Quantitative Pain Management Customer Discovery Program

Arbor Medical Innovations, Llc, Ypsilanti MI

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Abstract Chronic pain management is a source of significant frustration for both patients and providers, in-part due to the reliance on patient self-report as the sole means of pain measurement. Pain is a subjective experience with sensory, emotional, and cognitive dimensions that are influenced by a myriad of factors, including genetics, age, sex, culture, personality, and personal history. Yet current point-of-care pain assessment methods are almost entirely qualitative and one dimensional. This makes it difficult to monitor pain over time with a patient and compare their trends to other groups of patients in order to make informed treatment decisions or justify a continued strategy. Arbor Medical Innovations was successful in obtaining an NIH Phase I SBIR award to develop a sensory assessment technology, which will be validated in collaboration with the University of Michigan, that provides quantitative and physiologically-grounded pain assessments. However, for effective commercialization our team needs to identify the ideal initial customer, be able to determine who the users, buyers and payers are and understand the value the technology brings to each of these groups. The NIH I-Corps program will allow us to interview over 100 key stakeholders within the chronic pain care ecosystem in order to determine this vital information that can be used to optimize our commercialization strategy. Based on these findings, our team is willing and able to adapt our strategy based on the lessons learned to guide our future product development efforts in order to realize the ideal minimal viable product that will provide the value these customers require to meet their needs.