In the 3rd quarter of 2017, MDOutlook undertook a global Thought Leader (TL) identification and ranking project in a rare cancer type. This activity used our standard approach with four domains – disease relevant publications, clinical trials, leadership roles (associations and journals), and peer nominations. We delivered detailed profiling of 221 TLs in this project. At the end of the 1st quarter of 2018, we performed a 6-month update to this TL list.

In this short time frame, our team made several interesting observations that highlight the importance to have an expanded identification of TLs with regular updates implemented to stay ahead of the changing TL landscape and to recognize new leaders to focus on.

• 20 “Rising Stars” were identified due to an increase in ≥15 ranking positions as indicated by the orange markers in figure 1. This represents nearly 10% of the total number of TLs originally profiled
• Most of these Rising Stars are currently positioned between the ranks of 50 and 100 as circled in figure 1. Although many may be considered 2nd tier TLs, they should be closely observed
• New leadership position(s) and clinical trial involvement were main drivers for the Rising Stars (figure 2). This is also considered as peer-recognition of their growing status within a clinical area
• The fact that these Rising Stars were originally contained in the lower TLs tiers shows how important it is to expand the initial identification efforts and have transparent criteria. While detailed profiling of these may or may not be needed (since one isn’t sure who will become the Rising Star), the Rising Stars will come from these levels
• The decline in ranking tended to be much more gradual than the increase, especially when compared to the initial Rising Stars
• As expected, there were hardly any shifts in the top 50 TL rankings, and those that did occur were relatively minor and shouldn’t really impact any working relationships
• Nearly 5% of all TLs changed institutions within this 6-month period. These were not represented within the Rising Stars or those who significantly dropped in the rankings

How confident are YOU in your ThoughtLeader rankings? Do they need updating? Expansion?

You are investing significant resources in initiatives focused on ThoughtLeaders. And you have to ask yourself the question, did you connect with the right ThoughtLeaders and influential cancer professionals in 2017, who can ultimately determine whether your therapy gains traction or loses steam?

You cannot afford a hit or miss approach to connecting with oncology’s most impactful clinicians and academics. MDOutlook’s ThoughtLeader Intelligence Platform is THE source to ensure you are targeting those who will have the biggest impact on your success in the marketplace. We monitor ThoughtLeaders’ changing influence on an ongoing basis and constantly update rankings, using transparent algorithms avoiding the black-box approach. And with our Attribute Dial™ we will deliver the key individuals to you, customized to your specific portfolio. For more information, check out our solutions and view this quick video about the MDOutlook’s Oncology ThoughtLeader Intelligence Platform.

For more information or to have a conversation, contact the MDOutlook team today.

Figure 1: Change in TL Ranking from September 2017 to March 2018 (6 Months)

Figure 2: Change in Top 10 “Rising Stars” Domain Values from Sep 2017 to March 2018 

“We attend ASCO regularly and never knew we could get help in ensuring the presented clinical data was optimally received by oncologists or how competitive announcements could potentially have an adverse impact. MDOutlook gave us new insights into projected usage rates of our therapy and helped us recalibrate our market share targets in the major global markets we operate in.”

-Major Global Biopharma Organization with Growing Oncology Portfolio

MDOutlook assists pharma and life sciences organizations in maximizing results at major industry conferences, and achieved demonstrable success for one client at 2016 ASCO.

Client Need:
A major international pharma company with a growing oncology portfolio was ready to make a significant data announcement about a new treatment in dual checkpoint inhibitor antibodies in SCLC. They needed an impact assessment of current treatments as well as other data announcements scheduled for the category at the conference.

Project Delivered:
In only 4 weeks, MDOutlook turned around an integrated global research study of live panel discussions and a survey of pre-screened oncologists and physicians in multiple disciplines with high patient volumes, specialized knowledge and experience with SCLC treatments in the US, and key EU and international markets.

Results Achieved:
As a result, we provided immediate, actionable insights on how current treatments and new data developments at ASCO in the SCLC category would affect this company’s announcements about its new therapy entrant in the space. Based on our analysis and report, the company was able to project future physician usage of its treatment around the world and better calibrate market share growth globally of its treatment versus competitor treatments over time.

Give us the opportunity to deliver the same results for you before your next cancer conference by contacting the team at MDOutlook today.
We offer custom and syndicated programs for ASCO, EHA, ESMO and ASH, and custom research at many other cancer conferences.

Are you getting the most out of industry events?

