A Reflection on Our Small Consulting Firm's 2023 Journey in Ukraine and Beyond

In this reflection, we explore our second year as a life sciences consulting boutique based in Kyiv, persevering through the challenges of an ongoing war amid 13 years in professional consulting. Join us as we illuminate our achievements, confront obstacles, and offer insights into the operational reality of managing a Ukrainian business during these extraordinary times.

WHO ARE WE?

Meet Eirhub – a bunch of us in Kyiv, buzzing with ambition for almost 13 years. We're the go-to team for life sciences advice, covering everything from Market Access and Recruitment to Health Systems Analysis and Strategy Consulting. Between us, we've got the smarts in economics, recruiting, communication, marketing, health law, and a soft spot for dogs and cats. We even sprinkle in some dark jokes, a dash of epidemiology, and a touch of psychology for good measure. We take our work seriously but are not above a good laugh or two.

Some context and events happened in 2022

Since Feb 2022, Russia's aggression hit our homes in Ukraine, prompting us to shift gears and dive into volunteering efforts to aid our army and civilians. While this meant hitting a pause on business development temporarily, we wrapped up our client commitments and turned our focus to helping our country weather the storm.

Come late spring 2022, we made a comeback, adjusting our strategy and mission in connection with a deep reassessment of personal and professional values, relations, and the importance of the functioning of the Ukrainian business during the war. We unveiled a fresh brand name, a new look, and a spanking new website (check it out now: 🔗 eirhub.eu, it is beautiful!).

After spreading the word about our revived operations, we honed in on two main areas: Market Access and Recruitment. We even dipped our toes into Health Systems Analysis.

Our outreach strategy involved direct talks with stakeholders and content marketing for business growth. This paid off with new clients in Recruiting and Market Access.

Notably, our team crafted a standout white paper, "Cancer Care System in Ukraine 2022." It is completely free, impressive looking, and deeply insightful, so take it from here: 📝 Cancer Care System in Ukraine 2022.

The constant threat of missile attacks and bombing on civilian infrastructure prompted us to fortify our office's operational resilience by training our team in first aid, undergoing training in tactical medicine to ensure we will be able to save lives even in the urban conditions, and equipping our office with power banks to ensure seamless IT infrastructure functionality, guaranteeing uninterrupted project delivery for any client, even in the face of power and water outages.

Today, we stand ready to deliver any project with steadfast resilience and on time.

WHAT DID WE DO IN 2023

In 2023, we set five key targets:

1. 📢 Maintain a foothold in the consulting services market.
2. 📢 Expand our activities and shift the geographic focus of our services.
3. 📢 Ensure sustained profitability
4. 📢 Support Ukraine and its economy through our effective business activity.
5. 📢 Assist Ukrainian candidates in finding jobs abroad and facilitating the return of Ukrainians to vacant positions in pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine.

🎉 We're pleased to report that we've successfully achieved all five objectives!

For instance, survival was secured by doubling down on business development, forming partnerships, and amplifying our efforts in sales, marketing, and social media. We forged meaningful connections with consulting firms and friends in Estonia, Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Azerbaijan, USA and Israel. Their invaluable support came in the form of encouraging words, expert advice, and even donations for our people in Ukraine and the army. It's crucial to emphasize that without the close communication with all of you in 2023, survival would have been nearly impossible. Your warm words kept us afloat.

We pivoted our attention towards the EU and the US, decisively concluding all activities in Russia and Belarus. As Ukraine aligns itself with the EU, so does Eirhub. Exploring new territories, we delved into regions like CEE, SEE, the Baltic States, and MENA while actively seeking local partners.

Our efforts bore fruit, as we successfully identified reputable partners in each region, empowering us to extend our support across these diverse areas.

