Unmet Needs Analysis & Concept Testing for COPD Homecare Solutions
The Challenge
Our client, a global leader in medical technology and services, specialised in the provision of therapies for patients with chronic respiratory diseases.
The company was exploring opportunities to expand beyond its core business areas and identify new revenue streams within the rapidly evolving homecare and remote patient monitoring landscape. Internal research and development teams had developed a series of high-level product and service concepts centred around connected devices and remote patient monitoring technologies.
However, the client required a deeper understanding of market needs, clinical workflows, and the commercial potential of these concepts before committing further development resources.
IDR Medical was commissioned to conduct an unmet needs analysis and concept evaluation to help determine how the client could optimise its strategy in line with evolving market needs and assess whether the proposed solutions had strong commercial potential.Our client was a world-leading medical technology and services company. Their core business was the provision of respiratory therapies to patients with chronic diseases.
Our Approach
The project was conducted in three phases, combining market analysis with qualitative research and quantitative research.
1. Project set up
The study began with a project set-up and desk research phase, during which IDR worked closely with the client to refine the project objectives, define the scope, and review the competitive landscape. This phase also included an initial assessment of the market opportunity and potential size of the opportunity across different product categories.
Insights from this phase informed the development of discussion guides and research materials for the primary research.
2. Qualitative market research
The qualitative phase consisted of in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals across five European markets, including pulmonologists, respiratory therapists, nurses, general practitioners, and payors. Interviews were conducted both face-to-face and via web conference.
This phase explored clinical workflows, current approaches to patient management, unmet needs in respiratory care, and stakeholder responses to the proposed concepts, including willingness to adopt and pay for the solutions.
3. Quantitative market research
Based on these findings, IDR Medical worked with the client to prioritise the most promising concepts and design a quantitative research programme. This survey validated the qualitative insights with a broader sample of healthcare professionals and quantified potential uptake and willingness to pay.
In parallel, research was conducted with patients in key markets to understand their perspectives on remote monitoring solutions, including expected benefits, usability, and potential compliance.
4. Insights to strategy
IDR Medical consolidated insights across all research streams and delivered a comprehensive report outlining the market opportunity, concept prioritisation, and strategic recommendations.
The Results and Impact
The research provided the client with a clear understanding of unmet needs in the homecare respiratory market and the potential role of connected monitoring solutions.
The findings enabled the client to prioritise R&D investment across the proposed concepts, focusing resources on those with the strongest clinical relevance and commercial potential.
In addition, the research uncovered broader unmet needs within the homecare ecosystem, which informed the development of additional product and service concepts beyond the initial scope of the project.
These insights helped the client shape its longer-term innovation strategy and product development roadmap within the connected respiratory care market.