Doubling the opportunity for an OIC drug
Problem context
We needed to develop the product/market strategy for an OIC drug that was being launched in Europe amidst a very complex environment. OIC is a tertiary effect. A person might need to be managed for an underlying condition like cancer, for the chronic pain they are suffering, and then OIC amidst other side effects of opioids and other medication. Since the sufferers are mainly elderly people, they might have other co-morbidities. Therefore, a patient might be visiting a number of different types of physicians for whom OIC might not be a priority, even if it is highly bothersome for the patients. A further complexity is that attitudes towards opioid usage vary a lot by country.
Our approach
Given the many moving parts, we adopted an “adaptive design” approach - iterative and flexible with small bursts of qualitative research and intense periods of problem solving with the client. The qualitative research included ethnographic qualitative research with 16 patients and 44 physicians across different specialties in the EU5 countries.
We followed this with quantitative segmentation based on market research with about 3000 patients and 1100 physicians.
Stills from an ethnographic interview in the UK. We spent many hours with sufferers of OIC to understand how their experience affected their lives.
Insights and Impact
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We doubled the opportunity for the drug by identifying and quantifying a new patient population. This has affected multiple activities:
- Clinical trial analysis
- Engagement with KOLs
- Discussion with regulatory authorities
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The ad agency developed a patient activation programme to address the physician-patient disconnect that the research surfaced
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We identified three priority segments for the client. All the marketing for the drug is targeted to these three segments
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With the client and KOLs, we have co-authored papers to disseminate the data amongst the medical community
