We enjoyed our first joint webinar with PharmaMedic and Triducive of 2022. Our guest speakers, Dr Malcolm Barratt-Johnson (Managing Director of PharmaMedic) and Tim Warren (Managing Partner of Triducive) joined Nick Williams (Managing Partner of Triducive) for a discussion and interactive Q&A on the evolving and increasingly strategic role of medical affairs within pharma and life sciences businesses.
Our speakers explored the ‘coming of age’ of Medical Affairs. They offered a perspective for consideration and also provided some thoughts on approaches towards developing evidence that can have early and powerful impact.
We enjoyed talks from each of our speakers which set us up for a lively Q&A with questions from our audience of pharmaceutical professionals.
🗓 Thursday 28th April 2022
Key takeaways
Beyond the job bag – the strategic role of Medical Affairs in Pharma
Speaker: Dr Malcolm Barratt-Johnson
Dr Malcolm Barratt-Johnson discussed the role of a medical affairs team and how they can make a strategic impact to improve healthcare outcomes. Malcolm suggested that medical affairs teams have a growing and increasingly important role in leading a company’s overall strategy, focusing though on therapeutic choice opposed to product alone. To do this, medical affairs has to develop a greater set of leadership skills and a greater skill base.
Malcolm drew on his experience of working in the medical sector of pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies and raised some salient points around the role of medical affairs teams. They should be able to:
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Link scientific and clinical results to patient outcomes
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Gain insights that improve return on investment and create a strong competitive edge
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Gather feedback on the product’s market potential and patient need from the earliest stages of its development
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Add value during a product’s development and lifecycle
Potential role of Delphi-based studies for strategic impact
Speaker: Tim Warren
Tim Warren focused on generating evidence via the Delphi methodology. This recognised, scientific and structured approach can help medical affairs teams to communicate the application of complex science to stakeholders across markets. As healthcare is advancing quickly and there are new innovations creating some ambiguity in practice, expert opinion is increasingly necessary.
Delphi consensus is a recognised approach already applied regularly to healthcare situations and Triducive’s expertise amplifies the output to create further weight behind expert recommendations. The final output of a Triducive-led Delphi consensus is a peer reviewed manuscript (offering Level 4 evidence). Thus, this research can be cited and referenced in further initiatives.
The strategic impact of a Delphi campaign can help:
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Establish an unmet need and define patient cohorts
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Encourage optimal approaches
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Support new policy
Q&A
Moderator: Nick Williams
The meeting wrapped up with a lively Q&A. Nick Williams posed questions from the audience to Dr Malcolm Barratt-Johnson and Tim Warren. Questions included:
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Was the global pandemic responsible for the increase in expert opinion-led pieces vs RCTs? If so, why?
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Can you see a point where big pharma stop investing in sales teams and rely almost exclusively on medical affairs to drive clinical engagement?
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What is your opinion on systematic reviews and meta-analysis being used to complement RWE?
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Besides increasing confidence, how do you suggest that we better communicate our impact as a medical team?
Watch the webinar recording to hear Dr Malcolm Barratt-Johnson and Tim Warren explore these topics in detail and hear their answers to the questions by clicking below.
To suggest topics for our next meeting, email info@triducive.com / hello@pharmamedic.co
We combine healthcare sector experience with expertise in delivering structured expert consensus to create clarity, energy and advocacy around the factors that drive decisions, to create change. We are proud to work with industry, academia, clinical experts, policy makers and the third sector to help get better decisions made and implemented.
