KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Health misinformation is a serious issue linked to low health literacy, with spread exacerbated by social media and AI.
• Pharmaceutical companies can help combat health misinformation through engaging with patients to develop accessible materials, and reaching audiences through the digital channels they use.

The spread of misinformation can have a serious impact on health and weaken public confidence in healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry. In a recent PMLiVE article, Catherine Devaney explores how pharmaceutical companies can help combat the rapid spread of health misinformation online.

Devaney highlights that a lack of trust in institutions, healthcare systems, and governments is driving the public away from traditional sources of health information. In addition, “misinformation is easier to understand for many people”, with ~40% of working age adults in the UK unable to understand everyday health information due to low levels of health literacy. Health misinformation spreads rapidly on social media and through the use of AI, and often gains traction by appealing to emotions like fear, hope, or scepticism.

“Health communicators must proactively build trust by making information available in an accessible and engaging way.”

Devaney advises that health communicators must proactively build trust by making information available in an accessible and engaging way. She outlines key actions that health communicators in pharma can take, including:

• fostering relationships between key stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, scientists, and patient advocates, to promote transparency and trust
• gaining accreditation for evidence-based, plain language, and accessible materials, such as the Patient Information Forum (PIF) TICK certification
• engaging with patients who will use the information during the development process, to learn from their unique insights and ensure that the content is tailored to their needs
• monitoring digital platforms proactively for misinformation trends and developing a plan to engage with audiences via the same channels.

Devaney urges the pharmaceutical industry to use their expertise and resources to join the fight against misinformation, making a positive impact on health inequities.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Patient journeys should be part of a wider strategy and involve a range of stakeholders.
• Regular updates are key in ensuring patient journeys stay relevant and continue to reflect real world experiences of patients and caregivers.

Patient journeys can provide the pharmaceutical industry with rich data to inform strategy across product life cycles. In a PMLiVE article, Stephanie Hall and Louise Collins discuss 3 actions the industry can take to optimise patient journeys and unlock their full potential.

Patient journeys should be part of the wider strategy

Hall and Collins recommend integrating patient journeys into wider strategy and life cycle management. Combining quantitative and qualitative aspects provides both measurable data and insights into the real-world issues experienced by patients, carers, and healthcare professionals. This information, they say, can help clarify which areas are the most important.

Gather a diverse team

The authors suggest greater collaboration adds greater depth to patient journeys: bringing together medical, marketing, medical affairs, digital, and analytical stakeholders creates an environment that fosters a broader range of information and ideas. Additionally, including patient advocates and healthcare professionals creates richer information, forges stronger relationships, and uncovers nuances that may otherwise remain hidden.

“Including patient advocates and healthcare professionals creates richer information, forges stronger relationships, and uncovers nuances that may otherwise remain hidden.”

Create and iterate

Patient journeys are dynamic; regular reassessments enable new data and insights to be integrated, ensuring the journey continues to represent real experiences of patients and caregivers. When used creatively, patient journeys can help disrupt standard strategies.

The authors describe the importance of choosing the right format for patient journeys:

• Data-rich flowcharts may help identify gaps in care.
• Graphical approaches may allow cross-functional teams to better understand complex interactions.
• Combining these formats can provide measurable outcomes weaved with emotional context.

The authors conclude that developing and regularly updating thorough patient journeys can stimulate innovation, result in more effective processes, and improve patient outcomes.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• MedTech compliance now centres on education, not promotion—early vetting is key.
• Future meetings must shift from information delivery to emotional, transformative experiences.
• Pre- and post-meeting engagement using AI, storytelling, and gamification boosts long-term impact.

A recent report from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) on The Future of Healthcare Meetings 2024, held in Zurich, offers critical insights for pharma and medical technology professionals navigating the future of scientific events. Discussions centred on designing meetings for lasting impact, aligning with evolving compliance frameworks, and extending educational engagement across the full event lifecycle.

Designing for new generations: meeting formats must evolve

In a panel hosted by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, experts from life sciences, congress planning, and preventive medicine emphasised that medical meetings must shift from lecture-heavy formats to experiences built around interaction and flexibility. To meet the needs of younger healthcare professionals—who seek work-life balance and digest content differently—sessions should be shorter, wellness oriented, and digitally enabled.

Medical meetings must shift from lecture-heavy formats to experiences built around interaction and flexibility.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms are seen as essential to delivering these “experience meetings”, supporting personalised learning and inclusive participation. The design of meeting spaces and formats should follow suit, prioritising delegate experience and sustainability.

Compliance as strategic currency: pharma’s role is evolving

A dedicated compliance session brought together voices from International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association, European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy, Congrex, and others to explore how changing regulations are reshaping pharma’s involvement in medical meetings. A key trend is the move from traditional sponsorship to educational grants, with industry support often contingent on final Conference Vetting System approval.

Speakers stressed that early collaboration and a shared understanding of compliance codes (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, local legislation) are vital. Medical technology firms are taking a firmer stance on excluding promotional elements, focusing strictly on educational value. Workshops showed that building internal compliance expertise—particularly within medical societies—is crucial for fostering trust and enabling agile, regulation-compliant event planning.

Extending impact: engagement beyond the conference hall

A session led by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation showcased how events can maintain momentum post-meeting. Case studies featured AI-driven storytelling, gamified escape rooms, and hybrid learning environments that personalise and extend the learning journey. These strategies support long-term behavioural change and reflect a growing shift toward continuous engagement rather than isolated events.

Brief context: wider healthcare and communication trends

Opening remarks from Felix Strobl (European Society of Preventive Medicine) framed healthcare’s shift to a “4Ps” model:

• Preventive
• Personalised
• Predictive
• Participatory.

Other speakers addressed inefficiencies in science communication (Dr Mike Morrison), the psychology of emotional design (Pigalle Tavakkoli), and the evolving role of medical societies as cross-sector conveners (Daniel Palomo and panel).

Together, these themes reinforce a shared direction: medical meetings must become more meaningful, measurable, and compliant—designed not just to inform, but to transform.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The most extensive update to the 2024 ABPI Code of Practice is to Clause 12, introducing new options for sharing prescribing information in promotional materials.
• QR codes can now be used in some promotional materials, allowing easy access to the latest prescribing information.

On 1 January 2025, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA)’s long-awaited update to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Code of Practice came into force. While several sections have been updated, the most extensive changes are to introduce new options for providing prescribing information (PI) in pharmaceutical companies’ promotional materials.

New options for including PI in promotional materials

The new Code sees a complete re-write of Clause 12, now allowing direct QR code links to PI from certain promotional materials. This contrasts with the previous Code, which stipulated inclusion of the PI within the material. The updated Code notes PI can be provided via:

• a clear and prominent QR code with ‘scan for PI’ instructions in printed materials or digital materials shown to a recipient in person
• a clear and prominent direct text link in digital materials accessed on a recipient’s own device
• a printed document referenced by digital materials shown to a recipient in person.

The Code notes that QR codes and links should only be used when those interacting with the material are “reasonably expected to have internet access”.

QR codes: pros and cons

The QR code approach aims to facilitate easy access to the latest PI from promotional materials while mitigating the need to update the materials every time the PI is updated.

“The use of QR codes is an elegant solution to ensure healthcare professionals have direct access to the most up-to-date PI from promotional materials.”

However, Iain Shield (Associate Director – Market Access, Mtech Access) highlights a potential pitfall: what if the recipient can’t scan the QR code and access the PI? Will companies always need to offer paper copies to ensure compliance?

Future directions

The Clause 12 updates reflect adaptation to the digital age, and the use of QR codes is an elegant solution to ensure healthcare professionals have direct access to the most up-to-date PI from promotional materials. However, it’s early days for the updated ABPI Code and only time will tell whether companies take up these new options.

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Recorded 27 September 2024 as a MedComms Networking webinar. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

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The Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS) 2024 EMEA Annual Meeting took place in Madrid from 12–14 May. Attendees at the largest medical affairs meeting in Europe had the chance to participate in an interactive programme that explored the meeting’s theme ‘From Action to Impact’ to identify where medical affairs professionals can translate actions into meaningful impacts. If you were in Madrid, you can remind yourself of the key themes with our report from Day 2 below. And if you weren’t able to attend this year’s meeting, why not catch up on what you missed?

You can also read our summary from Day 1 of the meeting.

Summaries of Day 2

Omnichannel practicalities in medical affairs: a roadmap from plan to performance

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Appropriate metrics and a robust analysis plan are critical success factors for omnichannel programmes.

James Turnbull (Camino), Stephanie Clapham (Theramex), and Alicia Sanders (Pfizer) led an interactive session on the practicalities of omnichannel strategy in medical affairs.

