Quantitative Pain Management Customer Discovery Program

Abstract Chronic pain management is a source of significant frustration for both patients and providersin part due to the reliance on patient self report as the sole means of pain measurementPain is a subjective experience with sensoryemotionaland cognitive dimensions that are influenced by a myriad of factorsincluding geneticsagesexculturepersonalityand personal historyYet current point of care pain assessment methods are almost entirely qualitative and one dimensionalThis 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 strategyArbor Medical Innovations was successful in obtaining an NIH Phase I SBIR award to develop a sensory assessment technologywhich will be validated in collaboration with the University of Michiganthat provides quantitative and physiologically grounded pain assessmentsHoweverfor effective commercialization our team needs to identify the ideal initial customerbe able to determine who the usersbuyers and payers are and understand the value the technology brings to each of these groupsThe NIH I Corps program will allow us to interview overkey stakeholders within the chronic pain care ecosystem in order to determine this vital information that can be used to optimize our commercialization strategyBased on these findingsour 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 Narrative Chronic pain management is a source of significant frustration for both patients and providersin part due to the reliance on patient self report as the sole means of pain measurementWe are developing a system able to provide quantitative pain assessmentsThe NIH I Corps program will assist us in discovering the ideal customer segment we should target and what our true value is to those customers