MDOutlook leverages its client-acclaimed oncology insights and intelligence to drive our clients’ commercialization success.

We work with our clients to understand the impact of data announcements made at global conferences and assess the awareness and impact of these announcements on treatment utilization. We focus on important aspects, including meeting attendance and knowledge of the presented data to provide actionable and relevant insights for the market. Our response targeting allows us to create subgroup insights to maximize findings and project the impact at these conferences, such as ASCO, ESMO, ASH, and SABCS.

Examples of MDOutlook’s Oncology Conference Insights include, but are not limited to:

•Immediate clinical impact of data announcements in the form of robust and projectable quantitative market share analysis and insights into future treatment decisions
•Stratifying channel impact of announcements between attendees and non-attendees (i.e. significance of learning about new data at the meeting vs. via the news media)
•Pre-/onsite-/post- conference polling that includes providing a very quick read-out; identifying and vetting the right respondents; and querying robust sample sizes
•Focusing on disease-specific coverage and regional impact assessment

Take the guesswork out of your oncologist insights research and contact the team at MDOutlook today.

Here’s what our clients are saying about their completed projects:

“The MDOutlook team provided a succinct, clear, and targeted assessment of what we needed to support the commercial success of our oncology portfolio now and over the long term.”
Director, Epidemiology Forecasting,Epidemiology & Advanced Analytics
Large Biopharma Company

“MDOutlook rocks! They delivered a flexible platform in which internal departments and functions in our organization could access in real-time top influencers in the oncology community, as well as evolving changes in oncologists’ views about therapies, and new prescribing and treatment patterns and trends.”
Sr. Director, Medical Communications and Operations
Mid-Sized Biopharma Company

“MDOutlook’s great work helped us gain input for one of our pharma client brands in the immuno-oncology space. They connected us with the right oncologists who were more familiar with our brand than we expected, so the feedback was extremely valuable! All of the doctors were engaged, contributed to the conversation, and were very knowledgeable about immunotherapies.”
Chief Strategy Officer
Major Pharma/Healthcare Branding Agency

“MDOutlook  provided us critically valuable intelligence on the perspectives of highly influential oncologists about multiple myeloma therapies and treatments”.
EVP, Global Marketing
Growing Oncology Diagnostics Company

“MDOutlook gave us very deep, spot-on insights from the most highly knowledgeable and respected oncologists specializing in uveal melanoma, which provided important guidance to our portfolio strategy.”
Chief Commercial Officer
Early Stage Biotech Company

 

In recent conversations with pharma companies and healthcare marketing agencies about their global market intelligence-gathering methods, MDOutlook has been hearing a rising concern about whether they are both reaching the right oncologists in the U.S. and other key countries and whether they are getting the right answers to the right questions from them. Some have even told us that they get the same answers from the same physicians on every research project!

One key driver is that many market research organizations rely on third party physician panels and databases, giving them little control over the quality of respondents other than through screening questions. And answers to screening questions can and will be manipulated by savvy respondents.

Another challenge is that often the same group of oncologists are participating in nearly every market research initiative, resulting in skewed responses from a less than representative sample of oncologists questioned. And a third and final challenge is that engaging the right oncologist does not yet mean that the right questions are being asked, and that real-world evidence and insights are gathered.

Some key red flags that could result in questionable research findings include:

• Are you comfortable with how well you know the oncologists the research will engage prior to screening?
• Is your valuable physician panel time preoccupied with screening questions?
• Do you have to teach your market research partner about the intricacies of oncology, so they know the right questions to ask?
• Does the research partner have solid anchor points to other data sources and existing insights to triangulate and corroborate their research?

Working with MDOutlook, you never have to question what oncologists will say about your brand and your product portfolio because we have the most robust oncologist panel in the industry, put together by our staff physicians who engage with them on a regular basis. Because our research is designed by physicians for physicians, you never have to doubt the quality of the oncologist intelligence you are getting.

Thanks to detailed information on each panelist, gathered from the panelists themselves and supplemented by research through human analyst and machine-learning methodologies, we know exactly whom to target for which research, and we triangulate responses with previously gathered physician profile information and engagements ensuring the validity and robustness of our real-world insights.

As a result, we give you a blueprint of exactly which oncologists to connect with based on your portfolio specialty and strategic needs – oncologists that know your space inside and out and can share that extensive knowledge and work in a transparent and forthcoming way, so you can confidently make the decisions you need to about your portfolio.

Take the guesswork out of your oncologist insights research and contact the team at MDOutlook today.