In medical affairs, omnichannel strategy focuses on delivering a cohesive and personalised experience for HCPs across various touchpoints. It is a connected journey that needs audience relevance, connectivity, and measurability.

Current state of play in medical affairs

Turnbull revealed some stark figures from a 2023 survey on omnichannel strategies in pharma, which included 134 pharma employees from more than 50 companies (43% from medical affairs). The results showed a disconnect between current practices and a true omnichannel approach for engaging with HCPs.

Overall, 85% of respondents felt that their current engagement strategy lacked an omnichannel experience. Demonstrating behavioural impact and return on investment of these efforts proved to be a major challenge for two-thirds of the participants. Additionally, 76% admitted to not fully utilising data and insights gained from HCP interactions.

The results showed a disconnect between current practices and a true omnichannel approach for engaging with HCPs.

‘Backwards design’ in omnichannel strategy

Traditionally, HCP engagement has followed a channel-first approach. First, the communication channels to be used are determined and then the messages are crafted to fit those channels. While seemingly straightforward, this approach can lead to disjointed messaging and a less impactful experience for HCPs. Backwards design flips this around by prioritising outcomes: it starts with the desired measurable outcomes and maps the ideal HCP journey across channels to ensure a seamless experience. Then, the channels and tactics are chosen, along with the appropriate metrics to be used.

The power of appropriate metrics

While medical affairs activities generate a wealth of data, choosing the right metrics is crucial for evaluating an omnichannel strategy’s effectiveness. Effective metrics capture the full journey, from initial engagement (emails sent) to long-term impact (treatment adoption). Combining quantitative data (website visits) with qualitative insights (MSL feedback) results in a richer view that informs better decision-making.

Metrics in medical affairs fall into 4 categories, which vary in their value and difficulty to obtain:

• Activity: Reflecting the ‘volume of voice’ – what was done (eg, content created, emails sent, meetings held). While easy to measure, it reveals less about true impact than other measures.
• Reach: This measures ‘share of voice’ – the extent to which the intended audience was reached (eg, meeting attendees, click-through rates, website visits, and downloads). Reach is valuable but does not guarantee engagement.
• Engagement: Going beyond reach, engagement assesses ‘quality of voice’ – the level of interaction with content metrics such as visit requests, question submissions, feedback received, and website scroll depth provide a good sense of audience interest.
• Behaviour: ‘Impact of voice’ – evidence of behaviour change (eg, referral rates, testing adoption, treatment choices, trial recruitment, time to diagnosis). These metrics hold the highest value but can be challenging to track.

Effective metrics capture the full journey, from initial engagement to long-term impact.

Omnichannel strategy in the real world

Clapham shared a case study from Theramex: the aim was to bridge the gap between how HCPs perceived the impact of a rare neurological condition on patients’ quality of life and the reality of the daily struggles patients faced. The team developed a comprehensive omnichannel strategy to address the issue, starting with the overall goal of increasing proactivity in treatment behaviours. They tracked progress using key performance indicators (KPIs), including disease perception tracking. The initial phase of the campaign, centred around congress content, proved highly successful, with a strong email open rate (67%) and conversion to symposium attendance rate (60%). However, follow-up engagement, measured by email click-through rates and guideline downloads, fell short of expectations. The team aims to test alternative content as a follow-up and to compare results.

Medical affairs: taking the lead to innovate digital health

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Medical affairs is well positioned to take a leadership role in developing patient-centric digital health solutions.

Sarah Clark (Novo Nordisk), Emma Vitalini (Amgen), and Bora Erdemli (ZS Associates) led an interactive digital health workshop, guiding participants through the process of transforming digital health innovations from initial concepts into well-defined designs. Teams came up with a digital solution to a scenario and honed their pitching skills by delivering a Dragons’ Den–style presentation on their innovation.

Digital innovation: an ideal fit for medical affairs

Digital health harnesses advanced technologies to improve healthcare delivery and medical practices. Investment in digital health solutions has surged, driven by their potential to reduce costs, expedite processes, and improve clinical trial efficiency. We are now even seeing companies adding digital endpoints to their clinical trials. Digital health presents many opportunities for medical affairs professionals to leverage their expertise. These include co-creating solutions with HCPs and patients, navigating complexities within companies and within the healthcare system, and generating real world evidence to inform best practices.

We are now even seeing companies adding digital endpoints to their clinical trials.

Digital health example: the digital twin concept

Digital innovators are exploring digital twins as a potential tool to create a more personalised and precise approach to medicine. Imagine a virtual replica of yourself, built using your medical records, tests, genetic information, and potentially even sensor data from wearables. These data are used by advanced software to build a virtual model that mimics your unique biology. The digital twin can then be used to simulate different scenarios, such as to predict when drug interventions are needed, identify the most optimal medications for you, and even provide early warnings of potential health conditions.

Workshopping digital innovations

In teams, participants were challenged to develop novel digital solutions to improve patient outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD), with the ambitious goal of achieving a 20% reduction in CKD progression to kidney failure by 2027. Five compelling solutions emerged from the workshop, each presented in clear and engaging pitches.

Three of the teams focused on various ways to integrate digital technology into restrooms, enabling precision diagnostics through urine analysis. Another proposed a mobile app that would track activities such as food intake and exercise routines and provide a personalised daily health score. Another team suggested leveraging existing apps, such as Apple Health, to generate a risk assessment tool for CKD, with urine tests being automatically sent to those at high risk.

Empowered for digital health leadership

A live poll during the session revealed that the majority of participants felt only moderately involved in digital health development with their current roles. Armed with practical frameworks, learnings, actionable ideas to integrate into their daily work in medical affairs, and a clearer picture of the current landscape, participants left well equipped to advocate for a more prominent role in shaping the future of digital health solutions.

Imagine a virtual replica of yourself, built using your medical records, tests, genetic information and potentially even sensor data from wearables.

The role of the Country Medical Director – external and internal leadership and IMPACT

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Medical teams have a key strategic role and can improve patient outcomes through effective collaboration with their commercial partners.

Judith Armoni (Sanofi), Jose Chaves Puertas (Pfizer), and Carlos Murillo (Pfizer) took part in a panel debate moderated by Tamas Koncz (Pfizer).

The objectives of the session were:

• to discuss the transition of medical affairs teams from a supportive to a strategic role
• to recognise the changing perspective of the commercial team regarding the role of the Country Medical Director
• to gain insights into how medical teams can demonstrate impact and bring value to organisations.

What is the role of medical affairs in 2024?

The panel highlighted that the role of medical affairs has changed over the past decade. Previously viewed primarily as a supportive function, medical affairs teams are now recognised as key strategic partners, collaborating closely with commercial teams and physicians. In 2024, medical affairs teams play a vital role in pharmaceutical companies, leveraging their expertise to facilitate peer-to-peer discussions, collaborate with regulatory authorities to generate evidence, and, ultimately, contribute to better patient outcomes.

Effective collaboration between medical affairs and commercial teams

Since medical affairs and commercial teams have the same objectives, a collaborative environment should be established that allows for open and constructive discussions. Commercial and medical aspects should not be compartmentalised; instead, there must be a shift towards a more unified approach.

Medical affairs teams are now recognised as key strategic partners, collaborating closely with commercial teams and physicians.

Benefits of mutual education

The panel also noted the benefits of reciprocal learning between medical affairs and commercial teams. Such initiatives allow medical affairs professionals to better appreciate business strategies while commercial teams deepen their understanding of the science. By bridging these knowledge gaps, teams can improve outcomes for patients.

Need for diverse teams

Diversity within teams is paramount. Incorporating individuals from different backgrounds and generations and with various skill sets brings different perspectives and insights to the table and can lead to better decision-making.

What defines a good leader in the pharmaceutical industry?

The panel highlighted that effective medical leadership requires a comprehensive understanding of the scientific content and the ability to lead a team successfully. Influential leaders must earn the trust of their colleagues, foster openness among team members, and lead by example. The ability to inspire colleagues was identified as fundamental to good leadership.

Influential leaders must earn the trust of their colleagues, foster openness among team members, and lead by example.

Innovating through efficiency: real-life applications of generative AI in medical affairs

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Appropriate and responsible implementation of generative AI is key to unlocking its innovative power.

Natasha Hansjee (Roche), Jessica Ingram (Camino), James Turnbull (Camino), and Emma Vitalini (Amgen) led a lively session on the popular topic of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools.

Interactive polling revealed that almost 60% of participants had a bespoke version of ChatGPT, Copilot, or a similar tool in their company. However, only 20% use it regularly and see big benefits. Most participants did not feel that they were getting the best out of GenAI. By the end of the session, almost 70% of participants were keen to explore new GenAI pilot projects or to use it in new ways in their daily work.

