Chat Generated Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) is a chatbox launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It is a unique opportunity to engage in a candid dialogue with an AI. We sought out its expertise on Medical Affairs, focusing on identifying effective strategies for engaging Key Opinion Leaders and understanding the obstacles that MSLs face when attempting to establish these connections while comparing it to real-world studies and experiences.
What we already know
Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) often face challenges sustaining relationships with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and other Healthcare Professionals (HCPs). The main reasons for these challenges are related to communication, accessibility, and value. In terms of communication, MSLs may struggle to effectively convey the scientific and medical information and the value of a company's products to KOLs and HCPs in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner. Additionally, MSLs may find it difficult to tailor their communication style and approach to each KOL and HCP's individual preferences and communication style. Accessibility can also be challenging for MSLs, as KOLs and HCPs are busy individuals with demanding schedules.
Furthermore, KOLs and HCPs may be approached by multiple MSLs from different organizations, making it harder to stand out and maintain a lasting relationship.
Overall, maintaining relationships with KOLs and HCPs is a complex and challenging task.
Q&A With ChatGPT
Our team went on an expedition to seek the wisdom of ChatGPT and its understanding of Medical Affairs.
What we uncovered is the following:
Tika: “What are best practices for KOL engagement for MSLs”
ChatGPT: “Building and maintaining strong relationships: MSLs should focus on building and maintaining strong, long-term relationships with KOLs through regular communication and interactions. Providing valuable and relevant information: MSLs should ensure that they provide KOLs with accurate, up-to-date, and relevant scientific and clinical information about the company's products and therapies. Being responsive and accessible: MSLs should be responsive and accessible to KOLs, and make themselves available to answer any questions or concerns the KOLs may have.”
Tika: “What are the challenges faced by MSLs while trying to engage KOLs”
ChatGPT: “Prioritize transparency: Transparency is paramount from the first meeting through launch and onward; it needs to be the foundation upon which the KOL relationship is built. Maintaining Flexibility: KOL management needs to be a fluid concept, in which relationships are maintained and new ones are added where necessary.”
What we can learn from AI
A common theme across the various challenges mentioned by ChatGPT is surrounding effective communication skills and relationship building.
Effective communication is a fundamental principle of the role of MSLs, as it is essential for building and maintaining relationships with KOLs.
ChatGPT may have struggled to provide MSLs with proper strategies to improve communication, which would've been a valuable addition. In addition, ChatGPT may have failed to recognize the importance of executing Medical Affairs strategies and showcasing the true impact on the overall business objectives. This could be due to Ai's lack of understanding of the complex role of an MSL or a lack of measurement and tracking of the outcomes of MSL activities. By recognizing the importance of executing Medical Affairs strategies, showcasing impact on business objectives, and providing MSLs with the training and resources they need to succeed, companies can better implement Medical Affairs strategies and demonstrate their value to the overall business.
What TikaMobile has found working with our clients
MSLs are consistently looking for ways to increase the effectiveness of their engagements with KOLs. We have found that many organizations still need a clear process to analyze insights and capture outcomes from KOL interactions. From our findings, it is imperative to establish an outcomes-based framework, to avoid missed opportunities of tracking these valuable insights. This is a strategic approach in which all strategy elements are towards achieving a desired outcome.
The key challenges we found from our clients:
- Desire to spend more time engaging and researching than demonstrating value through reports
- Medical affairs teams should be brought in early in the product launch phase to provide valuable insights to the greater team
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MSL duties are sometimes not directly tied to their job responsibilities and can slow down insight gathering
These are a few challenges we’ve uncovered working closely within the space. We suggest commercial teams to involve the Medical Affairs team early in the strategy creation and objective planning process to ensure that KOL engagement is aligned with corporate strategy and improves internal collaboration.
Having measurable objectives and KOL engagement strategies increases the ability to achieve strategic goals and ensure action by the Medical Affairs team. Additionally, creating a KOL development continuum is an effective way for MSLs to keep track of what stage their relationship with a KOL is in and how they are progressing.
Conclusion
ChatGPT is a valuable resource that shows our technological progress, offering a wealth of information on various industry challenges. We can use AI's analysis of Medical Affairs to understand how objectives and challenges are perceived. Our experiment discovered that ChatGPT understands the importance of effective communication in building and maintaining relationships with KOLs. With ongoing advancements, we are hopeful that AI will make the role of Medical Affairs more strategic and streamlined to solve meaningful challenges. We will continue to explore further topics with ChatGPT in pursuit of solving our industry challenges.
Stay tuned for Pt. 2
Authors: Manish Sharma & Joelle Odigie