Intrinsic Therapeutics uncovers more qualified leads and grows sales of its new product with Definitive Healthcare’s data solutions

The challenge

Launching a clinically superior product in an entirely new market with limited Medicare data

Each year, nearly half a million patients in the U.S. with severe herniated disks decide to have a surgical procedure known as a discectomy. While many of these surgeries are successful, approximately one in three patients have herniated disks with large defects. These patients with large defects face a higher risk for complications and are responsible for roughly 70% of re-herniations, usually requiring a second surgical procedure. This inferior clinical outcome can lead to significant clinical and quality-of-life issues for these patients.

In March 2020, Intrinsic Therapeutics, a Boston-based life science start-up, was ready to launch after having gained FDA approval for its Barricaid Device. Barricaid demonstrated significant improvement in surgical outcomes for herniated disk patients with large defects versus standard of care. Barricaid is the first device clinically proven to significantly reduce the incidence of reherniation and reoperation by 81% in seven distinct study populations. Barricaid was also entering the market with solid and robust clinical data, including a 554-patient, level 1 clinical study, 60+ plus peer-review publications and an astounding 8000+ patients who had been implanted with Barricaid. This powerful new product, backed by significant clinical data, was ready for US market launch.

Intrinsic Therapeutics decided to utilize a direct sales force but they had limited knowledge of the market and some prior acquired basic data based on Medicare claims. In addition, Intrinsic Therapeutics purchased market data from a leading data company to help gain visibility with their target audience. However, in time they discovered:

1. The market data captured was for only one CPT code, but there were many more to consider
2. The surgeons to whom they had access were not necessarily the right targets as they did not have the right case volume
3. And, they had no access to real market data on the Surgery Centers where these procedures or other spine hardware procedures were being performed

Intrinsic Therapeutics knew they needed to get more granular with their data so they could understand the full depth of CPT code use and how to target the right physician who would be most likely to use their product in the most aligned surgical center. Currently, they were finding the level of data they had was too broad and inaccurate, leading to time wasted focusing on lower volume physicians that were less likely, or even unlikely, to use Barricaid. They knew there was a better way, and with a new launch, time was of the essence.

The solution

Rocketing a market launch with focused insights that help identify and map the ideal physician and surgical center target for Barricaid

Intrinsic knew they had a superior new product that would have immediate impact on increasing positive outcomes for patients with herniated disks but needed market intelligence to target the right physicians.

Intrinsic decided to work with Definitive Healthcare to step up their targeting efforts. After purchasing its PhysicianView, ClaimsMx, and SurgeryCenterView data products, and importing the new data into their BI and CRM systems, the team was able to:

1. Identify the high-volume surgeons who were likely to use their product. The Intrinsic team cross-referenced Definitive Healthcare’s PhysicianView and ClaimsMx data to identify those surgeons who were doing a higher volume of specific CPT codes — the codes most likely to be used with Barricaid. Intrinsic then took this information and identified these high-volume accounts in each territory so their sales representatives could target and focus their sales efforts on these accounts.
2. Identify the full range of CPT codes that would be utilized with their product. Realizing there were more CPT codes to be used with Barricaid, Intrinsic Therapeutics used ClaimsMx data to identify those codes and expand their total addressable market.
3. Identify the ambulatory surgery centers where these target physicians were aligned. Intrinsic Therapeutics had little visibility to surgery centers and in particular high volume spinal surgery centers. By utilizing SurgeryCenterView intelligence and cross-referencing it with ClaimsMx data, they were able to pinpoint the surgery centers that were performing specific CPT codes for Barricaid, and their volume. As a result, the company was able to develop a target list of surgery centers for their reps to call on.

Armed with these new insights, they were able to set up:

• The top 30 accounts for their reps
• Heat maps for their reps to target and focus efforts
• Better definition for their target audience from a marketing, messaging and overall brand strategy.

The impact

25% growth of Barricaid sales since launch and wide-spread organizational adoption of Definitive Healthcare data benefiting their entire organization.

Today, the Definitive Healthcare data has been integrated throughout the entire Intrinsic Therapeutics organization. Armed with Definitive Healthcare data, the sales reps are gaining far more contracts and growing the business. The marketing department began utilizing the data for their digital and direct marketing campaigns, expanding its efforts. The finance department uses the data to forecast future needs. The whole organization is experiencing growth from boosting their medical device launch by partnering with Definitive Healthcare. By aligning the right product with the skilled surgeons who will use that product allows patients with complex herniated disks across the target markets to experience better outcomes, and a higher-quality-of-life after surgery. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?