Finding the right fit: three routes to implementing GenAI in medical affairs

The group discussed how choosing the right implementation strategy involves multiple considerations:

1. Free public GenAI tools provide a low-cost entry point. These tools can be integrated into daily workflows to tackle ad hoc challenges and boost efficiency. However, it is crucial to remember that these tools are not suitable for handling confidential information.
2. Custom tools allow for bespoke interfaces to be built that integrate seamlessly with existing workflows. While this approach offers good control and security and can handle confidential data, it requires careful planning and investment. Piloting the solution with a defined scope is recommended before scaling up.
3. For tackling broader business challenges, adopting enterprise-level GenAI solutions from established tech providers can be a powerful option. These solutions can lead to significant efficiency gains and process improvements. However, enterprise solutions typically require substantial ongoing monitoring and evaluation to ensure they are delivering optimal value.

Responsible adoption – quality control and ethics

While the buzz surrounding AI tools is undeniable, the speakers acknowledged concerns regarding confidentiality, referencing, bias, and the potential for factual errors (‘hallucinations’) when using GenAI in medical affairs. However, they agreed that these were not necessarily reasons to avoid using AI and that they can be mitigated through quality control measures and thoughtful implementation strategies.

The importance of responsible AI use was underscored by the example of Roche developing bespoke ethical guidelines alongside their in-house GenAI tools. This commitment to ethical development should be a cornerstone of any GenAI implementation.

The panel stressed the importance of thoughtful implementation with regard to any interactions with patients. Confidentiality here is paramount, but it is also important to be mindful of the tone of interactions. How might people feel if they suspect they are receiving a communication written by AI?

Commitment to ethical development should be a cornerstone of any GenAI implementation.

Learning from experience

The speakers shared real world experiences in implementing GenAI strategies:

• Large-scale implementation: At Moderna, GenAI has been integrated holistically across the entire company.
• Iterative development: Ingram shared a commercial case study that highlighted the importance of persevering by refining prompts to improve GenAI output quality.
• Using publicly available data: Turnbull showcased an example of using publicly available congress data to train AI for competitor analysis.
• Clearly defined KPIs: Ingram also provided an example from a recent congress coverage project in which her KPIs focused on both efficiency (budget, speed, repeatability) and value innovation (output quality, booth engagement, healthcare professional involvement).

Importance of cross-function collaboration

Siloed development can be a major hurdle. Proactively sharing knowledge and use cases between medical affairs and allied functions, such as regulatory, can counteract this. Prioritising scalable approaches ensures GenAI delivers value across the organisation, not just for individuals teams.

Siloed development of GenAI strategies can be a major hurdle.

Escape room – let the medical affairs and medical information partnership be the key to your success

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Consistency and collaboration between medical information and medical affairs teams is crucial to providing informed care and ensuring patient safeguarding.

This highly interactive session was led by Fiona Wardle (AbbVie), João Dias (Haemonetics), Rivka Marks-Maran (UCB), and Cristina Rodellas (Novartis).

Effective collaboration between medical affairs and medical information teams

Within the pharmaceutical industry, the medical information department plays a vital role in enquiry management and insights generation. Establishing an effective partnership between medical affairs and medical information is critical for both functions to meet their strategic objectives and achieve consistent processes. To support the development of an effective medical information department, a blueprint has been published as a Standards and Guidance document by a collaboration between MAPS, Medical Information Leaders in Europe (MILE), and Pharmaceutical Collaboration for Transparent Medical Information (phactMI).

Establishing an effective partnership between medical affairs and medical information is critical for both functions to meet their strategic objectives and achieve consistent processes.

Learning objectives

The session aimed to:

• determine how best to align the medical affairs and medical information functions to support both business partners and healthcare stakeholders effectively
• explore strategies for achieving consistency and harmonisation within the context of a global organisation
• gain insights into best practices for establishing an effective and collaborative medical information department.

Escape room scenario

In this interactive session, participants were divided into 4 teams and tasked with generating a proposal for establishing a decentralised global medical information (GMI) group within global medical affairs.

The following possible GMI structures were available for the teams to choose from:

Structure 1 was deemed largely unsuitable due to potential differences in national and regional drug indications and concerns regarding language barriers. Some participants felt that it may be a viable option where the drug label is the same worldwide and may be of interest when budgets are severely constrained.

There was equal enthusiasm for Structures 2 and 3 among the groups taking part in the session. Two groups opted for Structure 2 owing to the perceived additional layers of complexity associated with Structure 3. Conversely, two teams selected Structure 3 as they felt that the lack of involvement of the global team in Structure 2 was a particular weakness.

Overall, it was agreed that there was no one correct answer to this scenario. The optimal GMI structure will be dependent on many factors, including budget, size of company, number of products, and number of indications.

The optimal GMI structure will be dependent on many factors, including budget, size of company, number of products, and number of indications.

From data to action: effectively and efficiently crafting strategic insights in pharma

KEY TAKEAWAY

• AI tools can be used to support the generation of actionable strategic insights.

In this workshop, Lance Hill (Within3), Georgios Tramountanis (Takeda), and Martina Laus (BeiGene) discussed how AI-based technologies can support medical affairs teams in generating actionable strategic insights.

Insights management – current situation

Over the past year, several industry surveys, including those conducted by MAPS, revealed that medical leaders lack confidence in their insights analysis and reporting processes. They also expressed the need for more efficient analysis and reporting capabilities to enable their teams to become more agile in generating strategies informed by insights. While AI-based tools were not widely used to support the generation or reporting of insights, most respondents felt that the use of AI in this setting will increase in the coming year.

These findings align with results from a live poll held during the workshop, where 79% of attendees rated their organisation’s proficiency in insights management as either “Building Mode” or “Needs Improvement”.

Insights management process

The process of insights management can be divided into 4 stages:

1. Gathering data and observations
2. Analysing data and observations
3. Creating insights and appropriate actions
4. Communicating insights to achieve actionable outcomes

It was highlighted that insights are more than just data or observations – they are actionable revelations that can drive strategic decisions and impact outcomes.

To support the development of their insights process, attendees were directed to several relevant resources, including the MAPS Insights Focus Area Work Group and a recent MAPS White Paper on this topic.

Insights are more than just data or observations – they are actionable revelations that can drive strategic decisions.

Three generations of insights management

Over the past decade, there have been 3 successive approaches to insights management, with each generation leading to improved efficacy and impact.

1. First generation: The first-generation approach had minimal AI involvement. It was a largely manual process, with medical affairs teams evaluating field notes and organising data in spreadsheets and slides. Due to being slow and time consuming, it is no longer practical for large organisations that need to manage increasingly large volumes of data.
2. Second generation: The second-generation approach began to incorporate AI into processes to analyse data and identify key trends. Although more efficient than the previous approach, it still required human input to configure, analyse, and communicate insights obtained from automated dashboards.
3. Third generation: This generation emerged recently and utilises GenAI tools to provide insights in plain language. The entire process, from data processing to reporting, is streamlined, and the need for manual input is substantially reduced.

Optimising the use of an AI-supported insights process

In a live poll during the workshop, accuracy was highlighted as most respondents’ top concern around the use of AI in insights management. It was noted that transparency is essential for users to understand how AI systems arrive at their conclusions, evaluate the insights provided by the system, and build trust.

The AI Act, recently adopted by the European Union, was also discussed during the workshop. Although this will not directly impact the use of AI in the insights process, it was felt that it was important for medical affairs teams to stay informed about regulatory developments in the AI space.

Considerations for setting up an AI-supported insights process were also discussed, with critical considerations including how to get started, training, who should lead change management efforts, and how to measure success.

Transparency is essential for users to understand how AI systems arrive at their conclusions, evaluate the insights provided by the system, and build trust.

Closing plenary session: Generative artificial/augmented intelligence: AI and the broader challenges on the future of medical affairs within the New

KEY TAKEAWAY

• AI models are predicted to change future working practices in medical affairs by allowing more time to be spent on strategic, value-added work and improving efficiency overall.

Bogdana Coudsy (Sanofi), Bora Erdemil (ZS Associates), Julius Neiser (BCG), and Georgios Tramountanis (Takeda) closed the MAPS 2024 EMEA Annual Meeting by leading an engaging session discussing opportunities for AI to potentially improve innovation and efficiency in medical affairs.

Using generative AI in medical affairs

Erdemil started by noting that GenAI is used to create new ideas/concepts based on its training data and, as such, it can be used to summarise, assist, and create. An audience poll highlighted a high-level of enthusiasm for AI (97% strongly/somewhat agreed it has huge potential for their organisation). Neiser argued that the small amount of scepticism among the audience was not necessarily a negative finding and could be used to help drive improvements in value and impact.

