CMR - Creative Marketing Research

Developing a medical device for mobile pain management

The Client Issue

Our client was developing a mobile pump unit for use with a drug commonly used in the management of post-operative and labour pain. The company had completed initial designs of the medical device, and was looking to explore current practice and frustrations for clinicians, together with input to clarify the final design of the new product and to define the key stakeholders involved in the decision-making process within hospitals in the major European countries and Australia.

The client's key objectives were to:

1) Establish and understand current practice, unmet needs and key frustrations

2) Evaluate professional opinion and attitude surrounding the new medical device

3) Identify the way forward to the next stage of development of the medical device

The CMR Approach

CMR conducted interviews with 150 hospital-based clinicians involved in post-operative pain management across Germany, France, Italy and Australia, using a structured questionnaire and a mixed methodology of online and telephone interviewing. The survey respondents selected all worked with post-operative pain management (POPM) and/or labour pain management (LPM).

The Key Findings

• The client discovered regional variations in how different specialists treated patients when dealing with POPM, and which procedures required pain pumps most frequently
• The specialists' frustrations and how they differed dramatically by country were revealed by the research, and also the specialists' awareness of the costs of treatments
• The research also highlighted key concerns around using infusion pumps, as well as patient attitudes towards home treatment and the types of treatment available to them

The Impact

The client was able to define their target audience in detail and gained meaningful insight into the best route to market and key marketing message. The new drug is well on the way to becoming the drug of choice for spinal anaesthesia.