The digital transformation of medical affairs through artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving field with significant potential to reshape the pharmaceutical and MedTech industries. AI is moving beyond tactical use cases and becoming a crucial part of medical affairs strategy and operations. It enables medical affairs to transform its role, becoming more strategic, data-driven, and patient-focused. By leveraging AI’s capabilities, medical affairs can improve efficiency, gain deeper insights, and ultimately contribute to better patient care and business results.
The burgeoning interest in AI applications was demonstrated at the recent 13th Annual Medical Science Liaison Society meeting, where over 50 medical science liaisons (MSLs) gathered for a didactic and hands-on workshop to explore and share best practices in artificial intelligence use cases. Guided by Kolb’s four stages of experiential learning, the workshop highlighted reflections across concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. With an emphasis on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) modeling and its capacity to create text, images, videos, audio, software code, and other data types, the group of MSLs identified AI-enabled opportunities in a) medical affairs strategy, b) communications, c) field insights, d) evidence generation, and e) stakeholder engagement.
- Medical Affairs Strategy: When defining and shaping medical strategy and strategic decision-making, AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a strategic partner. AI enables dynamic strategy refinement by assessing the impact of medical affairs activities and suggesting real-time tactical adjustments. AI-powered solutions are transforming key opinion leader (KOL) engagement by streamlining KOL identification, forecasting impact, and personalizing engagement strategies. Thanks to real-time KOL intelligence tools, the days of slow, manual searches for KOL details across clinicaltrials.gov, PubMed, academic medical center faculty websites, clinical guideline writing committees, and appropriate use criteria (AUC) authors are gone.
- Communications and Content Development: GenAI solutions can help save time on routine tasks, allowing teams to focus more on higher-impact activities. Digital tools can assist in managing incoming Medical Information queries by generating content tailored to their complexity, urgency, and context. For more complex inquiries, AI can prepare detailed initial responses or summaries, which are then forwarded to specialists for review. New solutions can also analyze incoming queries to identify recurring themes, enabling the development of targeted FAQs, standard response letters, or educational materials. AI may also curate educational content and communications based on audience preferences and behavior.
- Field Insights: One of the most valuable initiatives performed by MSLs is the gathering, synthesis, collation, and sharing of actionable insights captured during scientific exchange with health care professionals, thought leaders, and industry experts. AI-enhanced insight methods can act as insight sorters and amplifiers, detect emerging trends and KOL sentiments, and both automate and customize reporting. Reports enriched with actionable next steps and useful visualizations turn raw data into strategic outputs. GenAI offers a revolutionary opportunity to distribute insights compliantly and on a broader scale.
- Evidence Generation: MSLs play a key role in gathering real-world evidence, addressing scientific and knowledge gaps, enabling clinical differentiation, and supporting investigator-sponsored research. AI-powered evidence generation helps identify knowledge gaps and unmet needs among KOLs and patients, guiding research initiatives, content creation, and engagement plans. The extensive computing capabilities of AI can quickly analyze patient data, clinical trials, publications, and more to uncover crucial insights, monitor adverse events, and provide data-driven advice to healthcare professionals.
- Stakeholder Engagement: GenAI can act as a coordinator for cross-functional communication, improving and clearly conveying synthesized data to internal stakeholders. AI-enabled multichannel and omnichannel communications may enhance internal stakeholder interactions and collaboration by quarterly sharing of field insights, intelligence gathered during advisory boards, emerging data from scientific congresses, and summaries of MSL activities as part of performance reviews with medical affairs leadership, among other things.
Despite the benefits and transformative potential of AI-driven tools, many issues must be considered and addressed, including data quality, ethics, compliance, and the risk of depersonalizing the MSL/KOL relationship. The black-box nature of AI algorithms can lead to inaccuracies in training data, which may cause biased outputs. Additionally, over-reliance on digital tools could diminish essential human elements, resulting in a dehumanized experience. Therefore, medical affairs teams must implement effective mitigation strategies, identify key risks, establish responsible AI principles, develop an AI governance model, and put a compliance policy framework into practice. To prevent dehumanization in the MSL/KOL relationship, it is crucial to prioritize strategies that incorporate an understanding of complex data and human qualities. This includes emotional intelligence, authenticity, compassion, empathy, active listening, social awareness, adaptability, and a focus on shared human experiences.
As illustrated during the recent MSL Society AI workshop, the future of AI-enabled medical affairs is indeed promising, thanks to the profession’s ability to manage ethical and compliance issues by strategically, deliberately, and systematically integrating digital tools as a forward-thinking partner.
About the author:
Dustin M. Dunham, DMSc, DC, MBA, FRSM, FRSPH, FACHDM
Dustin is a board-certified clinician and scientist, an executive MBA, and a Medical Affairs strategist with 20+ years of combined pharmaceutical, medical device, and clinical experience. Dustin serves as Head of Global Medical Services for GE HealthCare’s Pharmaceutical Diagnostics organization, providing leadership to the Medical Information function, Americas’ regional field medical teams, and diagnostic care pathways. Dustin is a Board Certified Medical Science Liaison, Board Certified Medical Affairs Specialist, Board Certified Biologics & Biosimilars Specialist, Board Certified Patient Advocate, Fellow of the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs, Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, and Fellow of the American College of Health Data Management.
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