Patient and doctor segmentation/motivational cluster analysis

Background and objectives

Lifescience Dynamics was commissioned to carry out a patient and doctor segmentation study in our client's core therapeutic area in order to inform decision-making regarding detailing and communications.

Approach

Research was conducted online with patients and doctors and a choice task/conjoint exercise was used to assess the weight of various drivers on the uptake of our client's product:

• Patients were segmented by their unmet needs, as well as the perceived importance of various product attributes (assessed using the conjoint exercise)
• Physicians were segmented by their uptake tendencies (early adopters, laggards, etc.)
• Physicians were also segmented by their product and attribute preferences

Results delivered

Our client was equipped with the information they needed to provide their sales force with the information and targeting information necessary to optimise product uptake.

Patient segments identified included:

• Balanced efficacy cluster
• Single-minded efficacy cluster
• Anti-preservative cluster
• Side-effect/doctor administration cluster

Physician segments identified included:

• Contra-indication cluster
• Professional administration cluster
• Anti-mercury cluster

Prescription and drug switching dynamics in oncology

Background and objectives

Lifescience Dynamics was commissioned to carry out a patient diary study in multiple myeloma. Our client had a chemotherapy product and its sales were not matching their expectations. They wanted to understand the market at a granular level to diagnose the low sales issue. The objectives included measuring the frequency of behaviours and results within the key steps (brand choice and re-initiation) in the treatment decision process:
In addition they wanted to know:

• Why patients "leak" or drop-out?
• What are the clinical patient characteristics that influence treatment choice?
• Where are the high value opportunities in terms of potential our product?

Approach

We designed a qualitative phase with focus groups and IDIs to understand and catalogue all parameters for decision making in different stages of cancer in both treatment native and pre-treated patient groups.

This helped us to design pre-coded field materials for an on-line survey in the USA and EU5 markets in the form of a 30 minute patient medical note collection.

Results delivered

Our report covered all the objectives of such patient referral patterns for un-diagnosed and diagnosed patients. It included data analysis (according to analysis plan) such as switching and churn rates, conclusions and recommendations.

• Market dynamics simulation model from conjoint
  • The resulting perceptual model is held in an Excel-based modelling structure developed by Lifescience Dynamics which, given its user-friendly Windows interface, was supplied to the client for their own internal use in future model simulations with minimal training.
  • The Excel-based interface is vastly more user-friendly than the CBC simulation programme, yet more powerful because perceptions are incorporated into the model. There is, in fact, a facility for relative adjustment of current perceptions, as well as for the blanket imposition of new product alternatives.
• Patient record form database
• Most of the interpretation of the model structure relied on visual representation of the relationships discovered. To this end a 'results investigation tool' was developed by the LSD team and provided to the client.
• The tool was written in 'Visual Basic' and ran within Excel.
  • There was a front-end tool, which enabled the client's personnel to visualise graphical results from the mined data sets.
  • The tool consisted of user-friendly software, which is menu/buttons driven and easy to use with 'click and drop'.
  • The tool automated the graphing and reporting routines. It was possible to make graphical representation of various possible combinations of fields/attributes within the mined data set.

Total market

Background and objectives

The client was planning to launch a fixed dose combination product for asthma. They wanted to create a scenario planning and forecasting tool to determine the potential share of gain/loss of products against the putative profile at the time of the launch. This was in order to assist in defining a minimum commercially acceptable profile to provide simulations of the relevant therapeutic area markets post launch.

Approach

We undertook a quantitative market survey (n=780) using discrete choice modelling to develop a utility model of the market, and then fused perception data to the utility model to create 'a more complete' picture of the actual marketplace. This was re-calibrated using IMS data. This model produced peak shares at 100% awareness level among GPs, allergist chest physicians and pulmonologists.

Results delivered

The deliverables included a PowerPoint slide report and a custom written programme with an Excel front end and an Access based database in the backend. The front end had two models running in the background:

• Utility and perception model driven by attributes and claims
• A Bass Diffusion-based model with epidemiology and patient scripts from IMS

he model covered the whole market with more than 400 products, and was totally interactive. It had the ability to forecast the market size of the different classes of treatments, such as ICSs, LABAs, SABAs and the leukotriene antagonists market, over a period of 10 years, as well as the sales volume and the sales revenue of the product in the top six markets. This offered the ability to change the order of launch, price points, discounts and to pull out any product from the market.