MSLs and KOL Management
Physician Education Key Opinion Leaders, Medical Science Liaisons, & CME
It’s a new era for pharmaceutical company support of physician education. New guidelines and regulations from various governmental and non-governmental regulatory bodies have come into play during the past few years. The second event defining this new era was the withdrawal of Vioxx from the market in 2004 and the subsequent re-emergence of the importance of physicians as “learned intermediaries.”
More than ever, it is important to educate physicians about new drugs and to keep this education separate from the marketing function of the company yet aligned with commercial goals.
This Special Supplement to Pharma Markeing News is critical reading for pharmaceutical companies and physician education service providers wishing to understand the new roles of key opinion leader physicians (KOLs) and medical science liaisons (MSLs) in the physician education process.
approx. 27 pages.
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Reprint List Capturing & Reporting HCP-Related Meeting Spending
Let the Sunshine In
Life Science companies are struggling to understand the complex reporting requirements and compliance issues presented by existing and new regulations like the Sunshine Act. This article is a summary of a Webinar by StarCite, which defined what pharma marketers and meeting planners need to know when it comes to meetings-related HCP reporting.
The Changing World of MSLs: Determining Value
This article is an edited transcript of the May 2006, Pharma Marketing Roundtable discussion, which was devoted to exploring issues surrounding the new roles of medical science liaisons (MSLs) and key opinion leader physicians (KOLs) in physician education and product marketing.
Developing Win-Win Key Opinion Leader Relationships
This article features results from research by Cutting Edge Information, a pharmaceutical business intelligence firm in Durham, North Carolina. Cutting Edge studied winning practices in thought leader management and has worked closely with more than a dozen KOL management executives from industry leaders, such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.
Managing Medical Science Liaisons From Afar
Managing a winning team of Medical Liaisons, MLs, from afar, not only demands proper selection of highly driven, self-motivated and scientifically-fluent professionals, but also requires a manager’s recognition and vision of ‘top-down-bottom-up’ leadership style: consistent, rapid long distance communication, a team-shared vision of goals and responsibilities, and a working foundation of trust for overall success and ML job satisfaction. This article reviews a presentation made by Mario Sylvestri, Pharm.D, PhD, Senior Director Medical Informatics and Communications, Amylin Pharmaceuticals.
Medical Science Liaisons: Working between Two Worlds
Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) have assumed a pivotal role interfacing between pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and the opinion and thought leaders (OTLs) who influence how medicine is routinely practiced. This article highlights how MSLs can maximize their unique position to help improve medical care while they enhance their companies’ bottom lines.
Motivating & Retaining The MSL: What Makes MSLs Tick
In addition to her clinical and professional role as an experienced and successful MSL for Sepracor in the Indianapolis, IN area, Erin Albert, R.Ph, MBA, has spent a considerable amount of time researching and gathering psychometric data about her peers’ job satisfaction in their current MSL roles.
MSL Role in Educational Development
This article reviews a presentation by Bob Reina, MS, MBA, Vice President of the Veritas Institute for Medical Education, and Sharon Schneider, PsyD, MBA, Program Director, Medical Education, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals Inc., entitled “Field Liaisons Team Effectiveness, The Role of the MSL in the Medical Education Setting.”
MSL Roles & Goals
MSLs Need Variety of Talents
Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) today face unprecedented challenges in developing and managing strong clinically-focused relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs). Many presenters at a recent CBI Annual Forum on Field-Based Dissemination of Scientific Information held in Philadelphia spoke candidly and openly about these challenges and how they are being met by the industry.
This article summarizes several presentations made at this meeting.
Topics covered include:
- Necessary Tools: Structure, Tracking, and Partnering
- MSLs Need Variety of Talents
- How MSLs Support R&D
- Contrasts between MSLs and Sales Representatives
- Handling Unsolicited Requests by HCPs
Pharma, Physicians, and Sermo: A Social Media Win-Win-Win!
A Social Media Win-Win-Win!
This article provides an overview of Sermo’s new Client Center and summarizes a Pharma Marketing Talk podcast interview of with Daniel Palestrant, Sermo’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
Pharma-Sponsored Medical Ghostwriting: What the Ghosts Have to Say About It
What the Ghosts Have to Say About It
Pharma Marketing News surveyed readers to determine if medical journal articles sponsored and ghostwritten by drug companies are a legitimate part of marketing to physicians and to get opinions on various other issues raised in the press about ghostwriting.
PhRMA Code Helps Re-define Roles of Medical Affairs and Marketing
This article discusses marketing to physicians in light of the industry self-regulatory Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals as well as the final OIG Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers.
Physician-Generated Content on Social Media Sites
Survey of DocCheck Members
This article highlights results of a survey of physician members of DocCheck, a leading European physician online social network and portal site. The survey assessed the type of networks used, the frequency of posting, motivation for posting, estimation of network usage, relevance of content posted and an evaluation of the importance of online physician-generated content in the future.
Physician Meetings
Education Works Both Ways
This article reviews the physician meeting logistics and planning capabilities of Alliance Communications, which has worked with pharma companies and key opinion leaders since 1987.
Physician Participation in Peer-to-Peer Social Media Sites
This article summaries research data exploring why physicians interested in using online peer-to-peer social communities outnumber by 2 to 1 physicians who are actually using them. Includes suggestions for what these communities must do in order to provide more value to physicians.
Thought-Leader Management: A Challenge Met
Pharmaceutical companies are continually working to establish and maintain relationships with thought leaders — influential physicians who play an important role in communicating a new therapy’s benefits for other physicians. Thought Leaders — also known as Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs — help pharmaceutical companies identify unmet medical needs, shape clinical studies, launch products and understand critical lifecycle issues.
However, across the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, thought leader management programs have not been as effective as internal management would like, particularly in the age of the Internet, when the dissemination of information should be easier than ever, according to John Estafanous, President of Bethesda, Maryland-based Estco Medical.
This article reviews Medigent® Thought Leader, a Web-based software suite designed to dramatically improve a pharma company’s communications with Key Opinion Leaders
Turning Science into Sales: Tips for Communicating Clinical Trial Results
Healthcare marketers are rewarded for increasing product revenue. However, product managers often miss a golden opportunity to drive product sales: they neglect to communicate clinical trial results properly and consequently fail to capitalize on completed medical research.
This article highlights how to effectively communicate scientific evidence in order to realize the full medical and commercial value of your brand and to maximize sales.
Understanding the Strategic Value of MSLs
Strategically Envisioned, Yet Tactically Measured
This article by contributing author Neil Gray, examines why the industrys current use of tactical value measures for MSLs might ultimately prove limiting by positioning MSLs inappropriately and inhibiting their broader involvement in organizational and stakeholder problem-solving.
The author examines how tomorrow’s MSL might be employed by Pharma and discusses the strategic movement of MSLs into the competitive intelligence space, teaching roles, strategic input to and evaluation of portfolio development, and investor relations.
Topics and issues covered include:
- Difficult Times Lie Ahead
- Numerous Stakeholder Challenges
- What Do KOLs Want?
- Moving From Science Discussants to Knowledge Directors
- What the Future May Hold
