Enabling CSA-AKI Awareness and Medical Communication Optimization Through Physician Insight

Client

Multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer

Service

Clinical insights

Sector

Pharmaceuticals & Biopharma

Coverage

United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China

Cardiac Surgery–Associated Acute Kidney Injury (CSA-AKI) remains a serious and often under-recognized complication of cardiac surgery, requiring coordinated understanding across multiple physician specialties. A multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer partnered with us to conduct a global physician study to better understand how physicians perceive CSA-AKI, evaluate the effectiveness of existing concepts and messages, and identify opportunities to improve education around the role of complement therapy.

This pharma case study, grounded in clinical insights research, aimed to refine a broader healthcare messaging strategy and strengthen pharmaceutical positioning strategy by embedding real-world physician perspectives and clinical decision research into communication development.

The Challenge

Physicians involved in cardiac surgery research and kidney disease management often approach CSA-AKI from different clinical perspectives, leading to variability in awareness, urgency, and understanding of disease mechanisms and treatment approaches. This highlighted the need for deeper acute kidney injury awareness and stronger cross-specialty alignment.

The client needed to determine:

• Which messages resonate most strongly with physicians managing patients at risk for CSA-AKI

• Why certain concepts are more compelling than others through structured treatment perception analysis

• How language, syntax, and terminology influence understanding as part of medical communication optimization

• Where gaps exist in physician education around CSA-AKI and complement therapy, informing future medical education research

Addressing these challenges required structured biopharma market research, leveraging specialist qualitative interviews and healthcare professional insight on complement therapy from physicians actively involved in managing high-risk cardiac surgery patients.

What We Did

We conducted a multinational clinical insight research program involving 45 healthcare specialists, each participating in a 60-minute virtual in-depth interview (IDI) via Zoom. This approach reflected best practice in virtual IDI research in pharmaceutical marketing and supported a broader physician engagement strategy.

Participants included:

• CT surgeons and cardiologists actively managing and making treatment decisions for at least 10 CKD III/IV patients per month undergoing elective or urgent (non-emergency) CABG, valve, or combination therapy with CPB procedures

• Nephrologists actively managing and making treatment decisions for at least 5 CKD III/IV patients per month undergoing similar procedures and considered at risk for CSA-AKI

This phase incorporated in-depth interviews with nephrologists and cardiologists, alongside cardiac surgeons, generating rich nephrology insights and cross-specialty perspectives.

Discussions focused on message resonance, conceptual clarity, terminology preferences, and educational gaps related to CSA-AKI and complement-based approaches. The methodology supported physician decision making analysis in cardiac procedures and enabled improving treatment concept clarity through physician feedback across global markets.

The Impact of the Research

This global pharma communication strategy case study delivered nuanced, physician-driven insight into how CSA-AKI is currently understood and communicated across specialties and geographies. Through structured cross specialty awareness research in biopharma, physicians highlighted which messages felt credible and compelling, where concepts required refinement, and where gaps in understanding persist, particularly around the role of complement therapy in CSA-AKI.

The findings enabled the client to:

• Refine and optimize CSA-AKI messaging and concepts as part of clinical messaging optimization for acute kidney injury

• Improve clarity and relevance of physician-facing communications through healthcare messaging strategy refinement

• Identify educational opportunities to increase awareness and urgency around CSA-AKI, supporting refining disease awareness campaigns for high risk patients

• Strengthen strategic planning for future initiatives through enhanced physician engagement strategy and targeted medical education research

Ultimately, the study provided actionable insight to support more effective communication, education, and pharmaceutical positioning strategy around CSA-AKI in real-world clinical settings.

Drive more effective physician engagement with insight grounded in real-world clinical decision research. Contact us to strengthen your strategy with global specialist perspectives.