Three key areas where GenAI may provide value in medical affairs

1. Increasing efficiency – reducing time spent on simple/mundane tasks (eg, looking for specific data/quotes) and increasing time for more strategic tasks. This may also lower costs by allowing some tasks (eg, medical content generation) to be conducted in-house versus using an external agency.
2. Improving productivity – improving the speed to generate critical medical information for sharing with KOLs.
3. Improving quality – generating complex information with consistency. It is expected that GenAI will also provide value in the research and development, regulatory, and commercial functions within pharma. An audience poll highlighted that most attendees (53%) think that GenAI is “not very mature” within their organisation, which indicated to the panel a need for taking more risks and generating more examples using AI.

Will GenAI replace medical affairs professionals in the future?

AI technology is not expected to replace medical affairs professionals but will likely change the job role (ie, be a co-pilot), increasing efficiency and productivity. It can be used to automate tedious tasks, thereby allowing more time to focus on strategic initiatives. Overall, GenAI is likely to be increasingly used over time; therefore, it might be appropriate to think about initiating training programmes for existing team members. In addition, some organisations may start to re-assess the ideal profile (ie, capabilities and skill sets) of potential new team members.

AI technology is not expected to replace medical affairs professionals but will likely be a co-pilot, increasing efficiency and productivity.

Specific areas of medical affairs that GenAI could impact

The audience indicated that the areas where GenAI could make most impact include medical information, literature and data analysis, publications, insights, administrative tasks, and strategy. Bora pointed out that although people may be sceptical that GenAI can help develop strategy, it should be feasible as strategy is largely driven by insights.

Potential concerns of using GenAI in medical affairs

An audience poll indicated that the areas of most concern with GenAI were accuracy, hallucinations, data privacy and confidentiality, compliance, and quality. The panel highlighted that these weaknesses were also found in human-generated content and that they should not deter the use of GenAI.

Why not also read the summary from Day 1 of the meeting?

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Written as part of a Media Partnership between MAPS and The Publication Plan, by Aspire Scientific, an independent medical writing agency led by experienced editorial team members, and supported by MSc and/or PhD-educated writers.

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You can also read our summary from Day 2 of the meeting.

Summaries of Day 1

Opening plenary session: From action to impact

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Every action in medical affairs should be evaluated through the lens of patient impact.

The impact of medical affairs was the focus of the opening plenary session. Chair Tamas Koncz (Pfizer) highlighted that while the actions we take in medical affairs are important and often discussed, it is their ultimate impact on patients that truly matters. However, measuring that impact can be challenging. A panel of medical affairs experts comprising Thomas Lang (Novartis), Beatriz Faro Morales (Business Angel), Arantxa Sancho Lopez (Farmaindustria), and Catrinel Galateanu (UCB)  joined Koncz to discuss these issues.

Patient health: a common goal to facilitate the biggest impact

Lang opened by emphasising a powerful guiding principle for maximising our impact: prioritising a healthier and longer life for patients. Every task and action within medical affairs, he argued, should be evaluated against this ultimate goal. While the whole organisation should be united by having improving patient health as their main purpose, Faro Morales pointed out that this can sometimes be obscured by the specific goals of different teams and departments in the business.

How do we ensure impact is front of mind?

Content development should start with desired outcomes and then activities should flow from this, not the other way around, stressed Lang. All actions should be planned with impact in mind. Sancho Lopez urged medical affairs professionals to leverage their trusted voice to focus on impact, a sentiment with which Faro Morales agreed.

“Be visible, raise your hand, and challenge the status quo.” – Beatriz Faro Morales

How do we measure impact?

Demonstrating the impact of medical affairs can be a complex task, both internally within companies and externally with stakeholders. As Lang observed, it is hard to define impact with a single measure. Faro Morales suggested that medical affairs teams should directly solicit feedback from patients and physicians. This would help teams to understand what works well and what could be improved, ensuring their efforts translate to better patient outcomes.

Medical affairs – elevated to enterprise co-leadership

Having historically been in a ‘supporting role’, medical affairs has now been elevated to a place of enterprise co-leadership. However, Sancho Lopez noted that it is sometimes difficult for outside stakeholders to discern a distinction between medical affairs and commercial teams. There is definitely room for improvement here. No company can have an impact on patients and society without strong medical affairs. Presenting evidence of impact is an ideal way to communicate the value of medical affairs to stakeholders, emphasise its unique role in the business, and maintain co-leadership status. As Galateanu summarised, medical affairs is a partnership between science and patients, for patients and with patients.

Medical affairs is a partnership between science and patients, for patients and with patients.

Ex-machina – evaluating LLM tools and how best to use them

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Effective prompt generation plays a fundamental role in the successful use of LLM tools for content development.

Joseph Pierce (PrimeVigilance) and Emma Vitalini (Amgen) discussed large language models (LLMs) and tips for effective prompt generation, before putting artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content to the ultimate test.

Pierce began with a brief introduction to LLMs, a type of AI designed to comprehend and generate human-like text. LLMs can be used to create an initial draft of a deliverable that can then be entered into the workflow process and reviewed. Pierce stressed that LLMs are not perfect and have been known to produce ‘hallucinations’, which arise because current open access LLMs use information from the entire internet, some of which is incorrect.

Tips for effective prompting of LLMs

Pierce gave 3 examples of different prompts that can be used to achieve different types of responses from an LLM: factual (What is the capital of France?), open-ended (Create a story where a dragon slays a knight), and conditional (If my product is approved, what volume of medical information requests should I expect?). To generate precise and relevant responses, Pierce suggested focusing on:

• clarity: ensures clear understanding of desired output
• relevance: tailors the response to specific requirements or context
• efficiency: minimises ambiguity, leading to faster and more accurate responses.

To improve the specificity of a prompt, Pierce suggested including relevant background information (ie, contextual details), providing specific criteria or parameters, and giving examples or scenarios. He also emphasised how emotion can be used to change the LLM’s response. For example, tagging “I really need this for career progression” onto the end of a prompt can modify the LLM output.

Can you tell between AI- and human-generated responses?

In the final part of the session, the audience were tasked with distinguishing between AI- and human-generated responses on 3 different topics. Remarkably, the audience were unable to agree on which response was human generated for Topic 1, but were more successful when assessing Topics 2 and 3, with the majority guessing correctly which pieces were generated by AI. Interestingly, audience members noted that some of the language used in the AI responses was typical of the language that has become expected from LLM tools.

Pierce closed the session with a reminder about the importance of reviewing AI generated materials: AI is not taking the human out of the process, it is just making the human more efficient.

AI is not taking the human out of the process, it is just making the human more efficient.

Medical Transformation: the journey from service provider to strategic partner

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Medical Transformation is a key concept for medical affairs teams, designed to establish new responsibilities, embrace leadership, benchmark and measure impact, develop and hire talent, and inspire internal and external stakeholders through scientific innovation and patient value.

In an engaging and interactive session, Lucie Williams (Ipsen), Richard White (Oxford PharmaGenesis), and Dorit Helbig (Ipsen) guided participants through the process of transforming medical affairs teams from being a service provider within the organisation to established strategic leaders and equal partners to the R&D and commercial functions.

Medical evolution is critical for success

The pharmaceutical industry is a rapidly changing environment in which medical affairs is critical and needs to be at the forefront of driving development and progression of therapies. Medical affairs should be viewed as an essential third pillar throughout the organisation, with ‘enterprise leaders’ standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the commercial and R&D functions, not just a bridge!

Medical affairs should be viewed as an essential third pillar – standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the commercial and R&D functions of a pharmaceutical organisation.

The transformation of medical affairs is likely to be a journey, and the degree and speed of success of the transformation will be partly dependent on anticipating challenges and quickly devising solutions.

Process of transformation

An industry-perspective case study outlined a 3-stage process for Medical Transformation:

• Stage 1 – Vision: analysing performance and prioritising change – eg, elevating medical affairs to the executive leadership team, assessing new roles, and establishing a leadership culture.
• Stage 2 – Implementing structure and developing solutions – eg, defining career paths for strong development and retention, defining medical competencies and relevant training, and communicating the concept of Medical Transformation so that it is universally recognised.
• Stage 3 – Change management and implementation – eg, repurposing the medical affairs study review panel, implementing regional structure for clinical operations, executing studies and programmes with precision, establishing excellent first-line medical information enquiry teams, and defining patient engagement best practices.

Collaboration with different stakeholders to make an impact

The importance of medical affairs having a route to provide input at a senior leadership level was highlighted, whereby senior medical affairs colleagues should have direct and regular contact with members of the leadership team to ensure medical affairs perspectives are considered. In addition, medical affairs colleagues should be capable of presenting a robust and engaging story to ensure leadership take notice and help educate them about the impact medical affairs is making. A structure should also be established that allows the medical affairs team to liaise with the R&D and commercial functions to provide medical insights. Medical affairs colleagues can also provide key patient perspectives gained from patient engagement initiatives. Finally, medical affairs should have discussions with the human resources team to help them understand what Medical Transformation is and the benefit to the organisation, and help to inform the interview process for new medical affairs recruits.

