Best Practices for Gathering and Distributing Insights within Medical Affairs Organization: Neurology Segment

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Communications; Biopharmaceutical; Biotech; Chemical; Health Care; Consumer Products; Medical Device


Companies Profiled:
Adamas Pharmaceuticals; ApotheCom; Biohaven Pharmaceuticals; EMD Serono; Eli Lilly and Company; Genentech; Janssen; Lundbeck; Merck; Merck KGaA; Novartis; Nutricia; Orchard Therapeutics; Roche; Sunovion; Teva Pharmaceuticals; Terumo BCT: Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 18 executives from 17 leading life sciences companies focused on neurology for this research. The study insights are mostly from directors and higher management executives, representing nearly 80% of the benchmark participants.
Benchmark data is broken down into two different segments to provide deeper insights. Classifications reflect their approach and standing in neurology medical insight generation:

• Insight Leaders (3 respondents)
• Insight Majority (15 respondents)

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Structure of Neurology Medical Insights and Dissemination Group
• Gathering Neurology Insights: Coordination, Activities and Tools
• Disseminating Neurology Insights: Tools, Activities and Effectiveness
• Neurology Insights Gathering: Training Techniques and Tools
• Innovative and Best Practices
• Actionable Insights and Intelligence Gathering in Neurology
• Key Lessons Learned

• Primary and Secondary Data Sources: In the neurology segment, medical congresses, thought leaders, and advisory boards emerge as the most impactful primary sources for gathering and distributing medical insights. Publications and conference literature complement these efforts as the most effective secondary sources, ensuring comprehensive and evidence-backed knowledge dissemination.

• Medical Affairs Insight Leadership: Most companies lean on Medical Field Teams (91%) and Health Outcomes (55%) to lead the insight process. Leading organizations, however, also involve thought-leader management and Medical Communications, ensuring a multifaceted and strategic insight leadership framework.

Sr. No.	Topic	Slide No.
I.	Executive Summary	Pg. 4
	One-page Executive Brief	Pg. 5
	Segmentation Criteria	Pg. 6
II.	Insight Overview and Key Findings	Pg. 9
III.	Structure of Medical Insights and Dissemination Group	Pg. 13
IV.	Gathering Insights: Coordination, Activities and Tools	Pg. 32
V.	Disseminating Insights: Tools, Activities and Effectiveness	Pg. 59
VI.	Insights Gathering: Training Techniques and Tools	Pg. 68
VII.	Innovative and Best Practices	Pg. 72
VIII.	Actionable Insights and Intelligence Gathering	Pg. 75
IX.	Lessons Learned	Pg. 79
X.	Participant’s Demographics	Pg. 81
XI.	Detailed Benchmark Study Data	Pg. 84
XII.	About Best Practices, LLC	Pg. 111

• Business issue, methodology, analysis, and recommendations
• Insight segmentation
• Key factors behind the success of the Insight Leaders group
• The essential neurology medical insights framework

• Critical steps of neurology insights gathering and dissemination in Medical Affairs – Total benchmark class
• Critical steps of neurology insights gathering and dissemination in Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders
• Critical steps of neurology insights gathering and dissemination in Medical Affairs – Insight Majority

• Presence of dedicated neurology insight teams – Total benchmark class
• Presence of a separate group that gathers and disseminates neurology insights for Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders
• Case Example: Structure and process of insights collection and distribution by a separate group at Company A
• Presence of a separate group that gathers and disseminates neurology insights for Medical Affairs – Insight Majority
• Case Example: Process of insights collection by the global unit at Company B
• Case Example: Insights compilation by a cross-functional group within U.S. Medical Affairs from various sources at Company C
• Case Example: Process of insight gathering and dissemination at Company D
• Role of each Medical Affairs sub-function in neurology insight management – Total benchmark class
• Role of each Medical Affairs sub-function in neurology insight management – Insight Leaders
• Role of each Medical Affairs sub-function in neurology insight management – Insight Majority
• Medical leadership in insights gathering and dissemination – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Lead and support role of Medical Affairs groups in gathering and disseminating neurology insights – Total benchmark class
• Level of expertise of the person who is responsible for conveying neurology medical insights to other functions – Total benchmark class
• Level of expertise of the person who is responsible for conveying neurology medical insights to other functions – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Strengths and weaknesses of neurology insights gathering and dissemination group structure
• Strengths in neurology insight team structure
• Weaknesses in neurology insight team structure

• Effectiveness of coordination tactics and tools for neurology insights – Total benchmark class
• Effectiveness of listed tactics and tools used by the Neurology Medical Affairs group to coordinate work, data, and analyses for stakeholders – Total benchmark class
• Highly effective team coordination tactics and tools within Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effective team coordination tactics and tools within Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Highly effective team coordination tactics and tools for stakeholders – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effective team coordination tactics and tools for stakeholders – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Use of different tools for neurology insight gathering in Medical Affairs; Integration of insights into a unified platform using different tools
• Additional tactics used by participants to generate precise and faster insights
• Percentage of intelligence gathering work involving primary (field) research and secondary research in neurology – Total benchmark class
• Percentage of intelligence gathering work involving primary (field) research and secondary research in neurology – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effectiveness and importance of primary data collection sources in neurology – Total benchmark class
• Frequency of usage of primary sources for collecting intelligence data within Neurology Medical Affairs – Total benchmark class
• Effectiveness and importance of primary data collection sources in neurology – Insight Leaders
• Effectiveness and importance of primary data collection sources in neurology – Insight Majority
• Frequency of usage of primary sources for collecting intelligence data within Neurology Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effectiveness and importance of secondary data collection sources in neurology – Total benchmark class
• Frequency of usage of secondary sources for collecting intelligence data within Neurology Medical Affairs – Total benchmark class
• Effectiveness and importance of secondary data collection sources in neurology – Insight Leaders
• Effectiveness and importance of secondary data collection sources in neurology –Insight Majority
• Frequency of usage of secondary sources for collecting intelligence data within Neurology Medical Affairs – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effectiveness of internal sources that support intelligence data collection in neurology – Total benchmark class
• Highly effective internal sources that support intelligence data collection in neurology – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Functions and groups used within Neurology Medical Affairs organization to narrow the focus of the issue and discover information gaps – Total benchmark class
• Functions and groups determining information gap within Neurology Medical Affairs teams – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Internal limitations for neurology insights collection – Total benchmark class
• Medical Affairs’ barriers to internal insights sharing

• Breakdown of neurology intelligence deliverables – Total benchmark class
• Breakdown of neurology intelligence deliverables – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Tools used by Neurology Medical teams to deliver insights to other functions – Total benchmark class
• Tools used by Neurology Medical teams to deliver insights to other functions – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effectiveness and importance of digital tools used by the Neurology Medical Affairs team to gather, evaluate, and disseminate intelligence – Total benchmark class
• Highly effective digital tools used by Neurology Medical Affairs teams to gather, evaluate, and disseminate intelligence – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Effective digital tools used by Neurology Medical Affairs teams to gather, evaluate, and disseminate intelligence – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Importance of digital tools used by Neurology Medical Affairs teams to gather, evaluate, and disseminate intelligence – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority

• Effectiveness of training techniques for neurology insight collection – Total benchmark class
• Effectiveness of training techniques for neurology insight collection – Insight Leaders and Insight Majority
• Digital tools enabling effective training

• Analyzing and prioritizing insights – a key step in gathering information and deriving actionable insights
• Innovative practices for leveraging platforms to achieve greater and faster intelligence insights

• Voices from the field: Actionable insights captured by benchmark Medical teams
• Additional methods used by Neurology Medical Affairs teams to gather intelligence (beyond KOL and HCP engagement)

• Constructive insights and learnings for neurology insight management

• Geographic responsibility of benchmark partners
• Job titles of benchmark partners