68% of global medical affairs groups elect to outsource at least one subfunction -- more than US-specific groups (44%) and other country-level groups (39%), found Cutting Edge Information research.

The data in, "Pharmaceutical Pricing Strategy: Developing Teams to Calculate and Communicate Product Value," shows that Medical Information is the most commonly outsourced subfunction. International call centers and medical information vendors are trained to handle medical inquiries in several languages and deliver the appropriate standard response documents.

The study found that the next most commonly outsourced department is Medical Publications. Global publications teams can run quite small. In fact, 80% of the global medical publications teams surveyed have 2 FTEs (Full-Time Equivalents) or fewer. Often, global medical affairs groups manage the strategic publication planning decisions and outsource the medical writing to investigators or contract writers. Yet outsourcing is not reserved for small teams looking to keep pace with a growing workload. One interviewed pharmaceutical executive reported having the biggest global medical affairs department by employees. However, the group still chooses to outsource a majority of both medical information and medical publications activities.

One Top 20 pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Europe, runs a decentralized medical affairs model, which empowering affiliates to manage medical activities in each country. The medical group located at corporate headquarters develops global strategy for many activities, including medical information, medical education and medical publications. However, the company empowers country-level groups to manage their own field-based medical staff, thought leader development and investigator initiated trial selection. This structure leads to varying degrees of outsourced activities among the country-level teams.

"Medical Affairs: Resource Allocation for the Global Marketplace" (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/global-resource-allocation/) includes detailed data on optimal medical affairs structures and best practices for cross-functional communication with clinical and marketing teams. It also includes four years of budget data for the medical affairs function. Use this report to:

  • Strengthen medical affairs staffing, structure and organizational support within pharmaceutical or medical device companies.
  • Empower medical affairs teams via adequate budget and staffing resources prior to product launch.
  • Position health economics teams under the medical affairs umbrella.

For more information about medical affairs operations, contact Cassie Demeter at 919-403-6583.

Cutting Edge Information
Cassie Demeter, 919-403-6583