Best Practices in MSL Team Management: Benchmarks for Team Staffing, Budgets and Structure

Oct. 30, 2010 - PRLog -- This data-rich benchmarking study focuses exclusively on the nuts and bolts of successful Medical Science Liaison (MSL) group management:
•   MSL team structure
•   Team sizing
•   Resource and budget allocation
•   Activity breakdowns
•   Performance measurement
It reveals the time-tested strategies of 50 Life Sciences firms of all types. No other resource combines this information all in one place - giving MSL program leaders easy access to key data that will solidify their decision-making, resolve logistical concerns and bring their teams to the next level.

Optimize Your Team

Whether you are in charge of a brand-new team or are looking to strengthen your core personnel, delve into various scenarios affecting MSL staffing:
•   Recruiting and hiring
•   Career paths and compensation
•   Performance measurement
•   Team sizing and expansion
•   Affiliate markets
Make Better Investment Decisions

No matter your resources or the size of your company, use this study's finely nuanced budget data to guide your budget decisions. Expand your understanding of the factors impacting MSL budgets as you examine spending breakdowns in key categories (including dollars allocated, funding for specific MSL tasks and outsourcing).

Overcome Resourcing Obstacles Specific to Your Therapeutic Area

Your MSLs are now expected to fluently discuss disease states and treatment options with thought leaders - and to place company undertakings within the context of current research. The new MSL's scientific expertise is increasingly tied to specific therapeutic areas.

Track benchmarking data specific to 15 individual therapeutic areas, including autoimmune, cardio, CNS, dermatology, diabetes, gastroenterology, and oncology. Hunt down data from one area - or look across them all to capture a complete picture of MSL resourcing.

Strengthen KOL Relationships through Territory Sizing

Well-built territories create tactical advantages in building strong key opinion leader relationships. Use smart territory sizing to overcome tight resources and provide thought leaders with individualized attention.

Territory sizing maximizes MSL reach. Allocate territories by different key factors: geography, thought leader concentration, sites of research institutions or other centers of excellence.
Sample Content

The following is excerpted from Chapter 1, "Staffing the MSL Team." This particular section addresses MSL performance metrics and compensation.

To retain top talent, companies must establish a fair and clear method of assessment. This can consist of a mix of objective metrics, even those that may not always evaluate quality, and qualitative metrics, but there must be concrete, reachable goals that apply to each MSL's activities. A Company 1 MSL manager acknowledged the difficulty of assessing individual MSL performance when team objectives take primacy. For the MSL as a position, team objectives are the more important goal. But to warrant bonuses or raises and to ensure a solid career path for talented MSLs, specific objectives must be established for each MSL.

In contrast, some companies go too far with the individual rankings. Company 9, for example, forces every MSL assessment into a bell curve with rankings of one through 10. There cannot be too many high rankings. If there are, MSL managers must adjust rankings as the evaluations move up the chain, and MSL teams are compared across the company. This undercuts the company's own goals. If MSL teams are hiring the right candidates, all of them should be able to perform at a high level. But if excellent MSLs are continually undervalued because of a theoretical model, they will move to another company.

Proving value to internal stakeholders goes hand-in-hand with ensuring that individuals are recognized for their achievements. The goal is to build from the individual to the aggregate. Individual goals should fit within team objectives while also serving as a measure of an MSL's individual contributions and value to the company.

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 2, "MSL Program Structure and Territory Sizing in the US, Europe and Other Affiliates." This section covers organizational oversight of MSL teams.

The data collected on MSL programs' structural oversight underscore the liaison team's role in the overall organization. According to survey data, 91% of responding companies' MSL teams report through medical affairs organizations, as shown in Figure 2.2. [data shown in full report] This majority of companies establishing structural oversight for MSLs under medical affairs is an indication of the degree to which MSLs play a role in drug companies' strategies.

Many companies can point to examples in which their earliest MSL teams consisted of highly skilled sales reps who had acquired enough scientific knowledge to work more closely with research-oriented opinion leaders. But as the industry shifts toward greater transparency in its relationships with key opinion leaders, MSLs play a greater strategic role in communicating the important scientific value that their relationships with KOLs provide. Therefore, companies' organizational oversight of MSLs, coming from the medical affairs function, is aligned properly with the changing times. Further emphasizing this point, only 2% of surveyed companies' MSL teams continue to have ties to the commercial organization. In contrast, in 2005, Cutting Edge Information's research found that 13% of drug companies' MSL teams reported through the sales organization, and another 14% reported through marketing and commercial operations. In 2008, no MSL teams reported through the sales organization, and the percentage of marketing and commercial operations functions overseeing MSL teams had dropped to 8%.
Metrics Overview

Chapter 1: Staffing the MSL Team

24 data charts focused on the following key points:

MSL employment criteria
Number of MSLs employed
Number of MSLs at European affiliates
Number of MSLs at Canadian, Asian, and Central and Latin American affiliates
Preferred educational level for work with primary care physicians and specialist opinion leaders
Years of health care experience required for work with primary care physicians and specialist opinion leaders
Compensation for MSLs working by experience level, company type and physician focus
MSL training frequency

Chapter 2: MSL Program Organizational Structure and Territory Sizing in the US, Europe and Other Affiliates

17 data charts focused on the following key points:
Percentage of companies with dedicated MSL teams
MSL organizational structures, including oversight and executive leadership
Average age of MSL teams

Chapter 3: MSL Program Budgets

47 data charts focused on the following key points:
US budget breakdowns for MSL programs
Other major markets' MSL budgets
Departments contributing funds to MSL budgets
Decision factors driving budgets
Spending on specific MSL activities, including averages and spending ranges for:
Opinion leader management
Conference/symposia
Travel
Overhead
Direct salaries
Training activities
Presentations
Outsourcing metrics across MSL functions

Chapter 4: MSL Program Profiles
Profiles for 15 companies' MSL organizations: 11 US company profiles and 4 non-US company profiles (UK, Canada, Belgium, Brazil)

Company Background and Structure
Company type
Country of surveyed MSL program's operation
MSL group breakdown
Reporting lines
FTEs
Allocation of therapeutic area-specific teams

Timelines and Activities
Phase of MSLs' first involvement with a product

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