AMERICAS MSL Excellence: Optimizing Resources, Alignment and Organizational Support for Field Medical Operations in LATAM & Canada

Industries Profiled:
Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Diagnostic; Biotech; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Medical Device; Chemical; Biopharmaceutical; Clinical Research; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
Abbott; Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Allergopharma; Amgen; AstraZeneca; Bayer; Biogen; Bioventus; Boehringer Ingelheim; Celgene; Chiesi; Clovis Oncology; Dr Reddy's Laboratories; Eisai; Galderma; GE Healthcare; Gedeon Richter ; Gilead Sciences; Grifols; Ipsen; Janssen; Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals; Kyowa Kirin; Lupin; Merck; MSD; Novartis; Novelion Therapeutics; Pfizer; Rakuten Medical; Roche; Sandoz; Sanofi; Shire; Sunovion; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; UCB Pharma; Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Vifor Pharma; ViiV Healthcare

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 125 Global Medical Affairs and Field Medical Excellence leaders from more than 40 leading pharma and biotech companies in this research through a benchmarking survey. In-depth interviews were conducted with 8 benchmark partners to gain further insights.

The vast majority of study participants serve at the executive or director level. Together they provide a comprehensive view of field medical operations around the world, from a global, regional and local perspective.

Insights in this research are presented into following segments to illuminate field medical trends at region and country level: Europe Segment (N=58), APAC Segment (N=30), Americas Segment (N=27), MENA Segment (N=9).

Key topics covered in this report include:

• MSL staffing and resource levels in Canada and Latin America
• Structure and alignment of MSL teams
• MSL new product launches support within Canada and Latin America
• MSL productivity and efficiency
• KOL and key account targeting and engagement
• MSL skills and background across Americas

• Structure & alignment: Though mainly belonging to the Medical organization, LATAM MSLs rarely report directly to the Global MA group, reporting almost instead to the country affiliate. Canada is somewhat of an exception, with 44% of companies forging a direct reporting relationship for these MSLs into Global.

• Effectiveness: F2F accounts for a low 55% of interactions in the region, even though it is rated as the most effective channel by far. Canada MSL experience (6 years on average) rivals that of global leaders in the UK and Germany, while average Brazilian experience is among the lowest (3 years) – owing in part to a competitive job market and high turnover. but remains the gold standard, with most seeing virtual as a complement rather than a future replacement. Most Brazilian medical leaders favor recruiting from among PharmDs while Canadian leaders especially value physicians.

Sr. No.	Topic	Slide No.
I.	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
	Research Overview	p. 3
	Key Findings	p. 5
II.	FULL BENCHMARK DATA
	Resourcing MSLs: Staffing, travel & entertainment budgets and launch support	p. 14
	Aligning MSLs: Structure, reporting and organizational support	p. 33
	Assessing MSLs: Capacity, KOL targeting and engagement	p. 46
III.	APPENDIX	p. 70
IV.	About Best Practices, LLC	p. 74

• Business issue and research methodology
• Data segments analyzed in this study
• One page summary of benchmark findings
• Top takeaways for Medical Affairs and Field Excellence leaders
• Global snapshot: MSL resourcing and engagement in major non-U.S. markets
• Analyzing investment across the global MSL resource matrix
• MSL staffing levels by product lifecycle stage
• Pros and cons of country-aligned (local) reporting vs. functionally-aligned (global) reporting

• Americas countries represented in the benchmark data

• Average number of brands (including both in-line and pre-launch products) supported by each MSL in each of the listed countries – All regions
• Average number of brands (including both in-line and pre-launch products) supported by each MSL in each of the listed countries – Americas countries
• Total number of MSLs staffed in each country; total number of MSLs supporting each therapeutic area – All regions
• MSL staffing footprint in each of the listed Americas countries
• Total number of MSLs staffed in each country per therapeutic area supported
• Interview narrative around developing your own thought leaders
• Approximate annual total travel and entertainment (T&E) budget allocated to MSLs – All regions
• Approximate annual total travel and entertainment (T&E) budget allocated to MSLs in each of the listed countries – Americas countries
• Interview narrative around weighting of affiliate spend
• Total number of staff allocated to each of the listed MSL management and support roles; Americas span of field control
• Average percentage of “peak MSL team size” assigned to support a product at each phase of the typical product lifecycle – All regions
• Interview narrative around having knowledgeable MSLs onboard
• Average percentage of “peak MSL team size” assigned to support a product at each phase of the typical product lifecycle – Country-wise
• Interview narrative around key launch staffing milestones
• Effective timing in Americas to bring an MSL on board to support a product in each phase of the product lifecycle
• Effective timing to bring an MSL on board to support a product in each phase of the product lifecycle in each of the targeted Americas countries
• Top lessons learned for ensuring MSLs provide effective support for new launches in Americas region
• Innovative tactics piloted by MSLs on recent product launches - or planning to use on upcoming launches - in Americas

• MSL structure – All regions
• MSL structure – Americas countries
• Reporting relationship between the MSLs in each country and global Medical Affairs organization – All regions
• Interview narrative around country-aligned (local) MSL reporting structure
• Interview narrative around function-aligned (global) MSL reporting structure
• Interview narrative around defining the MSL reporting structure for field medical organizations with low global footprint and evolving operations
• Reporting relationship between the MSLs in each country and global Medical Affairs organization – Americas countries
• Interview narrative around MSL execution
• MSL direct reporting outside of global Medical Affairs – All regions
• Interview narrative around launch success for field medical
• MSL direct reporting outside of global Medical Affairs – Americas countries
• Interview narrative around the skillsets needed to succeed in remote markets for field medical staff

• Average MSL time spent per week on each of the listed activity areas
• Number of thought leaders supported per MSL in each region – All regions
• Number of thought leaders supported per MSL in each of the targeted Americas countries
• Interview narrative around MSL value
• Thought leader tier breakdown for a typical MSL in Americas region
• Approximate number of HCPs (i.e., not on thought leader target list) engaged by each MSL in the past 12 months in Americas region
• Total large key accounts (hospitals, care networks or academic institutions) served by each MSL in Americas
• Total large key accounts (hospitals, care networks or academic institutions) served by each MSL in each of the listed Americas countries
• Average time spent by MSLs in each face-to-face thought leader interactions (in minutes) – All regions
• Average time spent by MSLs in each face-to-face thought leader interactions (in minutes) – Americas countries
• Average frequency of MSL interactions with each kind of thought leader in Americas
• Percentage of proactive vs. reactive MSL interactions – All regions
• Percentage of proactive vs. reactive MSL interactions – Americas countries
• Frequency of proactive MSL interaction types – All regions
• Effectiveness of communication channels in Americas region for MSL interactions with thought leaders
• MSL professional backgrounds and experience in Americas region
• Actual work experience vs. effective work experience of MSLs for engaging thought leaders in high quality scientific discussions and building long-term relationships
• Interview narrative around ensuring MSLs can fulfill product plan in each of the targeted countries
• Average years of MSL experience in each region