A new age requires new heroes. And the post-pandemic era is where medical affairs teams can inscribe their potency in pharmaceutical folklore.

They possess the scientific knowledge and clinical understanding that, combined with digital capabilities and trends, forms an alchemy to turn base information into golden returns.

Medical affairs is rapidly moving from a traditional support role to a leading force that champions science and translates it across a nuanced spectrum to meet customer demands. Its role is vital in synchronising the research and commercial sides of the business, and it is expanding to respond to the unmet needs of patients and deliver value to healthcare systems.

Industry is investing heavily in digital channels to meet healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) desires for less face-to-face engagement and sales force numbers are being reduced in favour of medical science liaisons (MSLs); a clear indication came from Pfizer when it announced the cull of hundreds of sales reps jobs in January but pledged to move at least half of them to new roles with stronger potential connections to clinicians.

Gloom about restricted time with HCPs can be lifted by medical affairs’ ability to build more dynamic engagements that tune to the fluctuating rhythms of clinicians, patients and payers’ requirements.

“Medical affairs will have a bigger and better-defined role going forward,” said Caron Kennedy, a director at agency Sciterion, part of the Havas Health & You network. “They need to be further recognised as an integral part of the pharma teams because they can have a lot of impact.

“One of the first things a company can do is to acknowledge that medical affairs teams are experts. They have relationships with key opinion leaders and clinical experts; they understand the data and the clinical environment.

“They are an intelligent group of experts that really understands the potential of a new product for both HCPs and patients.”

Sciterion, a leader in medical communications, offering expertise in medical education, scientific events and patient and expert engagement, aims to drive excellence in medical communications, collaborating with pharma teams, including medical affairs.

A report from analysts McKinsey, A vision for medical affairs in 2025, predicts that medical affairs will become one of the ‘strategic, primary pillars’, with seats at the top table in organisations. It advocates for the sector to be retooled to prosper from the potential of digital, AI, real-world evidence and greater public engagement in healthcare.

The report concludes that it can unlock value internally and externally.

It is a view shared by Kennedy, who sees many companies becoming even stronger by unleashing the talents of their medical affairs teams. “They are an asset so don’t be shy about using them,” she urged. “They are an untapped resource in many companies. In addition to establishing relationships with clinical experts and positioning and maximising data, they can also assist with in-house educational workshops. Their knowledge across disease areas is available and valuable.
“They understand the value of data.

“It’s about way more than safety and efficacy data and what the label will say, it’s the rationale and understanding of unmet patient needs and clinical practice concerns. It’s about the important questions such as which patients will be eligible, how many and how will this be implemented at a clinical level?”

Companies were boosting medical affairs departments and MSL teams pre-pandemic but there is now an added urgency to capitalise on their core skills.
“We see good and bad practice across small and large companies,” added Kennedy. “It is often down to personalities in the teams leading a greater presence for medical affairs.

“It is clear though that not using them effectively can lead to disjointed communications with opinion leaders which can kill potential advocates up front. Medical affairs should own these relationships to stop experts getting attacked from different departments at the company, which annoys product advocates as well.
“You have to utilise your data to its fullest extent, so not helping your audience understand the data ultimately means less impact at a clinical level. It can have serious ramifications for market sales and patient outcomes.”

David Williams, Chief Medical Officer at healthtech agency VISFO, whose career spans frontline medicine to strategic roles in major pharma companies, believes industry needs to reimagine the future to take full advantage of the power of medical affairs departments.

Instead of complicated structures and long processes, a new, streamlined and agile approach will help medical affairs teams to disseminate their data faster and in a way that suits HCPs.

“Medical affairs teams have the potential to connect on many levels and spread their knowledge, making them a powerful team within any organisation. But if they are not empowered to create an insightful dialogue with HCPs and ask probing questions such as ‘what is your biggest challenge?’ or ‘what can we do for you?’ rather than reading from a script, conversations will stagnate.

“Knowledge used to change every 25 years. Now it is every 12 hours and getting faster, so you need people who can make decisions in the field without being tied to processes and presentations.”

VISFO, which specialises in generating insights from granular patient data and mapping scientific KOLs, is at the forefront of creating effective use of data and information to transform care.

“We speak to medical affairs leaders and the fundamental areas that need to change are the approval processes and the structure of how MSLs are used,” added Williams. “There is an appreciation now that science is more important and, given the access restrictions from the pandemic, it will become even more so.

“Pfizer decided to release sales reps recently because they were getting less access and not generating value and, in their place, they are investing in MSLs because they can get more time with KOLs and clinicians.

“If you are an HCP on a really busy day and have two calls coming in, you are going to pick up the one from the person who can help you rather than the person who wants to sell to you. You have to deliver the science and demonstrate the data to the individual writing the prescription to convince them they are doing the right thing based on evidence.

“We look at what is happening in a therapy area first rather than an approach of how a client can sell more,” said Williams. “We dive into the scientific evidence because we are medics and scientists, and we try to find a strategy to solve a problem that is acceptable in terms of evidence.

‘Instead of complicated structures and long processes, a new, streamlined and agile approach will help medical affairs teams to disseminate their data faster’

“If a client comes back and says ‘but we just want to sell more’, the answer is that the only way you do that is by identifying the evidence first. You have to prove your solution is useful; you can’t just tell them. Ultimately, you want the HCP to understand the patient and understand that the product, intervention or operation is the best for those patients.”

Williams reveals that 50% of scientific conversations are now held across social media platforms. “It is no longer about writing a clinical paper,” he said. “It’s about doing that plus having a symposium and a Twitter conversation.

“Companies need to be more agile and, in a fierce, competitive environment, you need better trained, more knowledgeable people at the coalface who can communicate in a variety of ways. There will always be a place for face-to-face meetings between MSLs and HCPs but there is also increased demand for virtual engagements. By their very nature, these two types of appointments will require different approaches, different presentations and knowledge.

“By knowledge, I mean intelligence and insights that are geared to making each interaction as effective as possible by understanding the wants and needs of that HCP and the environment in which they work. Agile, responsive MSLs who can deliver the science via any channel, will be the ones to succeed.”

Danny Buckland is a journalist specialising in the healthcare industry