Issues in Biotech Marketing Research Qualitative Research

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Issues in Biotech Marketing Research
Qualitative Research

• Juan M. Falla
• Senior Partner
• Bell Falla and Associates, LLC

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• Issues faced by biotech marketing researchers
• Economics of biotech products
• Multiple influencers/decision makers
• Not a wealth of secondary data
• Issues in emerging biotech firms
• New science/new markets
• Historically, lower incidence, complex and life
  ending illnesses

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• Economics of biotech products
• Because of their high cost, making a case or
  demonstrating clinical value is critical in
  marketing biotech products

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• Demonstrating clinical value is critical in
  marketing biotech products first in class entry
• Qualitative research can be a powerful tool to
  better understand
• Medical burden
• Direct and indirect economic costs
• Humanistic costs
• And, help marketers make the clinical case for
  treatment with a biotech product instead of
  traditional therapies

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• Demonstrating clinical value is critical in
  marketing biotech products 2nd or later
  entry/near term competition
• Qualitative research conducted proportionally
  more often than in big pharma to help marketers
  differentiate products in terms of 2nd order
  benefits
• Packaging
• Support Programs
• Patients
• Caregivers
• Providers
• Ease of Access/Approval
• Reimbursement/Practice Economics

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• Multiple influencers/decision makers
• Proportionally more qualitative research
  conducted with customers other than the
  prescribing physician
• Nurses/Clinical Care Coordinators
• Office Managers
• Reimbursement Specialists/Billing specialists
• Caregivers
• Pharmacists

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• Lack of wealth of secondary data
• Not having a wealth of audit data forces
  consultants and researchers to rely more often on
  qualitative research (and quantitative research)
  to inform decision making

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• Not having a wealth of audit data forces
  consultants and researchers to rely more often on
  qualitative research (and quantitative research)
  to inform decision making
• Managing the appropriate use of qualitative
  research is a special issue in biotech, in
  particular, among emerging companies
• Lets look at some reasons why

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• Emerging biotech companies have a different set
  of clients and are unlikely to have internal
  marketing research capabilities
• Client/analyst is more likely to work with senior
  managers
• CEO
• VP, Clinical Development
• VP, Business Development
• VP, Marketing

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• Emerging biotech companies have a different set
  of clients and are unlikely to have internal
  marketing research capabilities
• Users of research not experienced in the caveats
  associated with qualitative research. Experienced
  two extremes
• Useless because it is not projectable
• Lets write a press release.
• More of the responsibility for the proper
  selection of research methods and how the results
  are to be used fall on the consultant or analyst
  

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• Kitchen Sink Qualitative Marketing Research
• Typical situation in emerging biotech companies
  is that there is a high need for external
  information and a limited budget to conduct
  marketing research
• Combination of these two factors leads clients to
  throw everything they can think of when
  commenting on the discussion guide
• There tends to be more of a one-shot approach
  rather than the more common iterative process
  used in big pharma and established biotech
• As a consultant/analyst, one of the more
  difficult issues is to gain agreement on
  prioritization of needs

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• External Use of Qualitative Research Findings
• Biotech companies often use qualitative research
  findings to shape communications to investors and
  overall communication message strategy
• Rare for big pharma or large biotech company to
  use findings from qualitative research unless
  findings were well validated and confirmed via
  quantitative research
• Public dissemination of data places additional
  emphasis on consultant/researcher that results of
  the research be used appropriately and that
  spin is minimized

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• Emerging companies often live and die by the
  results of pre and clinical trialsatypical
  financial constraints and uncertainty placed on
  marketing research. This typically leads to
• Use of smaller samples
• Not uncommon to conduct qualitative research with
  samples with as few as 10 respondents rather than
  the typical 20-30 sample used by big pharma and
  established biotech companies (recent study
  included three respondents per specialty)
• Follow-on quantitative research may follow much
  later on, or not at all
• May use external advisory panels or discussions
  with investigators or experts to comment on the
  findings of the research, thus extending the
  utility of the qualitative findings without
  investing in primary quantitative research

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• Less use of qualitative (and quantitative)
  research in the product development process
• Science-oriented culture within emerging biotech
  companies is sometimes a barrier to including the
  voice of the customer into the product
  development process
• Much evidence in the product development
  literature that products that are developed by
  involving the customer have a greater chance of
  success and, on average, will achieve greater
  sales than products that are developed without
  much external input
• Consultant/analyst needs to be a champion with
  senior management to include input from all
  customers into the product development process
• This is of particular importance in the
  development of products with immediate or
  near-term competition.

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• Historically lower incidence, complex, and often
  life ending illnesses
• Places consultant/researcher in the context of
  conducting qualitative research on topics with
  high emotional content

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• Places consultant/researcher in the context of
  conducting qualitative research on topics with
  high emotional content
• Published studies and experience show that
  patients and caregivers are willing to discuss
  experiences with a disease and its treatment
• However, consultants/researchers need to prepare
  for the emotional challenge of conducting
  qualitative research with patients and caregivers
  of patients who suffer from very serious and
  life-shortening conditions

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• New science/new markets
• Fortunately, biotech products are offering
  groundbreaking medical advances in the treatment
  of these complex illnesses which were previously
  untreatable
• Advances in biotech often place the
  consultant/analyst in uncharted waters

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• Working in the biotech world often places the
  consultant/analyst in uncharted waters
• Lack of data coupled with dealing with markets
  without prior history requires that
  consultant/analyst be willing to immerse in
  scientific data, and be comfortable in talking
  science
• Big pharma pattern (based on own experience as a
  new product analyst)
• Overview of clinical literature
• Review secondary audits for disease treatment
  patterns
• Review market studies
• Audience member in discussions with
  investigators/experts
• Qualitative and quantitative research patterns
  well established
• Biotech pattern
• Need to develop expert-like knowledge of clinical
  literature
• No or limited audited data
• No or limited market studies
• Discussions with investigators/experts are often
  key data source
• Will need to create custom data sets and
  information databases

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• In summary
• Many of the primary marketing research methods
  and tools we use in conducting research for
  biotech firms are generally the same as those
  used for conducting research for big pharma
• However, on the one hand, the characteristics of
  biotech markets make the application of these
  methods more challenging
• On the other hand, the challenges that we face
  make biotech marketing research interesting and
  exciting!