De-risking Drug Development is a five-part podcast series that explores the business-critical decisions that take place at each stage of the drug development process. We know that novel therapies often don’t meet their revenue expectations, but through informed decision-making, you can minimize risk and maximize the probability of commercial success. In episode 4, we focus on the pre-approval phase of drug development, where commercial launch planning should be started 2 - 3 years before marketing authorization. We discuss why it’s critical to start early, and highlight approaches that biotechs should implement, specifically those with a first-time launch. Our experts offer practical examples of how to build and embed launch excellence, focusing on actionable insight to mitigate risk at this stage in the product lifecycle.