61% of Medical Science Liaison Teams Are Regionally Organized

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwired - May 26, 2016) - A recent benchmarking study found that 61% of life science companies align their medical science liaison (MSL) teams by region, according to according to business intelligence provider Cutting Edge Information.

The study, Capture and Communicate the Full Value of Medical Science Liaisons, found that life science companies can successfully structure their medical science liaison (MSL) teams in several ways, but they are generally structured by region or therapeutic area. Regional structure is beneficial because it decreases travel time and expense. Division by region also increases ease of communication within the team. Another benefit is that MSL interactions have varying regulations per region and companies can train their MSLs about local compliance more easily by organizing.

Conversely, 39% of teams that are divided by the combination of therapeutic area and region face inter-team communication challenges. It is necessary for widespread MSL programs to participate in some form of inter-team dialogue. Cross-team communication is essential for MSLs to share best practices and overcome challenges together.

"Successful teams facilitate cross-team communication simply through monthly calls," said Natalie DeMasi, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "Another way is to channel best practices through the global medical affairs team so the insights can be redistributed to other teams."

Capture and Communicate the Full Value of Medical Science Liaisons, available at http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/medical-science-liaisons/ provides MSL teams with key performance indicators (KPIs) they can benchmark against, as well as best practices that top pharmaceutical companies use to demonstrate MSL value to company stakeholders. Other key questions answered by this in-depth benchmarking study include:

• What steps do MSL teams take to justify their existence?
• How do MSL teams make a case for maintaining or increasing annual budgets?
• What are some inter-team communication strategies between MSLs and sales reps at top companies?
• What activities should MSLs focus on prior to/post product launch?
• What are some performance metrics that top MSL teams use to measure value?
• What is the ideal team size, in terms of staffing?

To learn more about Cutting Edge Information's medical affairs research, please visit http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/library/medical-affairs/.