The Number of Medical Science Liaisons Expected to Increase at 36 Percent of Surveyed Companies

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwired - March 17, 2016) -  Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) are a crucial part of global, U.S. and country-level medical affairs teams. MSLs have multifaceted roles including gathering competitive intelligence, facilitating clinical studies and coordinating investigator-initiated trials (IITs), according to primary intelligence provider Cutting Edge Information. The growing importance of this role moving forward is highlighted by the fact that 92 percent of medical affairs teams at Top 10 companies oversee MSL activities.

Medical Affairs Management: Igniting Innovative Global Strategies expounds MSL teams' value as scientific resources to healthcare providers. For surveyed companies, MSL teams claim the highest percentages of both medical affairs budgets and total medical affairs employees. MSL teams are on the rise, with 36 percent of surveyed companies planning to increase the number of employees staffed to MSL teams.

With patients now visiting their healthcare providers after doing research online, physicians are increasingly looking to MSLs to provide current and useful information for their practices. MSLs have an important role in working with healthcare providers to ensure that they are prepared to have these discussions with patients. In addition to asking specifics about products, patients are asking questions about the entire disease state and treatment pathway.

"MSL's roles extend beyond building relationships with thought leaders and answering unsolicited off-label questions," said Natalie DeMasi, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "They are invaluable to life science companies and the healthcare providers they serve."

Medical Affairs Management: Igniting Innovative Global Strategies, available at http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/global-resource-allocation/, analyzes medical affairs subfunction budgets, staffing and outsourcing data, by each team's region. The report's highlights also include:

• Budget per year (2014-16) for the total medical affairs budget.
• Data showing 2015 budget per supported product and per FTE.
• Medical affairs team structure, including associated subfunctions and strategy development structures.
• Trends affecting medical affairs and its individual subfunctions.
• Stage during which each of the 15 medical affairs subfunctions profiled in the study begin and reach peak activity.

For more information about Medical Affairs Management: Igniting Innovative Global Strategies and medical communication team budgets, please visit http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/global-resource-allocation/.

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