Medical Science Liaison Programs' High Stakes in Supporting Internal Stakeholders

Los Angeles, California — Even though medical science liaisons (MSLs) have regarded their role to involve primarily medical thought leaders and key opinion leaders (KOLs), a study published by Medical Science Liaison Institute reveals that MSL programs have an increasing stake in supporting their own organizations' internal stakeholders (http://www.MSLmetrics.com).

As compliance concerns increasingly separate MSL programs from commercial involvement, demonstrating the value of MSL programs will involve internal stakeholder support that may also include appropriate commercial support. This often involves appropriate and documented interactions between MSL teams and their sales and marketing colleagues.

"If you ask medical science liaisons who their stakeholders are, most MSLs will immediately talk about thought leaders in a therapeutic area," said Jane Chin, PhD, President of Medical Science Liaison Institute. “Internal stakeholders may not be at the forefront of MSLs' minds, and in many cases, MSLs may even resist interacting with commercially-driven internal stakeholders out of compliance concerns."

However, based on an annual survey of 18 field-based medical science liaison programs, internal stakeholder support is a critical component of MSLs' annual objectives, and therefore a critical component when formulating MSL program metrics.

QUANTIFYING AN INTANGIBLE: 2007 Medical Science Liaison Metrics Survey, available at http://www.MSLmetrics.com/ is a report by Medical Science Liaison Institute to assess current practices in field-medical science liaison program organization, deployment, and strategies in quantifying and communicating measurements of value that are by nature, intangible. This report distills primary- and secondary source collection from a web-based survey, one-on-one confidential interviews with constituents and executives of field-medical programs at 18 biopharmaceutical companies, published information sources on trends in field-medical affairs, and Medical Science Liaison Institute's proprietary collection of MSL program intelligence and best practices.

To learn more about this 7-chapter, 98-page report, visit http://www.MSLmetrics.com/ . For more information on Medical Science Liaison Institute, please visit http://www.MSLinstitute.com/ or contact info@msliq.com .