Key Topic 1: Market Research - Subtopic 3: Blinding
Market research may be blinded or unblinded. Click on each for key considerations:
Blinded
AZ cannot track responses back to individuals and cannot track prescribing or product usage.
Unblinded
AZ knows the names of the participants. In this case the same principles apply as to blinded market research. However in this case the process for engaging health professionals needs to be followed. You also need to consider transparency and disclosure requirements.
When conducting research with patients, only aggregated patient data should be used (>10, minimum 5) and there should be no access by the company to patient records. This ensures that patient identity is protected and distinguishes the market research from a ‘real world study’.
