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

Best Practices in MSL Team Management: Benchmarks for Team Staffing

, Budgets and Structure

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

Percentage of MSL's time spent on specific activities in support of marketed products

Budgets and Salaries

Budget breakdown across specific tasks/activities

MSL salary schedule based on MSL experience

MSL Team Profile: overview of one MSL team, specific to therapeutic area, within company's MSL group

Personnel facts and product pipeline:

Number of MSLs on team

Number of sales reps covered by MSL

Average number of thought leader relationships for MSLs

Marketed and pipeline products supported by MSLs

Thought leader relationships and time allocation:

Thought leader relationships by percentage:

Primary care physicians

Specialists

Sub-specialists

Experts-in-field

Allied health professionals

Surgeons

Percentage of MSL time typically spent in field

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