As trusted subject matter experts, Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) play a central role in capturing and disseminating insights to external and internal stakeholders. However, even amid the digital transformation of Medical Affairs, there are heavy manual burdens to bear. Presently, there are more heterogeneous sources, where insights are collected across teams in many different formats, from field medical to the advisory board to medical information, generating more medical insights than ever before. They are intertwined in workflows that represent months of valuable time and expertise.
As such, a growing number of Medical Affairs teams are reexamining their insights management process. One key metric that has been underscored is the length of time it takes to complete the insights cycle, or the timeframe between observation and action – the insight ‘half-life’. Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Global Medical Affairs OBG at Eisai and Co-founder of the Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS) Kirk Shepard detailed his approach to speeding up the insights cycle in a recent webinar hosted by Sorcero. He advised, “Get together with leadership or your team to show that circle and how long it took for an insight to come in and how long it took for that to be made into an actual decision. The decay of insight can happen very quickly, and that’s a tragedy when you see something deteriorate.” If this process is not optimized, it opens up the potential for data silos, delayed responses, and gaps between Medical Affairs’ efforts and patients’ needs.
New innovations, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) augmented analytics, are accelerating the insights cycle and taking charge of the modern data deluge. In working with global pharmaceutical and biotech enterprises, Sorcero has found that one of the most effective ways to accelerate medical insights management is to arm Medical Affairs with an omnichannel view that enables teams to track and analyze content across diverse and divergent sources. Centralizing this information has been shown to uncover 300% more insights in real-time, reducing the time to surface key findings from months to hours. Whether it is content from literature, CRM notes, or social media, AI enrichment provides Medical Affairs with a data hub that can automatically generate customized reports to share internally or with health care providers (HCPs) and key opinion leaders (KOLs).
Rather than spending manual hours gathering and sorting through spreadsheets and field notes, Medical Affairs is adapting its strategic focus based on real-time data and evidence, extending beyond the quantitative into the qualitative. For example, with AI-augmented insight, teams can not only evaluate the number of reactive versus proactive conversations but also assess the topics of discussion in context. What topics are arising most often amongst KOLs and HCPs? What do they care about? What is bringing them together? How does it impact the patient? Utilizing a comprehensive visual overview of the landscape enables teams to dive into any of these areas with a better perspective of the priorities of patients and providers, delivering the medical voice of the customer (MVoC).
Streamlining the process also reduces dependencies on multiple channels and brings levels of the organization together to drive strategy and create impact. By reducing manual steps and accelerating the medical insights cycle, data-backed decisions can be formed in minutes– with more context and reduced risk of bias. Omnichannel AI analytics also provide direct links between clinical results and patient outcomes. AI-powered capabilities, such as auto-summarization, sentiment validation, and tracking by HCP roles, drug agents, disease state, product, specialty, region, and strategic imperative, empower an agile approach to the insights cycle and enable Medical Affairs to focus their efforts where they can drive the most impact.
When it comes to advancing a more strategic approach to insights, Shauna Aherne, President of MedEvoke, emphasized in Sorcero’s recent webinar, “Ultimately, it is about putting the power in the hands of Medical Affairs. It’s about taking the enormous amount of data and information that exists in the space and giving Medical Affairs the tools to monitor and analyze it within the larger scope of their strategy.” One major component of designing a successful strategy often comes down to positioning AI-augmented insights as a companion to Medical Affairs.
However, AI does not eliminate the need for expertise. In fact, it frees up critical medical expertise from manual data review to provide oversight of this data. When partnering with AI-augmented insight, the value of Medical Affairs’ expertise is just as important as ever. The difference is, that now, Medical Affairs can make more data-driven decisions that reach patients in far less time.
Each day across the life sciences, experts are overcome with new data. There is a huge opportunity for artificial intelligence to help harness this data. If AI can deliver the right data and insights, at the right moment, it can ultimately transform how scientific and clinical data is delivered to improve patient care and outcomes.
Author:
Richard Graves
Richard Graves is an awarded entrepreneur scaling sustainable solutions to address global challenges. As CCO and Co-founder of Sorcero, Richard partners with multinational life sciences enterprises and technology leaders to deliver clarity through advanced analytics that improves scientific engagement and patient health outcomes. He cofounded Sorcero to accelerate the diffusion of medical innovation and breakthrough therapies and transform how medical science and data can inform treatment through groundbreaking advances in AI solutions. Prior to Sorcero, Richard was CIO and Co-founder of CleanChoice Energy, a data science-driven startup that grew into the largest 100% renewable energy supplier in the U.S. and a Deloitte Fast 500 and Inc. 500 awardee. He has also served as Technical Advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy’s $200 million SunShot funding program and Senior Advisor to Village Capital.
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