A route for medical affairs to provide input at a senior leadership level is critical for effective Medical Transformation.

Keeping your scientific communications platform alive – how to unlock the magic of your SCP

KEY TAKEAWAY

• SCPs can be foundational documents for an integrated medical communications strategy, but a compelling story and cross-functional input are essential for optimal engagement.

Brian Falcone (MedThink SciCom), Clare Baker (Sobi), and Paolo Marchi (UCB) discussed the challenge of integrating Scientific Communication Platforms (SCPs) as a cross-functional resource. An audience poll highlighted the potential need in this area, with only 11% of the respondents stating that they are effectively using SCPs cross-functionally, and 28% not having an SCP at all.

What is an SCP, and what does it include?

The SCP was defined as a scientific, foundational, dynamic, internal communication document that:

• ensures consistent language and referencing
• supports a unified narrative for specific audiences
• informs future evidence requirements
• evolves with the asset life cycle management, competitive landscape, clinical and regulatory environment.

An effective SCP ensures consistent communication across cross-functional teams, including clinical teams, medical affairs, health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), commercial, and corporate communications. MAPS has published a SCP Standards and Guidance document that provides direction on the main steps involved in SCP development.

SCPs should tell a compelling story

All stories should have a narrative progression that contains the following key elements:

• the setting, which should include background on the current situation
• the hook, which is a key piece of information that catches the audience’s attention
• rising insights, with supporting details that reveal deeper insights into the problem or opportunity
• an ‘A-ah moment’, the central finding or insight
• the solution and next steps.

All these elements require consideration of the internal and external stakeholders, the challenges that need to be addressed, the focus of the SCP, where in the product lifecycle this programme fits, and how often the SCP will be updated.

Considering SCP development as a storytelling exercise helps to humanise the narrative and increase engagement.

Overcoming barriers to cross-functional engagement with the SCP

Attendees identified several barriers to optimal engagement with SCPs, such as their reputation as a ‘dry’ document, the time and effort required to keep these (often large) documents up to date, and a lack of input from different stakeholders limiting its use.

Overcoming these barriers could involve creating a compelling narrative to bring the scientific story alive, using techniques such as humanising language and highlighting clinically meaningful impact on patients. Although SCPs can require substantial resource to update regularly, in the future, AI may be helpful in streamlining this process. Cross-functional team involvement (eg, HEOR and market access teams) in SCP development can help to align strategies and messaging from an early stage; it may be helpful to use different mechanisms, such as elevator pitches, for these stakeholders to provide feedback in their preferred format. Developing lexicons and summaries can ensure that terminology is accessible to all stakeholders. Finally, training workshops may help users understand and familiarise themselves with the SCP content and improve engagement at an individual level.

Unlocking the true potential: how can we best quantify the impact and value of medical affairs?

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Effective choice and implementation of metrics is critical for evaluating and demonstrating the impact of medical affairs activities.

This interactive workshop session, led by Lori Klein (Putnam Associates) and Sonal Bhatia (Pfizer), explored best practices for measuring and demonstrating the impact and value of medical affairs.

Framing the discussions, Klein explained that measuring ‘impact’ relates to the “ability to measure how medical affairs activities impact the behaviour, knowledge, and beliefs of healthcare stakeholders to drive better patient outcomes.” Evaluating the impact of medical affairs activities through metrics is becoming more and more important, not least because quantifying impact demonstrates value to key stakeholders, informs future initiatives based on learnings from prior activities, and drives innovation within organisations.

Challenges for adopting metrics in medical affairs

Noting that there is no single metric that can communicate the value of medical affairs, the panel identified further challenges for implementing metrics in medical affairs, including:

• lack of consensus on what ‘good’ looks like: the importance and relevance of different metrics may vary across organisations, therapy areas, and stages of the product lifecycle
• metric overwhelm: the use of too many metrics may lead to confusion and hamper successful application of insights
• capability gaps and budget constraints: lack of skills and resources to implement metrics in the desired way may hinder their effectiveness for measuring impact.

There is no single key metric for measuring the value of medical affairs.

Successful use of metrics in medical affairs

Successful use of metrics depends on defining which metrics to employ and how to implement them. Considerations for choosing and implementing appropriate metrics include:

• ability of the metric to measure depth and breadth of the activity
• relevance of the metric for measuring success
• ability of the metric to be tailored to the product’s development stage
• alignment between the metrics and medical affairs strategic imperatives
• actionable metrics that can be used to refine medical affairs activities
• a frequency of measurement that is relevant and appropriate
• taking an approach that optimises tracking of the metrics.

What kinds of metrics can be used to assess medical affairs impact?

Having identified the ideal characteristics of metrics to measure medical affairs impact, the panel discussed a variety of specific metrics. Presented in order of increasing difficulty to quantify, metrics include:

• interactions – eg, the number of MSL visits or number of education programmes attended
• satisfaction – eg, HCP satisfaction
• knowledge – eg, advancing HCP understanding
• competence – eg, changes in HCP behaviour
• patient health – eg, direct and indirect patient outcomes
• public health – eg, reduction in disease burden.

Commenting on the result of an audience poll that indicated that HCP interactions and satisfaction were the metrics most used by attendees for measuring impact, the panel noted this was expected, given interactions and satisfaction are comparatively easy to measure metrics. However, the aim should be to try and adopt the use of metrics that can measure how medical affairs activities are impacting HCP knowledge and competence, and ultimately improving patient and public health.

Following a breakout session in which attendees had the chance to apply the concepts above in appraising the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to metrics implementation, the panel reconvened to provide their closing thoughts:

• It is important to adopt the use of metrics to help ensure that medical affairs strategies and tactics have a meaningful impact.
• Metrics are needed that can clearly demonstrate an impact on behaviour, knowledge, and beliefs.
• Generation of metrics evidence should be aligned with stakeholder needs.
• Consideration should be given to integration of data and analytics capabilities to help make metrics adoption more efficient for medical affairs teams.

The aim should be to use metrics that can measure how medical affairs activities are impacting HCP knowledge and competence, and ultimately improving patient and public health.

Strategic incorporation of the patient voice within medical affairs to address patient challenges in the continuum of care

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Actionable patient insights, grounded in evidence, unlock powerful medical affairs strategies and deliverables.

Michelle Sylvanowicz (Bayer AG), Miles Jervis-Denison (ApotheCom), and Isabel Cerdá Marcos (Lundbeck) led this session on the patient voice in medical affairs, incorporating case studies and a breakout group activity.

The concept of patient centricity prioritises patient engagement and communication, leading to deeper real-world insights into the patient journey and ensuring patients have a good understanding of their medications.

Medical affairs is undergoing a crucial shift, placing patients at the centre.

The first step in creating effective and impactful content should be understanding the patient journey. This journey encompasses 5 milestones:

1. Awareness and recognition
2. Presentation and diagnosis
3. Treatment selection
4. Ongoing care and access
5. Treatment persistency and follow-up

Case study 1: patient-informed development of mental health tools and workplace support in macular degeneration

In the first of two case studies, findings from the Barometer programme in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) were presented as a powerful reminder that aiming high and envisioning the ‘bigger picture’ can unlock significant achievements. Success in the Barometer programme was achieved by listening to patient insights and pinpointing areas where interventions could have the greatest impact.

Aiming high and envisioning the ‘bigger picture’ can unlock significant achievements.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of clinical management challenges in nAMD, the Barometer programme launched a global survey, garnering over 14,000 responses from patients, clinicians, and clinic staff. Having identified that patients frequently reported difficulties with wellbeing and mental health, a rapid mental health screening tool was developed and validated, with input from university and hospital colleagues in ophthalmology and psychology. Another insight from the programme was that patients with diabetic and macular oedema often struggle to manage their appointments around their work and life schedules. This led to the development of employer information materials to help employers and support employees living with nAMD. The pack consists of a pamphlet and a doctor’s note explaining the condition and the need for frequent eye appointments.

Case study 2: patient insights into migraine lead to patient-authored publications

A second case study showed the importance of identifying knowledge gaps, building alignment with patients, ensuring transparency and continuous collaboration, and embracing unexpected solutions. The case study examined how an online survey approach was used to gain insights into people’s experiences of migraine and medication overuse headache. Four key areas were covered: lived experience, impact on everyday life, patient experience of diagnosis, and specific focus on medication overuse headache. The survey development was informed by social media listening and desk research, collaboration with commercial and medical stakeholders, and insight generation from patient advocacy groups. This innovative and collaborative approach that placed patients at the centre of the story resulted in two patient-authored congress abstracts, and development of a patient-authored manuscript.

