Best Practices, LLC Strategic Benchmarking Research

Medical Affairs’ Role in Ensuring Excellence in Product Launch

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary pp. 3-11

Research Overview pp. 3

Participating Companies pp. 4

Key Recommendations pp. 5

Segments & Abbreviations pp. 6-7

Key Findings & Insights pp. 8-11

Research Segmentation pp. 12-15

MA’s Role in Launch Activities pp. 16-22

Thought Leader Tiering pp. 23-29

Thought Leader Targeting and MSL Coverage pp. 30-38

Launch Investment pp.39-43

MA Investment Allocation pp.44-48

Participant Demographics pp. 49-50

About Best Practices, LLC pp. 51-52

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Field Research & Insight Development:

Twenty Nine survey responses from Medical Affairs leaders

at 24 biopharmaceutical companies within mature markets.

This report captures insights on top biopharmaceutical

companies.

We based segmentation on three areas: Product’s Projected

Peak Annual Revenue, Targeted Physicians and Product’s

Launch Year.

Additional deep-dive interviews with 5 selected Medical

Affairs executives- 4 VPs and 1 Sr. Medical Affairs Director.

Provide Leading Insights on:

• Identify critical success

factors for a strong Medical

Affairs launch support

• Define strategies for TL

targeting and communication

Research Objectives & Methodology

Research Objectives:

Illustrate how Medical Affairs is involved in the launch process in leading Pharma and Biotech

companies

Highlight strategies for effective thought leader (TL) segmentation and relationship

management

Understand challenges in managing successful Medical Affairs launch support

Identify industry drivers regarding new product commercialization

Explore critical strategies for allocating Medical Affairs launch budget effectively

Business Objective:

This research delivers current data, insights and best practices from Medical Affairs leaders at top biopharmaceutical

companies. The benchmark data in this study will help companies find better ways to develop successful launch strategies.

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Universe of Learning: Research Participants from 2014-2015 Study

This study engaged 28 executives from 24 leading life sciences companies. Segmentation analysis was key to examining trends

and effective practices. We created segments based on three criteria: Projected Peak Annual Revenue of the product, Targeted

Physicians for the product, Launch Year of the product.

Benchmark Class

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We analyzed Three Main Segments in the Research

We created three segments from the data we collected from our survey.

N=19-28

Segmentation

Projected Peak

Annual Revenue

– Based

Segmentation

Targeted

Physicians –

Based

Segmentation

Launch Year –

Based

Segmentation

High

Revenue

Expectation: ≥ $1B

Medium

Revenue

Expectation: Btw. $500M

and $1B

Low

Revenue

Expectation: ≤ $500M

Both

Primary and

Specialty

Care Areas

Multiple

Specialty

Care Areas

Single

Specialty

Care Area

Launch Year < 2012

Launch Year ≥ 2012

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Segments and Abbreviations

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Abbreviations:

• FBMT: Field-Based Medical Team

• MA: Medical Affairs

• MedEd: Medical Education

• MedCom: Medical Communications

• MSL: Medical Science Liaison

• TA: Therapeutic Areas

• TBC: Total Benchmark Class

• TL: Thought Leader

• TLM: Thought Leader Management

Implications for Pharma:

Medical Affairs is leading TL Activities and plays a key role between companies and decision

makers during launch process. This requires companies to create strong MSL teams, acquire the

right talent and provide effective training.

Medical Affairs also plays a critical role in internal education and guiding commercial strategies

regarding products. This provides MA leaders with the opportunity to convey the needs of key

decision makers, thus companies to improve their products.

Key Findings & Insights: Medical Affairs Launch Support Excellence

Medical Affairs’ Role in Launch Activities: Medical Affairs is heavily involved in five launch activities within

participating organizations: Scientific Publications, MSL Activities, Advisory Boards, TL identification and

development.

Projected Peak Annual Revenue Segment: Higher percent of MA participants lead Continuing

Medical Education for products with lower revenue expectation.

In addition, all of the sub-segments lead MSL Activities during launch process.

Targeted Physicians Segment: While 78% of the participants said that MA leads TL Identification

and Development for single specialty products, this ratio is about 90% for multiple specialty and both

primary and specialty care products.

However, a higher percentage of participants lead Continuing Medical Education and Real

World Data Generation & Analysis within the single specialty products segment.

Launch Year Segment: MA is taking more leadership responsibility in three areas for products that

launched after 2012: Advisory Boards, TL Identification & Development and Continuing Medical

Education.

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Majority Say MA Leads 6 out of 11 Launch Activities

MA leads two launch activities for 93% of the benchmark class: Scientific Publications and MSL Activities. In addition, the

MA function is either leading or supporting Advisory Boards, TL Activities and Investigator & Site Identification in all

participant companies.

N=27

Medical Affairs' Role: Please identify Medical Affairs’ role in each of the following activities that take place during

launch and pre-launch phases.

93%

93%

86%

86%

61%

57%

41%

39%

37%

26%

22%

7%

14%

14%

21%

21%

59%

57%

44%

63%

59%

7%

7%

7%

4%

4%

4%

11%

14%

4%

15%

7%

15%

Scientific publications

MSL activites

Advisory boards

TL identification & development

Continuing medical educaion

Real world data generation & analysis

Investigator and site identification

Speaker training

Protocol design

Study/Site support & trouble shooting

Clinical research conduct

MA's Role in Launch Activities – Total Benchmark Class (TBC)

Lead Support Plan to Participate in the Next 12 Months None

% Respondents

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Case Example: Segment ‘TLs’ by Level of Influence before Evaluations

Segmentation Process

“Most of these physicians that we call

‘Thought Leaders’ are really just

important physicians, not TLs with

national influence.

“I have found it valuable to segment

them into ‘Thought Leaders’ and

‘Practice Leaders.’ You deal with them

differently and measure the quality of

the interactions differently. You can

delineate it further with segments for

‘Regional Practice Leaders,’ ‘National

Practice Leaders,’ and ‘Average

Doctors,’ which is the vast majority of

physicians.

“You should not evaluate them the

same because they serve different

functions.”

— Interviewed VP, Medical Affairs

(Company A)

Evaluating MSL/TL interactions is difficult for Medical Affairs leaders. One reason is that “TLs” are not a homogenous entity.

An interviewed VP segments “Thought Leaders” by their level of influence to facilitate evaluation.

Segment

Define

Compress

/ Expand

Populate

Assign

Segment your “TLs by level of influence

Define/ describe each segment in a way that’s

relevant to your organization and your product

Compress or expand number of segments,

depending upon specialties within a given

therapeutic area

Populate each segment with selected physicians

Assign selected physicians to staff members

responsible for interaction

38%

38%

24%

Geographic Span – Benchmark Class

Global (Including U.S.) U.S. only Other

Others: Canada, Nordics, U.S. and Canada, U.S. Only and Western Europe.

N=28

Seventy six percent of the participants’ Medical Affairs organizations are responsible for two geographic regions: Global

(including U.S.) or U.S. only.

Geographic Span: What is the geographic span of responsibility that you have in Medical Affairs at your

company? (Choose all that apply.)

Majority of the Participants Have Either a Global or U.S. Only Role

% Respondents

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About Best Practices, LLC

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Best Practices®, LLC is an internationally recognized thought leader in the field of best practice

benchmarking®. We are a research, consulting, benchmark database, publishing and advisory firm that

conducts work based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior

economic performance by leveraging the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of

world-class companies.

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Chapel Hill, NC 27517

(Phone): 919-403-0251

www.best-in-class.com

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