Unlocking Specialist Insight in Ulcerative Colitis Care in the Netherlands

Client

International pharmaceutical manufacturer focused on chronic gastrointestinal conditions

Service

Specialist Insights Study

Sector

Pharmaceuticals & Biopharma

Coverage

Netherlands

Managing moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC) presents ongoing clinical and operational challenges for physicians, particularly in aligning treatments with patient-specific needs and emerging therapies. To better understand how Dutch gastroenterologists navigate these complexities, an international pharmaceutical client partnered with us to generate real-world medical data and clinical insight research from frontline UC specialists. The goal was to inform therapy development, enhance healthcare communication tools, and improve physician support within the Netherlands' healthcare environment.

The challenge

Treating UC at a moderate to severe level requires precise, often personalized, approaches, especially given the evolving treatment landscape and the pressure to deliver sustainable long-term outcomes. The client needed to validate their chronic disease strategy by uncovering how Dutch gastroenterologists make prescribing decisions, the challenges they face with existing therapies, and their attitudes toward UC treatment innovation. Importantly, the client sought to explore how healthcare regulatory barriers and reimbursement dynamics affect treatment pathways and therapy adoption drivers.

What we did

We deployed a focused qualitative healthcare study, engaging five experienced gastroenterologists across the Netherlands. Each participant had 3 to 25 years of clinical practice and actively managed at least 20 UC patients within a three-month span. In-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted virtually via Zoom, moderated in Dutch by a native speaker with simultaneous translation to ensure clarity and contextual accuracy. Over 75-minute sessions, clinicians provided detailed specialist interview studies on current care practices, patient needs, and future treatment opportunities.

The impact of the research

The study revealed critical physician insight reports and behaviors that shaped the client's strategic direction. Physicians largely relied on biologics therapy adoption as the cornerstone of UC care but voiced challenges around medication adherence analysis, side effect management, and limited predictive tools. There was notable interest in therapies with improved safety profiles and sustained UC remission strategies, as well as support tools that enable dynamic treatment adjustments. Dutch medical research participants highlighted how European health policy impact and reimbursement mechanisms influence clinical decision-making research, reinforcing the need for locally tailored specialty care strategies.

Armed with these insights, the client was able to refine new drug positioning research, craft pharma stakeholder insights messaging, and develop physician support materials aligned with real-world doctor feedback. The research also identified unmet needs that could inform future immunology study insights and therapy optimization research in this focused European pharma market.

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