Posts tagged ‘Biotech Market Research Consulting’
Pharma and biotech companies routinely seek the opinion of leading academics and researchers, but interviewing thought leaders (more commonly known as Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs) is an art, rather than a science.
Qualitative pharma market research typically consists of a structured interview arranged around a discussion guide that has scripted questions and probes. In our experience, such an overly structured approach is often not optimal with top tier KOLs.
Remember, these are extremely busy people and if you are fortunate enough to gain a short period of time from them (we normally do this over the phone), you need to use it wisely or they will soon be bored, distracted, cut you short and move on – unless you pique their curiosity and engage them in something that holds their interest.
Our approach is to:
- Focus on a few strategic questions or key issues
- Have a moderator who is knowledgeable about the topic so that the interview comes across as a scientific conversation
- Be prepared to listen and adjust follow-on questions accordingly
On Pharma Strategy Blog, you can read some of the KOL interviews that Sally Church, PhD has undertaken with leading business executives, academic researchers and clinicians.
Some of the thought leaders she has interviewed as part of her excellent “Making a Difference in the Lives of Cancer Patients” series include Alain Moussy (CEO of AB Science) Susan Desmond-Hellmann (Chancellor of UCSF) and Charles Sawyers (MSKCC – winner of the 2009 Lasker Award, and likely future Nobel Laureate).
If you would like to learn more about our Pharma KOL market research services, please do not hesitate to contact us.
All those in the pharma/biotech industry who perform market research will be familiar with ESOMAR, the worldwide organization whose code of practice governs how we conduct market research.
So, we are pleased to be invited to the ESOMAR – Best of New York, 2011 event to be held at the offices of Microsoft in NYC, later today. Networking opportunities are always welcome, and Pieter Droppert from Icarus will be attending.
The meeting has four speakers covering a wide range of topics, including employing robots to mine twitter, and how to draw on the wisdom of crowds to generate winning concepts. It is good to have an opportunity to hear what other market research practitioners are doing outside of the pharma/biotech industry.
Information about the key opinion leader (KOL) market research services that Icarus Consultants offers can be found here.