AI Moderation in Pharma: IDIs with B2B Healthcare Experts in Days

Guest blog by Olga Radu, 17 September 2025

When a new pain relief product sees a slower-than-expected start, there’s no time to wait for traditional research cycles. For large OTC and personal care manufacturer, a global leader in consumer health, every day counted — especially with advertising already in full swing.

This case study explores how an OTC brand responded to early sales pressure with speed and precision. Using an AI-powered research tool yasna.ai, they engaged both consumers and the notoriously hard-to-reach pharmaceutical technical assistants (PTAs) in just 10 days — a timeline that would normally take at least six weeks.

The High-Stakes Reality of OTC Innovation

Launching a new over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare product has never been simple. The market is full of innovation, yet it’s also unforgiving. Consumers are experienced and well informed, expecting clear communication and proven value from the products they choose. Despite careful development and pre-launch preparation, only about half of all OTC launches make it to their second year.

On top of strong competition, pharmaceutical companies face strict regulations that leave very little room for changes after launch. Once a product is on the market, it’s difficult to adjust messaging or packaging — even small mistakes can have serious consequences. That’s why pharmaceutical companies always put a lot of effort into getting things right before launch.

The product: A New Kind of Pain Relief from a Trusted Brand

In early 2025, an OTC company launched a new pain relief pill developed under the existing brand. The product marked a significant innovation in OTC pain management, introducing a new active ingredient. The promise was compelling: a faster-acting, lower-dose alternative to a traditional product.

Everything had gone according to plan: the concept was validated, the packaging tested, and the communication campaign pre-evaluated. But once the product hit the market — even with a major TV campaign and strong branding — sales fell short of expectations. Something wasn’t connecting, and with the product already live, time was running out.

Traditional Options: Too Slow for the Moment

With pressure building, the company turned to its usual post-launch tools — field force feedback, brand tracking, and agency-led research. But each came with long lead times, often stretching into weeks. While effective in slower-moving contexts, they were simply too slow here. With marketing already live and a major TV campaign underway, every day without insight meant lost momentum.

The biggest gap was reaching PTAs — a key audience in the OTC space. These professionals strongly influence purchase decisions but are notoriously difficult to engage quickly through traditional research.

“Our client couldn’t wait six weeks,” said Olga Radu, Senior Client Success Manager at yasna.ai. “And PTAs — who are critical for them — are incredibly hard to engage at speed using conventional methods.”

Finding a Faster, Smarter Approach: AI-powered Conversational Research

That’s when the OTC brand considered an alternative approach — one that could reach both consumers and PTAs quickly and deliver the depth of feedback usually reserved for qualitative research. The solution came in the form of yasna.ai, an AI-powered research platform designed specifically for automating in-depth interviewing. The key selling point was that the client’s team could complete their task of interviewing both target groups with one supplier, even within one platform, and very fast.

AI-powered research offers something unique: the ability to conduct fluid, natural conversations with real people, at scale, without the need for live moderators or manual transcripts. It was, in effect, a human-like moderator that is never tired. The team had their concerns regarding how AI can speak with real people, especially professionals, but in the situation of limited resources decided to give it a try.

In under 10 business days, the full study had been launched and completed using Yasna. One hundred recent painkiller buyers and sixty-five PTAs were interviewed through AI, with a level of engagement and response quality that exceeded expectations.

The Results: From Hypotheses to Action in 10 Days

With both consumer and PTA interviews complete, the brand’s team quickly moved from hypotheses to insight — and, most importantly, to action.

First, the research confirmed that the TV campaign was working, but awareness among consumers was still quite low. The message landed — it just needed broader reach. They responded by increasing media presence.

Second, while PTAs found the sales materials clear and credible, the study revealed they still needed more education on the key ingredient and how it differs from standard one. The team reinforced its training efforts and added more touchpoints with pharmacists.

Finally, the main brand stretch was not an issue — both PTAs and consumers accepted the extension. The study didn’t reveal breakthrough insights on this point, but it gave the team something just as important: confidence.

The research confirmed the team was on the right track. The solution wasn’t to rethink the strategy, but to stay the course — with patience and stronger pharmacist education to support the product’s differentiation.

Reflections: Confidence in the Approach

Using AI interviewing for a high-stakes, time-sensitive launch was new territory — but it proved both effective and well-received. Respondents, especially PTAs, embraced the experience: Yasna achieved an 89% top-2 box approval rate and a very low dropout rate, with participants calling the interaction modern and surprisingly human.

According to Olga Radu, Senior Client Success Manager at yasna.ai, the conversational approach was effective in reaching PTAs. “They didn’t feel like they were taking a survey. They felt like they were having a real conversation. That changed everything — the depth, the openness, the quality.”

For the OTC brand, this was more than a one-off success. Initial doubts gave way to confidence, not only in Yasna’s speed but in its ability to engage expert audiences. The project showed that AI-powered interviewing isn’t just a backup for urgent cases — it’s a reliable tool for broader research use, even with professionals.

Conclusion: When Research Leads the Business

The decision to use conversational AI wasn’t made lightly. With tight timelines and high expectations, there were natural doubts. But the outcome made the value clear: the research didn’t just inform — it directly shaped key business decisions across marketing, sales, and brand.

The benefits were felt throughout the organization. Marketing teams moved faster and with more confidence. Sales teams gained sharper messaging and tools. The insights team stayed close to both consumer and PTA voices, while consumers received clearer, more relevant communication.

Beyond solving an immediate challenge, the project proved that AI-powered interviewing works not only under pressure but also with expert B2B audiences — a major shift. Running both target groups in parallel gave the OTC company a deeper, more complete view of the launch landscape.

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Olga Radu, Senior Client Success Manager, yasna.ai

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