Every brand team has a competitor slide. Usually there are several, made by different people at different times, and they disagree. This template gives the team a single, structured place to keep the competitive picture, with the sources and dates that make it trustworthy.
It is an Excel workbook with four sheets.
What’s in the template
Read me. How to fill it in, how to keep it current, and the compliance basics.
Competitor matrix. One column for your product and four for competitors, with 27 attributes grouped into seven sections:
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Product basics | Brand and generic name, company, mechanism, route and dosing |
| Approval and label | Indications in the US and EU, line of therapy, approval dates, key safety |
| Evidence | Pivotal trials, primary results, key secondary results, head-to-head data |
| Access and price | List price, coverage position, utilization management, HTA outcomes |
| Lifecycle | Expected loss of exclusivity, pipeline and new indications, next catalyst |
| Positioning | How each product is positioned, and your view of its strengths and weaknesses |
| Housekeeping | Sources and the date each column was last checked |
The example column uses an invented product, so you can see the level of detail expected without mistaking it for real data.
Catalyst calendar. Upcoming events that could change the picture: regulatory decisions, readouts, advisory committees, congress presentations, patent expiries and launches. Each row records how precise the date is, the possible outcomes, what each would mean for your brand, who is watching it, and where the date came from.
Change log. A dated record of what changed and where the information came from, so readers can see what moved since they last looked.
How to use it
- Pick the competitors. Include the products that compete with yours for the same patients, plus any late-stage product likely to launch within your planning period.
- Fill the facts first. Complete the label, evidence, access and lifecycle sections from primary sources: the label, trial publications, registry entries, company announcements. Quote the label rather than paraphrasing it.
- Add your view separately. Positioning, strengths and weaknesses are opinions. Keeping them in their own section stops them from being mistaken for facts.
- Record a source for everything. It makes the matrix credible and makes the next update much faster.
- Put dated events on the calendar. Anything with a date, even an approximate one, belongs on the catalyst calendar, along with what it would mean for you.
- Log every change. A one-line entry in the change log is enough.
Keeping it current
The matrix is only useful if it is right. Give it one owner, review it at least quarterly, and update it whenever something on the catalyst calendar happens. Re-check calendar dates monthly, because submissions slip and readouts move.
That upkeep is where spreadsheets struggle. When several brands depend on the matrix, or the competitive picture moves every week, keeping it current by hand becomes a job in itself. Pharma Landscape 360 maintains the matrix, the pipeline view and an eighteen-month catalyst calendar continuously and flags what changed, so the team’s time goes into what it means.
For more on the discipline behind this template, read our guide to pharma competitive intelligence, or see the glossary entries for catalyst calendar and PDUFA date.