Hello, my fellow Medical Affairs Colleagues! Welcome to another edition of The MSL Journal!  This one is jam-packed with valuable information and I am so glad that you’re back to read on as our community continues to contribute such worthy topics!   In particular, this edition is focused on how MSLs and managers can up their […]Continue Reading

The primary purpose of the Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) role is to provide value to Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), in part, through the exchange of scientific information. In fact, the success of every MSL is based on their ability to add value to the KOLs they support! However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial […]Continue Reading

An MSL can have a significant impact on a brand’s ultimate adoption, yet this value can often be overlooked or misunderstood. Such lack of recognition often results in creating an MSL without sufficient motivation to continue the job – a clear waste of what should be a valuable resource to the organization. To elevate their […]Continue Reading

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has brought profound changes in several fields. These changes mainly impacted professionals performing duties that involve relationships in the field with other people, such as Medical Science Liaisons or MSLs. These professionals were challenged to quickly adapt to the “new normal,” but are these changes here to stay? A survey of […]Continue Reading

There is a seemingly vast chasm dividing the biotech/pharma industry from patients, health care providers, and healthcare administrators. Medical Science Liaisons exist specifically to bridge the divide and provide more clarity and unity among all stakeholders. When reflecting on the indispensable role of the medical affairs professional much of the focus is rightfully affixed to […]Continue Reading

While pursuing my Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, I used the opportunity of class projects to explore how I could elevate my value as an MSL by integrating learnings from my coursework.  In May 2021, I completed my MBA in the Professional Flex […]Continue Reading

The cornerstone of the Medical Science Liaison role is RELATIONSHIP BUILDING. In a nutshell, better engagement equates to better relationships. The purpose of this article is to address the importance of proper business etiquette and the impact of social awareness and emotional intelligence as it relates to the MSL, as well as any customer-facing professional. […]Continue Reading

Mentors have always played an important part in breaking into the MSL role as well as helping MSLs to advance their careers further. We interviewed 8 mentors and 7 mentees about their experience with the MSL Society Mentor Program 2021 to showcase the value that a mentor program could bring to your career. 1. Why […]Continue Reading

The COVID19 pandemic has impacted the MSL role and how they interact with KOLs. However, even in this dire situation, 53% of KOLs still consider face-to-face engagement with MSLs very important. Therefore, it is vital to effectively promote this engagement in an adapted way. The MSLs and the KOLs have to adapt to this novel […]Continue Reading

Introduction The emerging role of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is indisputable.[1,2] While many larger pharmaceutical companies have teams in pharmacovigilance or marketing that monitor, collect, and draw meaningful conclusions from big data (extremely large datasets), medical affairs and field medical professionals should not shy away from […]Continue Reading

The radiography of the role of a Scientific Liaison Physician was based in times ago on the one-to-one interactions that this professional had with the stakeholders, sharing relevant scientific information, new scientific data, updates from congresses, and academic activities, among others. Currently, a value proposition of the Scientific Liaison Physicians is aimed at developing several […]Continue Reading

Field Medical/MSL Management, particularly in Europe, more often abandon the concept of “KOL Influence Networks”. The negative connotation of the term “Influence” and the practical challenges in determining “Influence” ( e.g. asking MSLs to fill CRM data fields with information on who is influencing whom, etc.) have always been pain points in the global “KOL […]Continue Reading

Ever wonder where an MSL career may lead? Read on for my interview with Dr. Ann McPherson, PhD, Country Medical Lead for Rare Diseases at Takeda Canada. Many years ago, before I became an MSL, I had a moment of hesitation as I noticed that the higher-level positions in medical affairs were held by people […]Continue Reading

Advisory boards have long been recognized as a crucial component of the life sciences landscape and have been delivered almost exclusively in a traditional format, involving the face-to-face participation of the medical industry’s most sought-after opinion leaders. The travel and social distancing restrictions imposed as a consequence of COVID19 forced the Industry to pivot from […]Continue Reading

The way we communicate with others has evolved tremendously in the last few years, with digital channels, and in particular social media, becoming more and more prominent in our daily lives. Many industries, such as retail, are already harvesting the power of digitalization to gather insights from customers and share content. We see a similar […]Continue Reading

For decades, pharmaceutical firms have tried using different types of promotions to affect physicians prescribing behavior. This led to misconceptions related to pharmaceutical marketing practices and induced the need to unveil the true meaning of pharmaceutical marketing. Pharmaceutical marketing, as a sub-branch of marketing, evolved over the years from a more product-oriented strategy to a […]Continue Reading

I’m always amazed at how well nature mimics our everyday lives. We live in a world where everything is so automated that we forget we’re innately organic. Our very being is rooted in our ability to influence the environment and create a positive impact. Showing up authentically as trusted medical affairs professionals and scientific partners […]Continue Reading

EMA and FDA define Real-World Evidence (RWE) as the information derived from the analysis of Real-World Data (RWD) about a medicinal product. RWD includes the data relating to a patient’s health status or the delivery of health care collected from various sources. These sources exclude traditional clinical trials, although FDA considers that hybrid or pragmatic […]Continue Reading

In the Pharma Industry, one of the critical functions Medical Liaisons are responsible for is distilling and interpreting scientific data and communicating it to a broad audience of healthcare practitioners. Whether key opinion leaders (KOLs), payers, or policymakers, the ultimate goal is to communicate effectively to ultimately improve patient care; no one does that better! […]Continue Reading

My journey as a Medical Science Liaison began a little over a year ago. Yes, you read that correctly. I completely changed my career during a pandemic. I was leaving the comfort of a position where I was an expert who directly managed home parenteral nutrition patients for a new career within the pharmaceutical industry. […]Continue Reading

CTIS go-live is just around the corner. The new portal brings a new approach to clinical trials in the European Union: digitalization, improved efficiency, increased transparency, enhanced patient safety… and a huge adaptation process for sponsors and researchers. A lot of work is to be done right away! The European clinical trial scenario is about […]Continue Reading

Employee mobility is high in the pharmaceutical industry, and Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) frequently move between companies to advance their career prospects. The core competencies of the MSL role (namely, to be a therapeutic area (TA) expert and to develop peer-to-peer relationships with the Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in that TA) are highly specialized, so […]Continue Reading