The benefits of a holistic view of the patient population have far-reaching implications for the growth of a business. In contrast, an incomplete view can negatively impact drug launch, clinical trials and even hamper market expansion efforts. Healthcare and pharma companies are well aware that variations in disease-specifics and environment factors, treatment pathways, and a host of other attributes that define the needs of patient populations contribute to the evolving risks in pharma. Given the complexities, the challenge lies in segmenting and determining how many significant patient subpopulations are present within a single disease category and how different patient cohorts can be reached through targeted strategies.
We help our clients accelerate drug development using advanced market research methodologies and innovative approaches to patient segmentation research that shed light on different patient cohorts- Contact us to learn more about our pharma research expertise.
How patient segmentation research helps you understand healthcare consumers
Consumers make decisions differently and have unique viewpoints that impact their decisions. In the same way, consumers in the pharma industry also have different approaches to determining which therapy or drug offers value, when and where to seek care at a hospital or choose a healthcare provider.
Our comprehensive approach to patient segmentation research provides insights into how attitudinal and behavioral segmentation can provide a more refined approach to understanding and segmenting patients across different stages of the patient journey. It sheds light on how pharma companies can use data beyond just demographics to identify which segment patients fall into and better target them by offering personalized services.
Business challenge
Our client, a well-known pharma company developing a novel treatment for blistering autoimmune diseases, approached us to solve one of the biggest challenges facing drug manufacturers globally. They wanted to segment the population and identify patient cohorts, focusing on a largely under-diagnosed patient population.
They wanted to collaborate with us to leverage patient segmentation research to identify granular segments for their patient profiling and planning process. However, roadblocks hampered the client’s efforts, due to which they were unable to size the market accurately. The other challenges included lack of condition awareness, multiple causes, and co-morbidities, and inability to analyze patient behaviors and segment them into smaller groups.
The inability to analyze and accurately segment patients will impact businesses in several ways leading to:
- Diminished clinical efficacy in the real-world setting
- Messaging ineffectiveness and the inability to align with the views of physicians and patients
- Challenging reimbursement negotiations with payers
- High costs associated with slower than predicted adoption
- Untapped areas due to challenges in market assessment
Request a free proposal to learn more about the different factors impacting your business and how we can help you tackle them.
The client wanted to understand their patients at a much deeper level to address these roadblocks and target patient cohorts by offering personalized treatments.
Patient segmentation research: Our approach
Patient segmentation research shed light on patient cohorts and helped build meaningful segments
The client worked with our pharma market research team to conduct in-depth patient segmentation research to reach a common understanding of disease progression and key characteristics of potential patient groups. An in-depth understanding of the client’s challenges revealed the need for enhanced transparency on the patient population and the decision-making processes to equip stakeholders with the insights required for decision-making. With this in mind, our segmentation research experts conducted surveys and analyzed the target markets to assess patient behaviors and preferences when making decisions about healthcare and well-being.
We adopted a two-pronged approach that focused on analyzing and segmenting the population in the client’s target markets. The objective was to identify mutually exclusive, homogeneous patient groups based on similar characteristics and diseases progression patterns and realign strategies to meet the needs of different patient groups. In-depth patient segmentation research, focusing on health care needs and disease progression patterns, offered detailed insights on patient cohorts than analysis focused solely on behavior and demographics.
The solutions helped identify and understand the population’s needs by extending the scope of the research beyond diagnosed patient groups, learning through key predictors of the disease, and creating and prioritizing meaningful segments.
Form more industry-specific queries and detailed insights on patient segmentation in pharma – Request more information from our experts.
Business outcome
Patient segmentation research offered a new perspective and fresh insights that aided the client’s drug development process. Our pharma market research experts with deep market knowledge and expertise offered valuable insights that helped the client achieve their objectives within a short timeframe.
The other benefits of patient segmentation research include:
- Improvements in forecasting accuracy
- Targeted patient-engagement efforts based on unique characteristics of sub-segments
- Provided insights into the future of healthcare and the evolution of digital healthcare
- A shift in drug development and launch strategy execution based on accurate market data
Request a free brochure to learn more about patient segmentation research in the pharma sector.
