Unlocking the Nordics: Pharma Strategies That Deliver Impact

The Nordic countries may seem like small markets in terms of population, but their importance in pharmaceutical commercialization should not be underestimated. With world-class healthcare systems, openness to innovation, and unique opportunities for evidence generation, the region offers a valuable platform for pharma companies. To succeed, however, companies must plan early, invest wisely, and ensure that strategies feel authentically local.

Success Starts with Early Planning

At MedEngine, we often see launch preparations begin far too late. Sometimes this happens because a new asset is acquired close to commercialization, but more often it reflects a lack of forward planning. Every company needs a general launch plan that looks three to five years ahead, setting the foundation for successful entries. For an individual asset, however, preparations should begin at least two years before the planned launch to ensure sufficient time for internal preparations, evidence generation, stakeholder engagement, and market shaping.

Building the Evidence Base

The first step is comprehensive landscape mapping. This means analyzing epidemiology, burden of disease, unmet needs, and product positioning while also identifying key opinion leaders and data gaps. Equally important is understanding the competitive landscape and learning from the broader international context to strengthen the local market access strategy. To maximize impact, data collection and analysis should be carried out in a consistent way across all Nordic countries, ensuring a uniform evidence base that supports regional decision-making. At the same time, while collecting data across the region, the national nuances should not be forgotten.

Beyond landscape mapping, which is largely based on qualitative insights and desktop research, it is often essential to deepen the understanding of the therapeutic area through real-world evidence studies. These studies can, for example, provide insights into patient characteristics, current treatment practices, healthcare resource utilization, as well as direct and indirect costs. The Nordic countries offer a unique advantage with their comprehensive national registries and other advanced data sources, which provide unmatched opportunities to generate high-quality real-world evidence, supporting both local decision-making and broader global strategies.

Resourcing: Getting the Right Team in Place

Resourcing is another critical aspect that must be addressed early in the launch journey. Companies need to define what kind of team is required in the Nordics and assess whether existing internal capabilities are sufficient. This often means planning for new recruitment, reallocating internal resources, or engaging external partners. In some cases, outsourcing commercialization entirely to a partner can be the most effective path to ensuring a successful launch.

Building the right team is not just about numbers. Culture, language, and relationships play a decisive role. The depth of conversations, the speed of relationship building, and the quality of insights all improve significantly when stakeholders can be engaged in the local language. The impact is even stronger if team members already have established connections with key customers, since building trust from scratch can take considerable time and effort.

The approach to building a team varies depending on the type of company and the product being launched. Major products in big pharma are typically supported through a traditional model, with strong country-level teams. However, even large companies face challenges when launching smaller products that do not justify big local teams. For smaller companies, particularly those without an existing presence in the Nordics, the challenge becomes even sharper: how to attract the right talent, establish credibility, and ensure true local presence across functions while still controlling costs.

In these situations, external partners with innovative commercialization models can provide highly attractive solutions. They can ensure local expertise and presence while keeping structures lean and budgets under control, allowing companies to focus their efforts where they matter most.

Local Matters: Tailoring Strategies for Each Market

While the Nordic countries often appear culturally similar from the outside, successful commercialization requires a strong local approach. Activities that are not adapted to the national context risk being perceived as irrelevant or disconnected, which can quickly undermine credibility.

In market access, local adaptation is essential. Each Nordic country has its own payer landscape, access processes, and evaluation frameworks, all of which must be carefully understood and navigated. Proving cost-effectiveness is central, but the way evidence is framed and communicated matters just as much. A value story that resonates in Germany or France may completely miss the mark in the Nordics if it has not been tailored to local realities and cultural expectations.

Medical and commercial materials should also be localized to reflect national needs and, whenever possible, presented in the local language. This goes beyond translation: it is about ensuring the messages align with local healthcare priorities and practices. Engagement with local medical communities, national congresses, and other professional events further strengthens the sense of relevance and builds trust among stakeholders.

Ultimately, activities in the Nordics need to feel authentically local. Companies that succeed are those who can adapt their global strategies into a narrative that resonates within each national healthcare system while still maintaining coherence across the region.

The Nordic Multiplier Effect

At first glance, the Nordics may appear too small to merit disproportionate investment. With a combined population of around 28 million, the region represents less than half of France and only about one third of Germany. Yet there are compelling reasons why companies should consider overinvesting here.

The Nordic countries combine high-quality universal healthcare systems with an openness to innovation. Healthcare organizations are often willing to pilot new approaches, whether these involve development of treatment models, digital solutions, or novel diagnostics. Smaller market size makes piloting more manageable, and successful initiatives can later be scaled to larger markets.

While market access is not always the fastest, prices in the Nordics remain relatively high compared to many other countries. Moreover, the region has become a test bed for innovative pricing solutions, including value-based models that are shaping the future of market access across Europe.

Another unique advantage is the ability to generate deep real-world evidence after market entry. Thanks to comprehensive patient registries and advanced data infrastructures, companies can collect high-quality evidence that supports not only local decision-making but also global strategies.

Taken together, these strengths make the Nordics far more than just a small market. They represent a forward-looking region where pharma companies can test, learn, and demonstrate value in ways that have an outsized impact well beyond their population size.