Putnam runs candidate-led, BCG-style cases with a pricing and market-access layer stacked on top of standard sizing. Expect roughly 2 rounds and up to about 5 interviews total, with a screening call first for candidates from non-target schools. Average process runs around three weeks. Market sizing appears constantly; the payer reasoning on top is what separates candidates.
What Putnam is, in one line
Putnam is the pricing-and-market-access specialist within life-sciences strategy. Its core work is drug commercialization, forecasting, pricing strategy and market access, with newer offerings in organizational design and M&A.
Framed against its peers: ClearView is the science and pipeline shop, ZS is the analytics and commercial shop, Putnam is the pricing and access shop.
Putnam wants you fluent in payers, pricing and reimbursement, not just sizing.
The interview format
Expect roughly 2 rounds and up to about 5 interviews total. A screening call may come first, especially if you are recruiting from a non-target school. A first round typically runs two cases. A final round runs a mix of case and behavioral interviews.
Cases are candidate-led and BCG-style, meaning you are in the driver's seat on a business problem for a pharma, biotech or device client. Public difficulty reads a touch below the other two life-sciences boutiques, which is misleading if you have not prepped the payer material, because the difficulty is in the content rather than the structure.
The pricing and access layer is the signature
Market sizing shows up constantly, and if that is all you have prepared you will produce a competent, forgettable case. The distinctive layer is the payer and pricing reasoning stacked on top.
Two families to expect. Drug pricing cases: set the price for a new therapy given competitors, payers and patient access. Market access cases: the role of insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and government payers, and how pricing and reimbursement differ across countries, including ex-US reference pricing.
A price is not access. Before a patient takes your drug, three separate things have to be true: it has to be covered (on formulary, at what tier, with what prior authorization), it has to be coded (a billing path exists so somebody gets paid for administering it), and it has to be reimbursed at a level that makes the prescriber and the site of care willing to use it. Candidates who set a price and stop have answered half the question.
How the loop shifts by track
| Track | What the loop emphasizes |
|---|---|
| Analyst / undergrad | Cleaner sizing and structure focus. Pricing logic tested at a foundational level. |
| Associate consultant / experienced hire | Deeper pricing and access reasoning, and a clear recommendation under payer constraints. |
| MBA associate | Highest bar on integrating pricing, access and commercial strategy into one story. |
The archetypes they favor
Market sizing, drug pricing, market access and payer strategy, product launch, and profitability. The payer and pricing layer is where Putnam separates from a generic sizing case.
How to prepare
- Learn value-based pricing as a default posture. The anchor is what the disease and the current standard of care already cost, not what the client spent developing the drug. Getting that backwards at the start makes every number after it wrong.
- Build the three-hurdle habit. Coverage, coding, reimbursement. Say it out loud in every pricing case until it is automatic.
- Learn who actually decides. Commercial payers, pharmacy benefit managers, Medicare and Medicaid behave differently, and the mix determines what price survives contact with the market.
- Get comfortable with rare disease pricing. A small population structurally requires a high per-patient price, and being able to defend that calmly is a distinct skill from calculating it.
- Practice the recommendation under constraint. Candidate-led means you decide when the analysis is done, then say a number out loud and defend it when the interviewer pushes.
Go deeper
Work 5 life-sciences cases free
Five prompts across drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital health, plus the patient funnel framework. Work them cold before you look at the hints.