This blog is part of an ongoing series, A Brave New World: Finding life science success in modern markets.

In a data-rich, insight-poor world, pharma leaders are waking up to a blunt truth. Traditional market research, no matter how well run, isn’t cutting it anymore. If you’re still relying on standalone Awareness Trial and Usage (ATU) studies and PowerPoint decks to explain brand performance, you’re not just behind the curve. You’re at risk of missing it entirely.

Enter integrated research, a new model that combines primary market research (PMR) with real-world data (RWD), digital engagement signals, promotional activity, and more to produce one version of the truth. Not more dashboards. Not more delayed or disconnected research. Modern brand teams are using more fact-based and data-driven answers to take action more quickly.

And commercial leadership teams are taking notice.

The Problem with Siloed Insight

Every pharma executive knows the feeling. Five different reports land on your desk: Healthcare Professional (HCP) perceptions, sales performance, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) detailing, copay data, digital engagement, and none of them align. One team says access is the problem. Another says message recall is the issue. A third says your brand is flatlining in key segments. It’s a who’s who of organizational finger pointing! Who’s right?

That’s the problem with siloed research. It forces brand leaders to become detective, integrator, and strategist all at once based on assembling half-facts into full decisions under pressure. The cost? Delayed reaction, misdirected investment, underperformance at launch, and poor executive confidence in brand leadership.

Integrated Research: One Story, One Truth

Integrated research flips that model. Instead of running survey insights, claims data, and engagement metrics in isolation, it brings them together around the business questions that matter most:

• “Why is uptake lagging in the cardiology segment?”
• “What’s driving adoption among GI specialists?”
• “Which message is actually moving NBRx?”

By blending what HCPs say (via PMR) with what they do (via RWD), all while layering in CRM and channel data, integrated research delivers a 360° view of the truth. Qualitative research backed by quantitative insights tied to market events and activity.

No more guesswork. No more triangulation. Just clarity and action.

Consider a simplified illustrative example of how integrated research can provide insights that would otherwise be lost. Traditional market research will explain share of mind, but it fails to consider how promotional effort, promotional sensitivity, and competitive intensity impact a HCP's attitude and willingness to prescribe. Integrating the two creates a better picture of how to translate qualitative research into understanding behavioral performance in real life.

Yet, this still does not go far enough. Further, adding the quantitative power of claims data creates a much more nuanced understanding of how to translate share of mind to written demand into filled demand. There are many elements that impact a patient’s journey to treatment. Payer control, patient assistance programs, patient cost sensitivity, drug efficacy, competitive switching, side effects, and more.

Without having an integrated view, brand leaders are left stumbling in the dark looking for answers. In the illustrative example, only one patient, or 5% of the expected demand, remained adherent for one year. Without knowing what happened to the other 95% of demand or why it was lost makes it impossible to initiate effective strategies to address where the real issues are.

Real World, Real Results

This isn’t theory. It’s happening today, and the results are game-changing. Brands are using integrated research to accelerate performance and build executive confidence.

• More Effective HCP Engagement
  An integrated segmentation built on prescribing patterns, attitudinal insights, and digital behavior allowed a brand team to tailor their field force strategy. Reps targeted high-potential physicians with personalized messages. Subsequent audits showed those calls were 30% more effective than non-segmented ones.
• Diagnosing Launch Underperformance
  A brand struggling with soft NBRx despite strong ATU scores uncovered that only one message out of five was driving prescribing. Integrated analysis of survey, detailing, and Rx data allowed the brand team to shift its messaging mix within weeks, not months. Adoption acceleration and changes in physician perception followed.
• Forecasting That Doesn’t Overpromise
  By merging HCP intent data with market access and prescribing trends, a brand team built a grounded forecast for a line extension that tracked within 5% post-launch reality. The brand leadership was able to avoid the typical post-launch scramble because they understood their market. Commercial leadership gained confidence in the brand team.

Example: We use an integrated approach to assess the effectiveness of details for driving prescribing (Xponent NBRx) as well as intent to Rx (ATU)

Note: All results shown are significant at 90% confidence. ‘ni’ = no impact

Why This Matters Now

Pharma has never had more data than it does today. But most companies are still analyzing it in fragments and using the same methods they did a decade ago. Marketing has one view. Access has another. Brand Insights is off running a survey. And the brand team is stuck stitching it together at year-end to executives who are challenged to understand why the brand underperformed.

Integrated research is designed to stitch the brand story together. It unifies teams around shared truths based upon real data, leads to faster decisions, and clearer paths to action. In a world of tight margins, faster launches, and channel complexity, this isn’t only operational hygiene, it’s a commercial and career edge.

How IQVIA Helps You Lead With Insight

Integrated ATU (iATU) combines voice-of-the-customer with leading behavioral and executional data

IQVIA isn’t just a data provider but rather a true partner in building integrated decision systems that help customers see the market clearly. That means you can move confidently while being able to withstand the pressures in the boardroom.

Here’s how IQVIA helps:

• One Connected View
  IQVIA combines the full stack of data—claims, prescribing, digital touchpoints, access metrics, call activity, and survey research—into a single, harmonized environment, at the brand and HCP level.
• Cross-Functional Activation
  IQVIA teams don’t simply deliver slides. They build live dashboards, dynamic segmentations, and insight simulation rooms that align marketing, field, access, and insights teams around shared metrics and priorities.
• Faster Time to Clarity
  IQIVA brings pre-built integration frameworks, proven methods (like Integrated ATUs and Behavior-Calibrated Segmentation), and agile analytics pods that compress months of triangulation into weeks of action.
• Advisory-Enabled Execution
  IQVIA doesn’t merely run analytics. We help your teams translate it into strategy. Whether you need to re-prioritize segments, reframe messaging, or optimize field activity, we bring the right people and tools to guide change.
• Tailored to You
  IQVIA doesn’t push cookie cutter solutions. We meet you where you are. Whether you have a mature insights function or are just starting to integrate, we shape the approach to your brand, your data stack, and your business needs.

At IQVIA, Advanced Integration is the sustained application of available secondary/syndicated data to inform ALL PHASES of an ATU

The Executive Mandate

Integrated research isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s how tomorrow’s pharma leaders will outperform today’s. If you want faster decisions, better alignment, and smarter execution, don’t just ask for more data. Ask for smarter integration. Ask for insight that connects cause to effect that moves your strategy forward. Because in the end, it’s not about more metrics. It’s about making every decision sharper, faster, and more evidence-driven.