This innovative and collaborative approach that placed patients at the centre of the story resulted in two patient-authored congress abstracts and development of a patient-authored manuscript.

Breakout session: how to achieve deep insights into the patient journey

Inspired by the case studies, the breakout session focused on leveraging evidence-based methods to address obstacles in the patient journey. Each group tackled a specific challenge and proposed a data-driven solution. Discussions emphasised the value of both quantitative and qualitative outputs. To comprehensively understand a disease area, a multifaceted approach was deemed necessary, including collaborating with diverse specialists and going beyond simply asking patients for their opinions.

By observing patients and gaining insights into their daily lives and the impact that their condition has on their experiences, a more holistic understanding can be achieved.

Innovating for impact: engaging your audience using best-practice techniques in scientific content development

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Adopting a clear visual design, interactivity, and a storytelling approach can help create engaging scientific content.

Reflecting on the importance of creating engaging scientific content, Clare Baker (Sobi), Kate Bradford (Alexion), and Carly Taylor (MedComms Experts) led this workshop session to explore key considerations for maximising audience engagement and knowledge retention when developing scientific content. The information overload faced by many HCPs underlined the need for impactful, engaging scientific content.

Designing impactful, engaging scientific content is critical for effective communication.

Visual design

Good visual design can improve structure, clarity, approachability, readability, and engagement. Three key elements of visual design were discussed:

1. White space: using white space effectively to surround, separate, or frame visuals and text
2. Text hierarchy: applying a hierarchical approach to text to ensure a clear structure and level of priority
3. Visual language: designing content with heuristic processing in mind, to help the audience achieve focus

The panel proposed that content should be designed primarily to aid heuristic processing (which relates to the use of simplifying decision rules or mental shortcuts), with the following approaches often effective:

• placing conclusions up front
• using headlines to summarise and introduce information
• using colours and images to communicate, and not to decorate
• adopting a consistent structure.

Interactivity

Introducing interactivity into content can help create adaptive and personalised learning experiences that increase engagement and improve learning and retention. Three factors are key to effective implementation of interactivity:

1. The content: build interactive elements to complement the subject matter and delivery format
2. Technological constraints: be mindful of device compatibility and accessibility
3. The audience: consider the skills, knowledge, and preferences of the target audience

However, you can have too much of a good thing and the importance of not overusing interactivity was highlighted in order to avoid creating unnecessary distractions.

Leveraging interactivity can help create adaptive and personalised learning experiences that increase engagement and improve learning and retention.

Several potential approaches for implementing interactivity were discussed, including:

• non-linear navigation: allows the audience to explore content in their preferred order
• layered content: reveals information gradually to draw attention to specific content
• gamification: engages the audience, encourages reflection and knowledge retention, and can provide useful metrics (eg, through polls and quizzes).

Storytelling

The final section of the workshop explored the rationale for storytelling in scientific communication. Storytelling can help make content more engaging and memorable, as illustrated by evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging scans demonstrating that hearing a story activates more areas of the brain than hearing facts.

The panel emphasised that ‘storytelling’ should not be considered as ‘bad science’. Communication in medical affairs is built around the ability to share data. To do this requires that facts are collected, interpreted, and given meaning, which is a process synonymous with building a story. The panel proposed applying the ‘And, But, Therefore’ storytelling framework in scientific communications:

• And: provides the necessary facts and context for the audience to comprehend the problem.
• But: presents the problem.
• Therefore: provides the solution, action, or consequence.

The session concluded by highlighting the 3 considerations that are paramount for scientific storytelling: what your objective is, who your audience is, and what information they need.

The 3 considerations for scientific storytelling are what your objective is, who your audience is, and what information they need.

Why not also read the summary from Day 2 of the meeting?

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Written as part of a Media Partnership between MAPS and The Publication Plan, by Aspire Scientific, an independent medical writing agency led by experienced editorial team members, and supported by MSc and/or PhD-educated writers.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The challenges faced by small pharma and biotech companies are different to those faced by larger organisations.
• The network, support, and resources offered by ISMPP membership are invaluable for professionals in small pharma and biotech companies.

In the vast expanse of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, professionals in small companies often navigate a unique set of challenges that set them apart from their counterparts in larger entities. With limited resources and often limited experience, they grapple with making significant impacts while ensuring compliance with best practices and adopting innovations in scientific communication. As a member centred association, the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) well understands such barriers and acts as a source of guidance and information, helping these professionals connect with a community where they can learn from, and collaborate with, their peers.

Small pharma and biotech companies are hubs of innovation and creativity; however, the people who work in them encounter distinct challenges. For those new to publication management, the transition from academia or a shift from a different career path can be daunting without a structured onboarding process or access to tailored educational materials. Senior staff, on the other hand, often bear the weight of broader responsibilities and important decision making without the extensive functional teams found in larger organisations. These challenges are compounded by the fast paced nature of the industry, where staying abreast of the latest scientific communication practices is crucial yet time consuming

ISMPP stands out as a pivotal resource for these individuals, offering a rich tapestry of educational resources, networking opportunities, and professional development programmes specifically designed to address the needs of – and overcome the obstacles faced by – small pharma and biotech professionals, including:

• the recently launched ISMPP Academy meeting, established to fulfil the educational needs of those working in small pharma and biotech companies, as well as newer professionals, to be held 5–6 November 2024, in Philadelphia. Registration opens this summer!
• popular ISMPP University (ISMPP U) webinars, held monthly, cover timely and relevant medical publication and communication topics and trends
• online resources, podcasts, and newsletter articles that offer information about numerous topics, such as Good Publication Practice (GPP 2022) guidelines, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field, among many others
• the opportunity to earn the ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) credential, sought after by many hiring employers in the industry.

“Working in the ever evolving world of medical and scientific publications, ISMPP has always supported me with up-to-date guidance and access to a network of peers navigating similar challenges. As I continue in my career, with ISMPP I never stop learning” – Tim Collinson, Senior Director, Global Medical & Scientific Communications at a mid-sized pharmaceutical company

Equally important, ISMPP has created a dedicated interactive online community for its members where professionals from small pharma and biotech companies can meet peers, ask questions, share insights and experiences, and discuss best practices. This collaborative environment not only engenders a sense of belonging, but also propels innovation, elevates the standards of scientific communication within the industry, and fills a peer-to-peer gap that many experience within small companies.

“ISMPP has become my go-to resource for most publication related questions. Beyond the educational offerings, I find the member forum particularly helpful for getting input from peers on how to professionally and compliantly handle tricky situations that may come up in our day-to-day. ISMPP gives me access to a wealth of expertise that goes way beyond my immediate team, which has helped me tremendously in implementing effective publication strategies at my company” – Tina Schlafly, PhD, CMPP, Director, Scientific Publications at Corcept Therapeutics, Inc

Beyond facilitating best practices, community, and professional development, ISMPP plays a crucial role in ensuring professionals in companies of all sizes are equipped to manage upcoming challenges. This has been recently evidenced by ISMPP’s amplifying debate around two distinct issues: patient engagement and AI. The impact of both is revolutionary, and ISMPP has responded with clear and balanced guidance to members through webinars, articles, position papers, and published work.

As the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors forge ahead and the environment continues to rapidly evolve, the support and resources provided by ISMPP will remain invaluable for professionals in smaller pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and biotech companies. In conclusion, the unique challenges faced by professionals in small pharma and biotech companies call for a unique solution. ISMPP offers just that—a community dedicated to professional growth, innovation, and excellence in scientific communication. Joining ISMPP as a member is a step forward in one’s career; it is also taking a leap towards making a lasting impact in the industry.

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In today’s digital age there is an opportunity to present and share medical research in new and creative ways. However, traditional formats are often still our go-to methods. Following his participation at the 2023 International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) EU meeting, The Publication Plan spoke with James Dathan, Global Publications Manager at AstraZeneca, to learn why he feels it is time to challenge the status quo and how we should be striving to develop more innovative ways to communicate medical information.

With social media and various digital platforms, there are many formats available for sharing data and research. At the 2023 European Meeting of ISMPP you talked about using an omnichannel approach to communication. For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, could you explain what this means and how it differs from a multichannel approach?

“A quick Google search shows that omnichannel is referred to as ‘a neologism describing a business strategy’ while the business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan defines it as ‘seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels’. While this overview is helpful, it is trying to explain something that I do not think anyone really knows yet ─ omnichannel is a relatively new concept and what will become its defining characteristics are still evolving.”

