What is medical communications?
Medical communications (MedComms) is the discipline of translating scientific and clinical evidence into clear, accurate, audience-appropriate materials across the medicine lifecycle. In the pharmaceutical and biotech context, it typically covers how study results, product evidence, and medical insights are developed into publications, congress content, medical education assets, and other scientific communications used by medical-affairs teams and external stakeholders.
Why medical communications matters in life sciences
Medical communications help ensure evidence is shared responsibly, consistently, and on time. Done well, it supports clinical decision-making, improves understanding of a therapy’s data profile, and strengthens scientific credibility through transparent publication practices. It also reduces risk by formalising how scientific information is presented, reviewed, and disclosed, especially when communications involve industry-sponsored research.
Medical communications vs. medical affairs
Medical affairs is the scientific interface between life-science companies and the healthcare community, spanning education, evidence generation, and compliant stakeholder engagement. Medical communications is one of the key execution engines that operationalises this mandate by producing the scientific assets and narratives that support peer-to-peer exchange, publications, and education.
Core medical communications deliverables
Common MedComms outputs in pharma and biotech include:
- Scientific publications: publication plans, manuscripts, abstracts, and journal submissions.
- Congress materials: posters, oral presentation slide decks, symposia content, and meeting summaries.
- Medical education: evidence-based training assets, disease education, and non-promotional learning materials for HCP audiences.
- Evidence communication: scientific platforms, data-driven slide decks, FAQs, and clinical narrative materials used by medical-affairs teams.
- Plain language and patient-facing outputs: plain language summaries and patient education content, where appropriate and compliant.
How medical communications stays credible and compliant
In pharma, scientific communications are expected to be accurate, balanced, and transparent about sponsorship, authorship, and writing support. Publication ethics frameworks emphasise clear contributor roles, appropriate acknowledgement of professional medical writing support, and disclosure of funding and relevant conflicts of interest.
When communicating scientific information that touches unapproved uses, companies also need clear separation from promotional materials and disciplined governance over what is shared, to support truthful, non-misleading scientific exchange.
Best practices
High-performing medical communications teams typically:
- Build assets from a consistent scientific platform and trace claims back to source data.
- Lock in authorship, contributor roles, and timelines early through structured publication planning.
- Follow recognised publication standards, including transparent authorship and acknowledgement practices.
- Use rigorous review workflows (scientific, legal, and compliance) with clear version control.
- Measure impact with meaningful indicators such as publication timeliness, congress reach, and evidence uptake, not just asset volume.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Treating output volume as impact: counting assets without tracking whether they improve understanding, decisions, or evidence adoption.
- Weak transparency: unclear authorship, missing disclosures, or unacknowledged writing support
- Cherry-picking evidence: presenting favourable results without adequate context or limitations.
- Blurring scientific exchange and promotion: mixing non-promotional scientific information with promotional framing or channels.
- Late-stage chaos: starting congress and manuscript development too late, which increases quality and compliance risk.
How TikaMobile supports medical communications excellence
TikaMobile helps medical-affairs teams systematise the workflows that medical communications depends on:
- Med Affairs CRM: capture compliant HCP interactions and link discussions to evidence topics and follow-ups.
- KOL Identification and KOL Engagement: identify scientific leaders, plan engagements, and track outputs from advisory boards and expert meetings.
- Medical Insights: capture field insights and connect them to actions such as updated scientific decks, evidence plans, or education priorities.
- Medical Information: streamline intake and routing of scientific questions so responses stay consistent, compliant, and trackable.