AbbVie, Merck and Boehringer leaders urge balance of commercial imperatives in Medical Affairs teams

Medical: Nathalie McNeil, Vice President and General Manager at AbbVie ANZ, Dirk Otto, General Manager of Boehringer Ingelheim ANZ, Josie Downey, Managing Director of Merck Healthcare Australia, and David Henderson Managing Director of Biogen ANZ, have co-authored a new paper that marks a significant milestone in the evolving landscape of Medical Affairs.

A key section of the paper emphasises the crucial balance medical affairs professionals must strike between commercial imperatives and medical goals – a narrative which was initially frowned upon and has evolved over the years in the pharma sector.

Most Medical Affairs professionals aspire to elevate the function to a position of strategic leadership, influencing decisions, impacting company performance, and delivering better patient outcomes. To achieve this, they must understand the organisation’s “big picture” and how their decisions and actions contribute to both short-term and long-term success and growth.

Medical Affairs has established early and deep relationships with key external stakeholders, adopting a long-term perspective on its impact. This long-term focus often makes it challenging to align solely with short-term financial goals.

However, short-term objectives are crucial for maintaining accountability and paving the way for long-term patient impact.

Developing stronger business acumen can help Medical Affairs leaders identify when a short-term focus might jeopardise longer-term strategic decisions or partnerships. More importantly, it allows them to suggest alternative courses of action that ensure long-term sustainability and better company performance.

Medical Affairs teams must recognise that they are part of a profit-generating company, essential for advancing patient and societal health. The pharma sector needs growth and profit to develop or acquire innovative medicines. These therapies improve patient quality of life and, once they become generic, provide broader access and reduce societal expenditure.

Pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to act sustainably to benefit patients, payers, and shareholders. Understanding this philosophy helps functions without a direct link to profitability appreciate the importance of sustainable growth.

Medical Affairs leaders, adopting this broader, holistic mindset, understand the broader social responsibility of pharmaceutical companies to generate profit that can be reinvested into research and development. However, while adopting this mindset, Medical Affairs leaders must maintain the function’s integrity as an unbiased source in generating and delivering data, doing what is best for the patient, maintaining public trust, and upholding the industry’s reputation, which ultimately leads to improved outcomes for the enterprise.

General managers also play a vital role in instilling this sustainable mindset across other functions within the affiliate. By collectively aligning and focusing on improving patient outcomes and enhancing trust and reputation – central tenets in most pharmaceutical organisations – there is a greater likelihood of achieving sustainable growth with a focus on long-term objectives rather than quick wins.

Additionally, sharing responsibility for business decisions among major functions can alleviate some of the concerns Medical Affairs leaders face when they are often the final signatory on particular decisions.

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