Multichannel in my view refers to standard communication methods, such as journals, congresses, and the more traditional methods of dissemination. Omnichannel simply enhances those for the modern world where we all connect to phones, social media and e-mails whenever we want. To this end the opportunity to reach anyone, on any platform is omnipresent – we just need to pick the right platforms and the right processes. What we think of as omnichannel communication  and how we see its potential and direction may change tomorrow and certainly will in the future.”

“The opportunity to reach anyone, on any platform is omnipresent – we just need to pick the right platforms and the right processes.”

Specifically, within medical communications, what are the benefits and challenges to pharmaceutical companies adopting omnichannel strategies? Could you share any examples of this approach being utilised particularly effectively at AstraZeneca?

“Keeping pace with technological developments is a massive challenge. By the time we have identified an opportunity and started exploring, embracing, and actioning ideas, the world has moved on. So few opportunities exist for a sustained period during which we can try out new platforms (remember MySpace!). Other, more enduring areas which we can explore, such as Twitter, Facebook and TikTok are restricted by the PMCPA, our own compliance guidelines and concerns that posts may be interpreted as promotional rather than informative. Our job in publications is to bridge the gaps between the science, healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, making information accessible, relatable, and useful for people living with illness and disease. To do this we need to challenge the status quo and overcome concerns about self-promotion. We need to work with agencies such as PMCPA and other pharmaceutical companies to share the breath-taking work being done by the scientific teams with patients, who simply want to know and understand the illnesses they are dealing with.”

At the European Meeting of ISMPP, you highlighted the need to challenge standard practices and used congress posters as an example of a format that has changed very little over time. What do you think are the main barriers to pharmaceutical companies using more innovative approaches to communication? Could you share any examples of projects that you have been involved with where new or creative ideas were used successfully?

“As with social media I think that compliance and our own caution with regards to compliance has a part to play. Moving away from familiarity takes courage and a sustained effort. I talked about Better Poster 2.0 being around for years already… where are the next evolutions, 3.0 etc? We have added features to posters such as plain language summaries (PLS) and QR codes but kept the existing format. A few years ago, when I was with an agency, I led an interactive poster project with our client and the main battle we faced was being able to present the poster differently. Of the three or four models we suggested, the safest and most familiar was selected. I didn’t even want to put this model forward as the whole point of the project was to move away from the standard format. As a result, the poster did not stand out, did not look new or innovative and the metrics were, at best, rubbish!

“To drive innovation, we need to get everyone on board from the outset, including the congresses.”

To drive innovation, we need to get everyone on board from the outset, including the congresses, as so often they insist on font size, content etc. Would a poster be so bad if it only included results and/or a conclusion with the other details sitting behind a QR code for transparency? – it may even drive more people to use the QR code!”

During the last couple of years, medical congresses had to take place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you feel the shift to virtual events encouraged innovation? Do you think the change in format resulted in any advantages that should continue to be incorporated at face-to-face events?

“QR codes as a way of putting content online were all the rage during COVID. However, the industry defaulted to what it so often does and decided that talking head videos would be the way forward. So, everyone did the same… Sometimes we need to ban the normal to force innovation. The pandemic forced people to finally embrace the idea of a 3-dimensional poster, where more content can sit behind it via a QR code. The idea of going further to create 4 dimensions where live discussions with the authors  take place behind the QR code can now be a real option going forward.

This could even lead to reducing the industry’s carbon footprint with fewer people travelling thousands of miles to present a poster for 15 minutes. We are in a real digital age, and we must embrace it. Yes, face-to-face interactions are crucial and have a place, but just because we can go back to face-to-face meetings, doesn’t mean that we must. It doesn’t mean that we must throw away a lot of the wider opportunities created during the pandemic and press a reset back to ‘how it’s always been’. Maybe posters should become more focused on critical and key content, with the author taking part in discussions from their  office, via a large, centrally placed QR code. Or maybe discussions could even occur via holograms through augmented reality.”

“We are in a real digital age, and we must embrace it. Yes, face-to-face interactions are crucial and have a place, but just because we can go back to face-to-face meetings, doesn’t mean that we must.”

Journals are increasingly offering additional digital features to go alongside traditional articles. How do these enhancements improve the reach and impact of research? How do you go about measuring the return on investment?

“We are currently looking at this as a team. We are redoing our metrics projects, developing what we use already from Altmetric data, and working alongside that team to develop a Share of Voice dashboard where we can access the qualitative data, aligned with our quantitative data to get a more balanced view of the impact being made by content. We encourage the industry to move away from defaulting to impact factor as the sole consideration in journal selection and push for  open access and digital support, which can make papers more accessible to a wider audience and provide a better understanding of what people are accessing and saying about our articles. This improved analysis can then drive journal selection (and subsequent review of the selection) going forward to better educate teams about the opportunities that exist outside of simply looking at impact factor.”

“We encourage the industry to move away from defaulting to impact factor as the sole consideration in journal selection.”

Patient inclusion in medical communications was another key topic at ISMPP EU. An omnichannel approach to data dissemination provides scope to reach patients via a variety of media and increase patient involvement. Have you found this to be the case? How important is this aspect of the omnichannel approach and what do you think are the key considerations when involving patients?  

“The whole point of omnichannel is to allow and encourage patients to be able to find information on both their illness and treatment options to inform and support them. That’s why we are all here, to support patients through difficult times. As I said above, omnichannel is an ever-evolving concept due to the pace of media and channel development. What we think of it today, how we see its potential and direction may change tomorrow and certainly will in the future. This point really brings together many of the questions above whereby evolution can only occur in this space if every stakeholder gets on board. One limiting area will derail it all and revert back to the tried, tested and safe standard.

We need social media guidance from the PMCPA to be available for some level of dissemination. If we created non-promotional language and informed people of everything that is available, it would become easier for patients to find research. Removing pay walls and accessibility to patients would make a huge impact too and this will only happen with companies working together to get the best outcomes for patients to be reassured, and understand the progress and options available to them.

Involving patients in the publications process is increasingly common and finally being recognised as valuable. Patient involvement allows for articles to have an empathetic and practical sense. Our language can all too often be very scientific, hard, and factual without the secondary consideration/realisation that patients will be reading our articles too, not just HCPs! Involving patients can provide a human centric approach to the writing resulting in more descriptive and informative wording and improved accuracy of language – often opening the article to more patients who will get what they came looking for from the article.”

PLS, which are recommended in the GPP 2022 update, are mandated by some pharmaceutical companies for some or all their company-sponsored research. What is the current policy on PLS at AstraZeneca? How do you think decisions should be made regarding the inclusion of PLS to maximise their benefit whilst avoiding cherry picking research?

“The simple solution is to mandate that all publications need a PLS. This is something that I think will come but needs to be done in line with PMCPA considerations regarding social media, otherwise we are once again creating a bottleneck of content without a proper and full distribution system available.

PLS are improving and becoming  much more regulated and relevant as the social media world wants bitesized, simple content to understand. Even posters are now ‘too much’ to digest for people; instead they want to access information that has been summarised in a PLS. I go back to point raised above: so much more information could sit behind a poster with QR codes or other digital mechanisms with a concise text summary of the conclusion, a PLS and some simple graphics on the poster.

We are developing PLS options with internal artificial intelligence (AI) tools at present. We have made some fantastic progress on this with posters and are keen to extend the potential to manuscripts and even develop full plain language summaries of publications (PLSPs) in the future using this potential technology. More to come!”

Looking to the future, what developments would you like to see within medical communications? Are there any areas where you feel innovations or more creative approaches may lead to significant changes to standard practices?

“We can be a creative sector of the industry. We want to be creative and be pushed harder to innovate and create. Some of the issues right now are simply that the constraints around what is seen to be ‘promotional’ are so tight that it makes it incredibly hard to be creative! There are always new ways of doing things and as an industry that is constantly innovating and pushing boundaries within science, we seem very slow to be open-minded enough to challenge the status quo within the communications space. There is so much we could do, that does not need to be promotional, but can be informative, reassuring, and supportive for patients – we just need to work collaboratively to remove obstacles and find a mutually agreeable pathway to allow more and better innovation in the publications space.”

“We can be a creative sector of the industry. We want to be creative and be pushed harder to innovate and create…..There is so much we could do, that does not need to be promotional, but can be informative, reassuring, and supportive for patients.”

James Dathan is Global Publications Manager at AstraZeneca and can be contacted via james.dathan@astrazeneca.com or LinkedIn. James Dathan is an employee of AstraZeneca. This article reflects his opinions and not necessarily those of AstraZeneca.

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The expertise of patients and the additional insights that they can bring to medical publications is increasingly being recognised, with the role of patients and patient advocacy groups among the updates included in the Good Publication Practice (GPP) 2022 guidelines. Following her participation at the 2023 International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) EU meeting, The Publication Plan spoke with Catherine Skobe, Publications Innovative Solutions Lead at Pfizer, to get her thoughts on how to increase engagement with patients throughout the publication process and on other areas for innovation in medical communications.

