Life sciences market research: Safely digging deeper for competitive edge

Authored by: Gareth Phillips, CEO, Research Partnership

We continue to be impressed by the way advancements in data and AI are transforming life sciences business intelligence, redefining the role of the market researcher to provide unprecedented precision and strategic value.

These changes, however, raise a critical question: How do we balance the need for faster access to broader and deeper insights with the imperative to maintain ethics, data protection and regulatory compliance?

At Research Partnership we’re focusing on this evolved need, leveraging AI with our people firmly at the center:

• Deeper insights: Larger, more complex data sets can now be synthesized faster, providing richer insights that empower our teams and clients.
• Enhanced impact: Automating routine tasks frees up time for generating more actionable insights – supporting our clients’ commercial and competitive strategies.
• Improved engagement: Insights are now shared across businesses in more dynamic, engaging ways.
• Compliance: AI innovation continues to require careful regulatory and ethical consideration.

Competitive Edge

As market researchers, we know that unlocking competitive advantage with broader and deeper insight drives commercial opportunity. It’s safe to say that data and AI advancements are delivering this capability in abundance.

From a data perspective, advancements are revolutionizing the integration of diverse information sources—custom primary research insights, secondary data sources, real world prescribing data, and social listening—into a fuller, more accurate market picture. Parallel to this we are using AI tools, such as our proprietary tool, Inizio Navigator, which helps us process vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, revealing Health Care Professional (HCP), patient perspectives and identifying market trends quickly and effectively.

With our people at the center of these advancements, using our deep therapeutic and behavioral science knowledge, we are able to deliver informed recommendations across a wider range of data assets than ever before. One example of the impact this is having on our work is our new brand equity analysis model that uses dynamic market share to identify future brand opportunities and threats, allowing us to predict future market share scenarios based on commercial actions taken.

Bringing Data to Life

We’re also reimagining how we present data, using tools like avatars to transform static reports into immersive, qualitative experiences. Avatars help us to socialize key insights, adding engagement and depth to segmentation studies. In recent projects, we have also used avatars to create lifelike patient visit simulations across different patient segments, enhancing our interactions with healthcare professionals, allowing them to digest patient profiles and respond effectively and more easily.

Safe and Compliant Innovation

However, the rapid adoption of AI and data in market research requires a careful balance between innovation and compliance. Our seasoned experts play a key role in ensuring data and AI’s safe adoption and ethical use. We combine our experience with advanced technology to fill critical gaps and build confidence in adoption.

Our Innovation Center of Expertise leads this effort, rigorously assessing new technologies like AI for safety, accuracy, ethics, and regulatory compliance. This ensures that our insights deliver value while adhering to the highest standards, giving our clients the confidence they need to make data-driven decisions.

The Future of AI in Market Research

While AI and data unlock new opportunities, human insight remains essential. Striking a balance between technological efficiency and a nuanced understanding of human behavior will continue to be key for accurate, meaningful insights in the complex world of life sciences market research.

This is particularly true as we advance even further with the advent of synthetic data, which allows for the simulation of market behaviors, patient populations, and healthcare outcomes without the risk of exposing sensitive information. Synthetic data has enormous potential for modeling rare diseases, forecasting drug adoption, and assessing the impact of new therapies.

At Research Partnership, we’re excited about the future of market research as AI continues to augment our work. But as always, our focus remains on doing so safely, with our people at the center of every innovation.