MDOutlook announces the launch of its latest syndicated research study in which U.S. and international oncologists provide their perspectives on who, why and how the industry demonstrates leadership in advancing cancer treatment and care.

The Pharmaceutical Company Ranking in Oncology addresses and provides:

• what the oncologist community views as best practices by pharma in support, engagement and communication in improving cancer patient treatment and care
• who and what exemplifies leadership in addressing today’s top cancer care challenges
• additional specific oncologist views on pharma breast cancer leadership
• a self-assessment benchmarking tool for improving and enhancing current oncologist community outreach and support
• an optional study on oncologist views and usage of recently-launched breast cancer treatment therapies

Additional study details:
> comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research conducted:
> more than 100 medical oncologists interviewed via online (U.S. and Europe-based)
> top international experts recognized for their leadership in oncology interviewed by phone
> oncologist ranking criteria across 9 categories including innovation, sales reps and MSL support
> analysis available by U.S. and E.U. regions
> option to purchase entire syndicated study or customized reports tied to specific data within the study
> entire syndicated study and requested customized reports available within 3 days of purchase
> please click here to read more study details and how to order

Contact John Kane at [email protected] or at +1.814.325.9945 for inquiries about and/or to purchase this research.

NOW AVAILABLE: Impact of New Breast Cancer Data Announcements at ESMO 2017

Newly published syndicated report available on the impact of new breast cancer data presented at ESMO 2017:
> compare sponsored symposia
> get a read on expert sessions focused on HER2+ve adjuvant and neo-breast cancer treatments
> gain insights on poster and presentations on breast cancer at ESMO 2017, including perceptions of current breast cancer biosimilars
> assess awareness and impact of clinical trial data in specific breast cancer studies
> please click on this link to learn more

At MDOutlook, we focus on providing actionable insights to our clients. These insights can provide valuable data to improve market share and compare and contrast our client’s products to those of their competition. Below is a case study outlining the main reasons taxanes are not considered for use following paclitaxel treatment in ovarian cancer.

Customer: Global pharmaceutical company expanding their disease portfolio into new therapeutic areas.

Challenge: Client needed to compare and contrast treatment decision drivers between competitive therapies as input for their clinical development and commercialization planning.

Unique MDOutlook proposition: 

• Develop comprehensive questionnaire to address both quantitative treatment market share analysis while differentiating qualitative decision driver attributes often retrieved by different research methodologies (e.g. qualitative)
• Panel Composition: 100 screened ovarian cancer treaters
• Comparative Analysis:
  • By competitive therapies
  • Academic vs. community practice

Value delivered: 

• Actionable insights to guide patient segmentation, commercial positioning and messaging
• Robust and projectable quantitative market share analysis
• Sophisticated qualitative insights generated by a quantitative study methodology that increased the study efficiencies and shortened the study timeline

Send an email to [email protected] to learn more.

Whether it is the impact of the future usage in ALK positive lung cancer in first line of alectinib over the current standard of care or the potential use of DNA Disease repair in advanced BRCA-related breast cancer, many innovations in cancer treatment will be having an impact on the treatment protocols moving forward.

After every major conference, MDOutlook provides valuable insights to our clients on the impact of new data presented. With the 17 ASCO conference behind us, we will be generating syndicated reports in the following therapy areas:

• Bladder
• Breast
• Hematology: AML, CML
• Hepato-Cellular Carcinoma
• Melanoma
• Non-small cell lung cancer
• Prostate
• Renal Cell Carcinoma

If you would like to purchase or receive more details about our post conference syndicated reports, contact us by calling +1.404.496.4136 or dropping us a line here.

Earlier this month our President and Founder Jan Heybroek was interviewed by Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor of CEO/CFO Magazine. The interview discusses the concept and vision behind MDOutlook, how MDOutlook delivers value to its clients and the on-going engagement with oncologists and ThoughtLeaders.

“We have developed a platform and a network of more than one hundred thousand cancer physicians that we have identified, researched and validated as being responsible and active in the management of cancer…We invite these physicians, typically by survey emails, to participate in research. Physicians respond to us in a secure environment to the questions that we have developed with our client partners. We have MDs and PhDs on the staff who review these responses and pull together reports that we then share back with both sponsors and participants.”, Jan said.

You can read the full interview here: CEOCFO Magazine Interview with Jan Heybroek.

For more information about MDOutlook, contact us at [email protected] or +1.404.496.4136.