In 2023, Eirhub witnessed a flurry of events, participating in two major offline conferences and co-organizing two online webinars. Notably, our Market Access Manager, Anastasiia Havrysh , presented our research "Early Access Programs in Ukraine and the Baltic States" at the 🗓️ Arcana Institute, a Certara Company ’s "9th Krakow HTA Symposium" in Poland, and visited the impactful 🗓️ " Oncohub Office 4.0" 3-days event in Kyiv, a pivotal conference in Ukraine's oncology care system.

Our co-founding partner, Yevgen Brovko , achieved a milestone by becoming a co-author of a groundbreaking poster at the European ISPOR conference in collaboration with MArS Market Access & Pricing Strategy GmbH and Stefan Dr. Walzer . This presentation shed light on the intricate processes of #marketaccess for #pharmaceuticals in Germany and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, our Market Access practice team produced a comprehensive report titled "Early and Expanded Access Pathways in Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic States," delving deep into the subject and fostering relationships with various industry stakeholders, like patient advocacy groups such as Inspiration Family , Tabletochki CF , and @Afina Women Against Cancer, the most reputable law firms, like CMS Ukraine (CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang) and Arzinger , industry and healthcare professionals. Proudly, we devoted significant time and resources to this pro bono project, underlining the extreme importance of this topic in Ukraine, and facilitating negotiations between Ukrainian physicians and innovative pharmaceutical manufacturers for possible named patient deliveries of medicines to Ukraine.

Excitement abounds as we successfully delivered our first historic project for WHO Ukraine, focusing on primary care services. Described as a case study, the resulting report has been officially published on the WHO website for download:

📝 Mobile health units in war-related emergency in Ukraine to deliver primary health-care outreach services to address NCDs.

Anastasiia Maksymenko has expanded coverage in the Career Counseling direction, with a particular focus on pharmaceutical executives in CEE. Her goal is to assist Ukrainian professionals in discovering their ideal roles, unlocking their potential, and charting meaningful career paths. Simultaneously, Eirhub's recruitment practice continues its robust expansion, successfully filling numerous positions both in Ukraine and beyond.

Adding to our milestones, Eirhub initiated the tender process as a recruitment services provider in the Asian region for a US-based international policy organization. While the tender is still ongoing, we anticipate revealing the results by the conclusion of 2024. Stay tuned for updates!

Examples of projects we have delivered in 2022-2023

1>> 🛣️ Market Access. 

• Market access feasibility assessment for a biopharmaceutical company
• Pricing strategy development for the reimbursement program
• Market assessment in CEE countries for an innovative cardiovascular medical device 
• Scrapping data for cost-effectiveness and budget impact analysis in the CEE country
• Identification, collection, and input of data for treatment and disease management costs in the Baltic country

2>> 🕵️ Recruitment, Talent Mapping and Career Consulting 

• Country Manager, Kazakhstan, for an International Pharmaceutical Company
• Sales & Marketing Manager, Uzbekistan, for a Generic Pharmaceutical Company
• Talent Mapping services: Medical Director, National Trade Manager (Ukraine), Medical Advisor (Ukraine), Product Manager Rx (Ukraine) for Innovative and Generic Pharmaceutical Companies
• Product Manager (Rx, OTC) vacancies for Innovative and Generic Pharma Companies
• Medical Advisor (Ukraine) for an Innovative Pharma company
• Regulatory Manager (Ukraine) for an Innovative Pharma company
• Legal Advisor (France, Poland)
• Medical Monitor, Medical Writer, and Project Manager for a Clinical Research Organization (Headquartered in the USA)
• Key Account Manager (Ukraine)
• Career consulting services in Medical Affairs, Business Development, Commercial Management in Ukraine, and CEE.

3>> ⚕️ Health Systems Analysis

• Case study description for the WHO Ukraine
• Drafting the Oncohematology System Strategic Document for the MoH of Ukraine
• Developing a Telehealth services operational model in Ukraine for a German digital health provider

4>> ⚙️ Strategy Consulting

• Forming the recommendations for a successful business model for accessing the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market