You’ve been involved in a range of initiatives surrounding patient involvement and the broader theme of inclusivity in medical publications. Could you start by sharing a little about your background and how you came to be interested and involved in these aspects of medical publishing?

I’d like to start by thanking The Publication Plan for the invitation to share my experiences in our field of scientific publications. I began my career in a hospital lab with the patient at the forefront of my work. Over the 20 years I’ve been working in scientific publications, the patient has always been top-of-mind, but how that intersection occurs has evolved. Layering in my experience in public health is where my pursuit in inclusivity stems from, relating to both scientific communications and to who can and who should be involved. Bringing in voices from those who are impacted by a disease is vital to understanding their needs, fulfilling those needs, and delivering well-researched information that enables them, their caregivers, and their healthcare providers to make more informed decisions.

“Bringing in voices from those who are impacted by a disease … is vital to delivering well-researched information.”

At the ISMPP EU 2023 meeting, you talked about Pfizer’s Patient Collaborative Board and its purpose to engage patients as collaborators and partners in medical publishing. Could you tell us how the idea for the board came about and how it builds on Pfizer’s existing approach to patient engagement?

As we began exploring the development of plain language summaries (PLS), I felt it was important that we hear from an audience (eg, patients/patient advocates) we intended to target to fully understand their needs. In 2020, we began with outreach to Pfizer’s in-house Patient Advocacy team to identify patient advocates for an Advisory Board meeting. We also received recommendations from identified Advisory Board attendees. It was important to us to have representation across various therapy areas as well as geography, gender, and ethnicity. During this initial Advisory Board meeting, we discussed the end-to-end publication process and learned a lot about their preferences related to publications. As part of the post-meeting survey, we discovered the attendees found the meeting as rewarding as we did. At that point, we decided to establish an ongoing board to continue the conversation. Changing the name of the board to Collaborative Board was a critical move to ensure all members are equally accountable for deliverables.

“It was important to us to have representation across various therapy areas as well as geography, gender, and ethnicity.”

What’s been the response to the board so far, both from internal stakeholders at Pfizer and from external collaborators including the patients and clinicians with whom you work? What have been the most notable impacts since setting up the board?

Our Collaborative Board is comprised of patient advocates who are eager to share their expertise and provide guidance on what resonates with their communities. To date, the members of the Collaborative Board have helped develop our guidance and resource materials for working with patient authors. In addition, they have shared their voices in our effort to increase open access publishing by participating in webinars and producing video bytes that encourage our internal authors to strongly consider journals that offer open access options. Their involvement and leadership lend credibility to our initiatives with a patient-centric focus.

During ISMPP EU, you mentioned having a 3-year plan for the future development of the board. How do you see its scope evolving? Where are the opportunities to increase patient involvement in medical publications and what are the barriers preventing it – whether based on your own experience or considering the wider medical publishing landscape?

We spent the latter part of 2022 and early 2023 developing the rules of engagement, creating a mission statement, defining our purpose, and preparing a multi-year plan. There is still much progress to be made in scientific publications as far as education for both pharma companies engaging with patients and patients who want to be involved in the end-to-end process. Raising awareness, internal and external to Pfizer, is an important first step in imparting how important it is to engage patients in the process. We also need to understand the formats that resonate with patients, where they go to get their information (ie, discoverability), and which journals and congresses are patient oriented.

A key barrier is the need for peer reviewed PLS and a journal ‘home’ for them. There is a level of trust that comes with both that’s not currently as widespread as it needs to be. Involving patients as authors and as peer reviewers represents a move away from convention but is clearly an opportunity to effect positive  change. By tapping into patient advocacy organizations and combined with proper training, journal publishers could transform their existing models and provide a trusted resource for all seeking information. Ultimately, this effort could improve health literacy, which, in turn, could impact patient outcomes.

“Ultimately, [involving patients as authors and peer reviewers] could improve health literacy, which, in turn, could impact patient outcomes.”

More generally, it seems like we’re seeing more consistency within recent industry guidance and recommendations and journal editorial policies regarding when and how patients should be involved in medical publishing, with the GPP 2022 update as an example. Do you think that’s the case? Are there areas where the guidance could be clearer or more consistent?

GPP 2022 provided an excellent foundation for patient involvement in medical publishing. It was exciting to finally see guidance written that includes this audience, particularly as they are mentioned in the Principles to Support Inclusivity section. Engaging patients at the outset through Steering Committees and Working Groups sets them up to ensure International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship criteria are being met. GPP 2022 gives many great examples of how patients and patient advocates can be involved in publications. Acknowledging that patients/patient advocates can provide a unique perspective and meaningful insights to enrich the data is a move in the right direction for medical publications. For full disclosure, I was a reviewer of GPP 2022.

“Acknowledging that patients/patient advocates can provide a unique perspective and meaningful insights to enrich the data is a move in the right direction for medical publications.”

Switching tracks slightly, you also spoke at ISMPP EU about a recently developed process at Pfizer to use the independent open access repository, Figshare, as a platform to disseminate peer reviewed PLS for manuscripts. Could you tell our readers a little more about this project? What were the pros and cons of using an independent platform like Figshare compared to a company-hosted platform?

We began exploring use cases for Figshare a few years back in 2017–18. It was our work in PLS that became the justification for creating the Pfizer Figshare platform. As we began to develop PLS in tandem with manuscripts, we discovered not all journals have the ability to host PLS on their platforms. Figshare became the solution we decided to pursue. Due to its flexibility, we are also able to provide a repository for supplemental journal materials, enhanced publication content, and eventually a home for Green open access articles. One of the best features of Figshare is its ability to capture metrics. As of early April 2023, we’ve reached close to 10,000 views. However, discoverability of this information remains a hurdle. The Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) from the Figshare site are shared with the journal to direct readers to the additional content on Figshare, but that is the extent to which the content is disseminated.

We didn’t pursue a company-hosted platform because Figshare already existed and met our needs. This allowed us to quickly implement our idea without the need to build a site. Developing our own site wasn’t on our radar when the need arose.

GPP 2022 contains advice on industry use of social media platforms, and in the UK we recently saw The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) launch its guidance on social media use for pharmaceutical companies. Do you think there’s a need for similar industry guidance on the use of independently hosted repositories and similar online platforms to enable pharmaceutical companies to use them as a means of data dissemination?

Industry guidance related to social media use, specifically related to publication content, would be extremely useful. We know there is a lot of scientific conversation being held on social media platforms. Being able to share scientific information accurately, in a safe, dare I say regulated manner, could help combat some of the misinformation that is being propagated on social media. In 2017, Sara Rouhi (now with PLOS) and I co-founded ISMPP’s Social Media and Web-based Metrics Working Group. We’ve been waiting since then for guidance on how to safely communicate on social media. Social media platforms remain a bit of a ‘Wild West’, and I believe there’s a need to apply some rigor to at least some areas of conversation when led by certain users.

“Industry guidance related to social media use, specifically related to publication content, would be extremely useful.”

Finally, and thinking more generally about innovation in the medical communications and publishing industry, of the projects that you’ve been involved in, which have you found the most rewarding, whether in terms of their impact or perhaps taking a creative or alternative approach? Are there further opportunities for innovation in patient engagement and involvement or in other aspects of medical communications?

What a fantastic question. The most rewarding project I’ve led was the design and build of our publications management system called Aurora. It was a multi-year project that encouraged blue sky thinking. Aurora launched just a year ago and we continue to evolve her functionality at an unprecedented pace. The ideas on our roadmap could carry us out several years to get to what we ultimately want to have in our publications ecosystem. One of the most compelling features to me is the inclusion of alternative metric data to help us understand how the public is engaging with our research at an article and a journal level specific to Pfizer’s performance. Monitoring engagement is intended to provide a feedback loop to the publication teams to inform them of gaps and successes in communication. Ultimately, we can use these data to make better informed target journal selections for future publications, with a goal of driving down timelines and getting our data into the hands of healthcare professionals and patients faster.

Specific to patient engagement, we will continue to work with our Collaborative Board to understand their needs, measure our performance in open access publishing and patient authorship where patients are impacted, and drive future growth. In addition to PLS, involving patients in enhanced publication content formats is an area we should be exploring. To meet their needs and to improve health literacy, we need to consider providing information in other formats beyond the print publication. Above all, it is important that we engage patients in this dialogue to innovate in meaningful ways.

“In addition to PLS, involving patients in enhanced publication content formats is an area we should be exploring.”

Catherine Skobe, MPH, MT(ASCP), is Publications Innovative Solutions Lead at Pfizer and can be contacted at catherine.skobe@pfizer.com or via LinkedIn. The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer.

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