UK through the App Store and Google Play.