Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Epiomic™ Patient Segmentation data takes epidemiology analysis for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry to a deeper level. By overlaying the basic prevalence or incidence data with patient vital signs, pathophysiology and co-morbidities, more accurate patient segmentation is possible. This allows for more robust product valuations and forecasts. This refined number of patients could also lead to a more accurate study size based on the refined patient profile and potentially a lower number of patients in a clinical study contributing to huge savings.

With an increasingly stringent regulatory environment along with various cost containment strategies employed by payers each present a unique challenge for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. More expensive pharmaceutical therapeutic assets are being pigeon-holed to specific patient sub groups, genetic subtypes or a particular position of therapy. Currently available epidemiology data is not able to provide this layer of granularity needed to properly understandthe impact of these new environmental conditions.

The eligible patient population is the foundation for any valuation of new healthcare assets. A better understanding of the patient population truly eligible for reimbursed treatment provides our users with an informed position on the initial potential and understanding of the risks.

For many companies currently providing an epidemiology database to the healthcare community, this information tends to be very top-line looking at the overall populations that may have a disease or a condition. In the days when pharmaceutical companies were looking for broader labels for their new products, this would have been suitable. Much of the data will be taken from similar sources.

Epiomic is not necessarily a replacement but more of an adjunct to your current epidemiology data. It enables you to breakdown the patient populations by the critical factors that would be reflected in a clinical development plan or a product label rather than guestimating what the population would be.

We feel that the data is a true reflection of the different patient segments based on peered reviewed publications and long term pooled public health surveys, pooled analysis and clinical trial data in major markets. Many of these sources include 10,000+ patient records yielding significant numbers of patient records for each co-morbid condition relevant to the different disease areas.

All of the data is sourced from publically available registry data or published studies that have been peered reviewed. All sources used to develop the database have been referenced on the “Source” tab for each disease area. No data has come from direct market research as the accuracy of the information and collection methods cannot be confirmed.

As a minimum, all the data sets will be updated on a yearly basis to take in any changes in population growth or other dynamics. For specific disease areas where new information has been published, this will be incorporated into the different regions were applicable. These updates can happen at different times of the year and will be made available to all subscribers for the relevant disease area.

For many companies currently providing an epidemiology database to the healthcare community, this information tends to be very top-line looking at the overall populations that may have a disease or a condition. In the days when pharmaceutical companies were looking for broader labels for their new products, this would have been suitable. Much of the data will be taken from similar sources.

Epiomic is not necessarily a replacement but more of an adjunct to your current epidemiology data. It enables you to breakdown the patient populations by the critical factors that would be reflected in a clinical development plan or a product label rather than guestimating what the population would be.

At the launch of the epiomic patient segmentation database, there will be over 50 disease areas within 8 categories. This will eventually expand to over 125 disease areas within 15 categories.

You will receive log-on and password details via email when a subscription has been purchased. You use these details to access the portal via the website. You will have access to all categories covered by your subscription.

For each disease, you will start with either the incident or prevalent patient populations depending on type. From this starting point, you will have the ability to cut this initial population by any major epiomic factor that would be an essential part of the clinical or diagnostic patient management pathway. This information can also be sub-divided by gender and age in a specific country if required.

Users will have access to the data on the website at all times. There may be times when the database is inaccessible during maintenance and updates; but this will be scheduled to times when usage is expected to be low, to minimise disruption.

For the subscription offering, potential users have the option of paying with a credit card (all major cards and AMEX accepted) through the payment portal or via request for an invoice, which can be sent electronically for processing. Unfortunately, until payment has been received, access to the website will not be granted. For immediate access, it would be advisable to pay via a credit card, when a login and password will be issued following the transaction. For the ad-hoc service, the data requirements will need to be ascertained by the Black Swan Analysis team before a quotation can be generated for review and approval by the client. Payment for this service will be handled via an invoice and purchase order generation.

You will have access to any new data that has been added to the website if your subscription agreement is for universal access or one of the categories where the new disease data has been added.

For the initial launch phase of the database, we will only have access via the website. In the next phases of development, we intend to develop applications for the iphone and ipad that will enable the user to access the information at their fingertips from their portable devices.

Once a subscription has been purchased, a login and password will be sent to the user via email. This person will have access to the website. If other people within your company require access to the site, additional licenses, up to 4, can be purchased depending on the subscription as long as the person is an employee of the company.

For some companies that are working in a limited number of disease areas with a relatively small portfolio of products, the ad-hoc approach could be a more cost effective solution. Black Swan Analysis will pull the data based on the specific client requirement and will be based on the volume of data required with a minimum payment threshold of £1,200.

We are constantly developing new data sets that we have yet to publish but could be useful to a client. You will need to send a request form to the analytical team at Analysis@epiomic.com to see if we have access or the ability to generate the data needed.

The data has been designed and structured in the content management system to give the user an immediate response to any queries submitted regardless of the size of the request. Although a lot depends on your computers connectivity to the internet, there will be no hold ups by the website to the individual once the request for information has been made by the user.

There is no limit to the number of users that can access the website at one time. So whether there are 1 or 1000 users logged in, the performance of the site will be responsive for all users with no delays.

The user interface for the Epiomic website has been designed with the user in mind. The data has been laid out in an easy to understand format with selection buttons that make it easy to drill down into a particular patient segment to find the patient population for the required profile.

There is a user support link on the website where you can email one of our analysts immediately with your issue or concern. There is also a phone number on the website if you want to contact a member of our team during normal working hours (GMT 0900-01700) and an emergency contact voice mail box for times outside normal working hours. If a message is left on the emergency contact number, we will respond within 12 hours.

We have developed some industry standard charts that users can access after they have selected the required data. This will enable you to have a quick graphical look at the data and reduced the number of steps needed to get it in a presentation form. These charts can then be imported to your computer in an excel format for further manipulation if required.