After a new treatment approval or guideline update, life sciences leaders need to understand how care may be changing. However, while traditional claims data represents what was submitted for payer coverage, it may not reflect the actual clinical decisions being made at the point of care. Combined with prescription data, claims can reveal what happened, but often only after meaningful clinical activity – such as patient visits – has already begun.
For pharmaceutical organizations making decisions about education, market access, and commercial strategy, that delay can mean missed opportunities to understand and respond to an evolving market.
IgA nephropathy (IgAN), a kidney disease, offers a useful example. Recent changes in its diagnosis coding, treatments, and management guidelines show how clinical terminology can add context to traditional life sciences market intelligence.
What clinical language adds to market intelligence
The data in Figure 1 shows significant monthly changes in IgAN-related terminology activity in EHRs across the U.S. over a two-year period covering mid-2024 through early 2026. The data comes from IMO Clinician Activity Signals, IMO Health’s solution for tracking activity changes across diseases, treatments, symptoms, and other clinically relevant concepts. It helps life sciences teams pinpoint market shifts earlier, giving them a more timely view of changes that may not yet be available in traditional downstream data sources.
Figure 2, which depicts a zoomed-in subsection of Figure 1, shows an increase in signal activity beginning in the spring of 2025 – exactly when the FDA granted accelerated approval to atrasentan (Vanrafia) for IgAN treatment.
In September 2025, the organization Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) issued a dedicated IgAN and IgA vasculitis guideline, updating the IgAN chapter of its 2021 guideline. Clinician activity continued to increase throughout the remainder of the year.
While these observations do not establish causal relationships between events and terminology usage, their timing gives analysts a starting point for further examination long before these patterns become clear and available elsewhere.
How emerging signals can aid strategic decisions
Recognizing a shift in clinician activity is only the beginning. The real value comes from a faster understanding of where changes are occurring, how they relate to broader market developments, and what actions they might inform.
For a rapidly evolving disease like IgAN, earlier intelligence can support decisions across the pharmaceutical organization.
Medical affairs can compare terminology trends before and after a new guideline release, scientific meeting, publication, or education program. Which terms gained attention? Did activity vary by location? Are clinicians paying more attention to disease subtypes? The answers can help teams identify topics to discuss with clinicians and inform where to investigate and invest in education needs.
Market access can compare terminology activity with payer coverage and local access data. Regional differences may reveal access barriers or other market dynamics worth exploring.
Commercial can compare clinician activity with claims and prescription data when considering regional campaigns, field deployment, or market events. For field force optimization, geographic shifts in clinician activity can help teams assess which territories may warrant closer attention and where to focus field resources, while still factoring in existing prescribing patterns and access conditions.
A rise in clinical terminology activity alongside flat claims, for example, could prompt analysts to examine conditions like timing, coding, and access. If both sources rise, teams can evaluate what might explain the overlap and whether a specific campaign played a role.
Turning clinical terminology patterns into testable questions
Understanding what has happened in the therapeutic market is essential. Recognizing what’s beginning to change can be just as valuable.
Claims and prescription data remain critical to understanding diagnoses, treatment patterns, and market performance. But emerging clinician activity adds an earlier perspective, helping life sciences organizations recognize changing clinical attention, investigate market developments, and make more informed decisions.
