Switzerland (Head Quarters)

IDR Medical Switzerland
Austrasse 95, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
T: +41 (0) 61 535 1109

UK

IDR Medical UK
Unit 104 Eagle Tower, Eagle Tower
Montpellier Drive, Cheltenham, GL50 1TA
T: +44 (0) 1242 696 790

USA

IDR Medical North America
225 Franklin Street, 26th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110, USA
T: +1 (0) 617.275.4465

The Challenge

Our client, a global pharmaceutical company, had launched a novel cardiology therapy across Europe and North America. While clinically superior, uptake varied widely by market.

The core challenge was that a long-established, low-cost generic remained the default standard of care. Despite its clinical limitations and the burden of frequent point-of-care monitoring, it benefited from entrenched prescribing habits, mature reimbursement pathways, and strong provider ecosystems — creating powerful inertia against switching to the new therapy.

Key questions included:

  • Where could the new therapy realistically displace the generic — and where would resistance remain entrenched?

  • Could digital infrastructure (EMRs and cardiology IT systems) be used to drive prescribing and guideline adherence?

  • Which providers and technology partners controlled access to prescribers and patients?

  • What partnerships could unlock faster and more sustainable adoption?

 

Our Approach

1. Strategic Alignment

We worked closely with the client’s global and regional leadership teams to define the commercial priorities, pressure-test assumptions, and align the research around the decisions they needed to make — including market prioritisation, partnering strategy, and route-to-market design.

This ensured the research addressed not only clinical adoption, but also commercial feasibility.

2. Market & Ecosystem Mapping

Across three priority global markets, we conducted a structured investigation of the cardiology decision ecosystem, including:

  • Internal stakeholder interviews

  • Key opinion leader (KOL) interviews

  • Desk research and vendor interviews covering EMR and cardiology information systems

This created a detailed view of:

  • Where and how prescribing decisions were being shaped

  • Which IT platforms controlled cardiology workflows

  • How fragmented or concentrated access to prescribers was by segment

3. Insight-Led Strategy Development

An interim synthesis phase translated the early findings into targeted hypotheses and stimulus for in-depth clinician testing.

This allowed us to refine:

  • Market segmentation

  • Partner shortlists

  • Conceptual models for using decision support and digital pathways to drive adoption

4. End-User Clinician Market Research

We conducted in-depth research with cardiologists and primary care physicians across hospital, office-based, and GP settings to understand:

  • Current prescribing behaviour for the target indications

  • How EMRs and cardiology systems influence treatment decisions

  • Attitudes to clinical decision support

  • Reactions to alternative partnership and activation models

This provided the final validation layer for the commercial strategy.

 

Deliverables

The project delivered a comprehensive strategic foundation, including:

  • A map of EMR and cardiology IT penetration across hospital, office cardiology, and GP settings

  • Market share and positioning of major EMR and cardiology system vendors

  • Legal and regulatory constraints around clinical decision support

  • Provider attitudes toward third-party integrations and pharma partnerships

  • Detailed physician workflows for the target indications

  • Prescribing behaviour by care setting

  • Response to digital decision support and therapy prompts

  • Concept and strategy testing, including strengths, weaknesses, and barriers to adoption

 

Impact

By combining market structure analysis, digital ecosystem mapping, and deep clinician insight, we enabled the client to:

  • Identify where digital decision support could materially change prescribing

  • Prioritise markets and segments with the highest commercial leverage

  • Select the right EMR and cardiology IT partners

  • Design a partnership-led growth strategy to accelerate adoption of the novel therapy

Following the final global workshop, the client initiated formal engagement with selected platform partners and launched a structured partnering programme — directly informed by the insights and strategic frameworks developed through the project.

This allowed them to move from slow, fragmented uptake to a scalable, ecosystem-driven growth model for their cardiology franchise.