Three Regions, One Specialty: Sizing the Opportunity for an Endoscopic Device
How 65 hepatologists in China, the US and Europe helped size demand for a new endoscopic device.
A medical device company wanted to understand the market opportunity for a new endoscopic device used in liver disease care. It needed to know how hepatologists manage these patients today, where current tools fall short, and how much interest a new option might attract.
Hepatologists were the natural audience. They manage patients with advanced liver disease, take part in treatment decisions and, in many centers, perform or direct endoscopic procedures themselves.
The study covered three regions with different health systems and patterns of care:
China
United States
Europe
Including China alongside the US and Europe mattered, as practice, hospital structure and access to devices can differ between regions. One survey design across all three kept the data consistent and comparable.
Physicians completed an online quantitative survey covering current practice, procedure volumes, unmet needs, reactions to the device concept and likely use.
The final sample was 65 hepatologists across the three regions.
For a specialist audience, a focused sample can still deliver useful data. Each respondent had direct experience of the patients and procedures in question, so their answers reflected real practice rather than general opinion.
The study gave the client a cross-regional view of demand, and a clearer sense of where the device could fit first.
