The Changing Role of Medical Affairs
Medical Affairs teams continue to do what they’ve always done. They are subject-matter experts and guardians of emerging data who provide reliable peer-to-peer education to their fellow healthcare professionals. In a sense, they have traditionally played the role of archivist. They have acted as a go-to source of comprehensive knowledge in their particular areas of focus. But today, medical affairs professionals are expected to be more than repositories of knowledge or keepers of the archives. Increasingly, they are assuming the important roles of contextualists, essentialists, democratists, and empathists.
1. CONTEXTUALISTS
Medical Affairs teams are transforming themselves from the owners of scientific data, into the contextualists of the complex science behind new treatments.
Understanding the human context ensures that medical innovation is framed appropriately with respect to patient needs, perceptions, and attitudes. In doing so, Medical Affairs responds to the imperative to put patient centricity at the core of the biopharma business (1). However, human insight can also come from any stakeholder. All have hopes and fears that directly impact therapy adoption, rejection or discontinuation.
Understanding the value context ensures biopharma’s products have the best chance of becoming an option for patients who need them. (2)
In today’s multi-stakeholder, data-driven yet data-deluged, value-based healthcare landscape, integrating scientific, human and value insights into the medical story places medical innovation in a real, thinking, feeling, outcomes-focused world.
2. ESSENTIALISTS
75 new randomized controlled trials and 11 systematic reviews are published per day (3).
Research shows that the expert mind can address a maximum of between five and nine factors when making a clinical decision, yet most areas of practice require that clinicians address many more than nine factors in diagnosing and treating patients (3).
To compete for share of mind and resources in 2022, Medical Affairs teams are transforming themselves into essentialists and asking: What are the most essential concepts every stakeholder needs to grasp about this disease or therapy for success?
3. DEMOCRATISTS
The scientific dialogue was once mostly peer-to-peer. In today’s democratized healthcare world, it needs to be peer-to-peer, peer-to-patient, peer-to-health system and everything in between.
Medical Affairs must personalize the story to each stakeholder, meeting their information needs, across a range of touchpoints that will be increasingly digital. A recent survey has shown three in five patients use message boards and health-based online communities to learn more about their condition and the experiences of other patients (4).
70% of HCPs are now digital natives and would like more digital engagement (5). In industries such as telecoms, companies think about how they will engage digitally with customers throughout their entire relationship, from first contact, through acquisition, on-boarding, follow-up and retention. HCP and patient digital engagement should take this longer-term customer-journey-based approach too.
4. EMPATHISTS
77% of patients want the biopharma industry to make it easier to learn about clinical trials (4).
Medical Affairs used to be a support function in pharma. A critical aspect of their role now is to bring back the patient perspective to biopharma companies. As patients continue to assert themselves as medical decision-makers and in the US, control ~60% of healthcare spending (6), Medical Affairs teams are exercising their powers as empathists and asking, not just what data are compelling to HCPs, but what data are compelling to the patients themselves.
This is a good time for Medical Affairs professionals. It’s a challenging time, but also a rewarding one. By embracing their expanding roles, Medical Affairs teams are increasing their relevance and value to the stakeholders they worth with—and to the organizations they work for.
References:
1. Stairs L, de Bruin A, Maloney D, Howell P, Schneider R, Valentino L. Beyond Patient Centricity: True Patient Partnership in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Medical Affairs Professionals Society, 2020.https://medicalaffairs.org/elevate/beyond-patient-centricity/. Accessed January 2022.
2. McKinsey & Company. A Vision for Medical Affairs in 2025. April 2019. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/a-vision-for-medical-affairs-in-2025. Accessed January 2022.
3. James B, Lasalvia L, Merges R. Five steps every hospital CEO should start today: A white paper on ‘Reduce unwarranted variations’. https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/en-us/insights/news/insights-series-1.html. Accessed January 2022.
4. Wahlstrom-Edwards L, Hess A. The Patient Perspective on Clinical Trials. Applied Clinical Trials-03-01-2019, Volume 28, Issue 3. https://www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com/view/patient-perspective-clinical-trials . Accessed January 2022.
5. Veeva. Intelligent HCP Engagement in Europe, 2018. https://www.veeva.com/eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/VE172-Across-Health-Remote-Engagement-WP-Redesign.pdf. Accessed January 2022.
6. https://hbr.org/sponsored/2019/01/why-improving-the-patient-experience-is-vital-for-the-health-care-industry-and-how-to-do-it. Accessed January 2022.
