December 2006
	Delivering New Insights for Product Managers by Mapping the Patient Experience Product managers looking for insights to support important decisions in product development and marketing planning are increasingly turning to a unique pharmaceutical marketing research methodology, called patient experience or treatment mapping, as a key source of fact-based background information. Using this mapping methodology, product managers can gain key insights into the market to provide the context and depth of knowledge that is needed to proceed with nearly any type of marketing research initiative. Lauded for its long-term value as a research exercise that serves to lay the foundation of information for a variety of future marketing research phases, mapping the patient experience also provides immediate practical value as an intensive boot camp of sorts for those product team members who don’t have years of category experience, as it provides a deep understanding of the market through the eyes of the physician. In an article featured in the November issue of Product Management Today, GfK V2 Executive Vice President John Taenzler, Ph.D., explores this methodology, which is attracting attention as a key tool in the pharmaceutical marketing research arsenal. To download the article, click the link on the graphic image to the left. The article covers the basics behind mapping the patient experience, including how to define the starting treatment path in the map. The reader is guided through the key steps of the methodology, beginning with Phase 1, which involves a bottom-up exploration of the market and the market dynamics that impact the decisions of the target audience (physicians), and Phases 2 and 3, which validate the findings from the previous phase, using a top-down approach to critiquing the treatment maps that have been outlined. The Phases of Research in GfK V2's MAPP™ Methodology (Market Analysis of Patients and Products)

Qualitative Group Discussions or In-depth Interviews Exploratory, open-ended questions: What precipitates a patient's first presentation? Diagnosis procedure? Prior treatment history? Initial therapy? Assessing efficacy/ Side effects? Treatment following progression? Switching? Combination therapy? Analysis: Develop rudimentary MAPP

Qualitative In-depth Interviews Present rudimentary MAPP: Where are there holes/missing information? Errors/Corrections? Exceptions? Analysis: Refine and finalize MAPP

Qualitative In-depth Interviews Present final MAPP: Placement of new medications and resulting changes in existing locales Exploring impact of new campaigns/ counter-details

Once the treatment map has been validated, research can proceed into follow-up phases, which most commonly involve investigating the impact of a new product entry and sizing of the market (estimating the number of patients who reach each level in the map). Although the focus of this article is on mapping physicians' perspectives, this technique can also be successfully used to map the patient and/or caregiver perspective. Although interviews are conducted somewhat differently, the data collected can be just as rich and informative. Through patient mapping, the product team can gain insight into the dynamics between the patient, his or her support system, i.e., family, and the physician. Want to learn more on this topic? Please contact: