Global MSL Resourcing Excellence: Optimizing Resources, Alignment and Organizational Support for MENA Field Medical Operations

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 the Middle East and North Africa
• Structure and alignment of MSL teams
• MSL new product launches support within Middle East and North Africa
• MSL productivity and efficiency
• KOL and key account targeting and engagement
• MSL skills and background across Middle East and North Africa markets

• Structure & alignment: Overall, 90% of MSLs in the Middle East / North Africa MENA MSLs are aligned in the Medical organization, although none of these MSLs report directly into Global Medical Affairs. And whereas field team members in most other regions report into the country office, some 40% of MENA MSLs actually report into a regional office.

• Capacity & engagement: MENA MSLs support a high number of total brands (2.9 per MSLs) – more than benchmark averages in APAC, Americas and EU5.

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. 13
	Aligning MSLs: Structure, reporting and organizational support	p. 25
III.	APPENDIX	p. 33
IV.	About Best Practices, LLC	p. 37

• 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 MENA markets
• MSL staffing levels by product lifecycle stage
• Pros and cons of country-aligned (local) reporting vs. functionally-aligned (global) reporting

• Countries from MENA region 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
• Interview narrative around having knowledgeable MSLs onboard
• Interview narrative around the perceived value of MSLs
• Total number of MSLs staffed in each country; total number of MSLs supporting each therapeutic area
• MSL staffing footprint in each of the listed MENA countries
• Interview narrative around key launch staffing milestones
• Interview narrative around launch success for field medical teams
• Interview narrative around ensuring MSLs can fulfill the product plan
• 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 – MENA countries
• Interview narrative around weighting of affiliate spend

• MSL structure
• MSL direct reporting outside of global Medical Affairs
• 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
• Interview narrative around MSL execution
• Interview narrative around the skillsets needed to succeed in remote markets for field medical staff