The growing scope of Medical Affairs in an evolving ecosystem

Medical: As innovation transforms the healthcare landscape, science and data are becoming the foundation for pharma to meet its obligations to patients, healthcare professionals and payors. This imperative is further accelerating the evolution of Medical Affairs as a strategic pillar of the organisation.

In an interview with Health Industry Hub, Dr David Grolman, explored the impact of the pandemic on Medical Affairs and medical science liaison (MSL) teams, the imperatives in optimising the value of the Medical Affairs function and what excites him most about the next generation of Medical Affairs teams.

Dr Grolman is the Medical Director of the Hospital Business Unit and Medical Affairs Cluster Lead of International Developed Markets at Pfizer Australia, New Zealand & Korea. He is also a past President and current Executive Secretary of the Australian Pharmaceutical Medical and Scientific Professionals Association (APPA).

Dr Grolman said “There are several changes that are coming. Real world evidence is a real key imperative that I think Medical Affairs will be playing a major role in. The level of scientific engagement that’s needed between HCPs in the pharmaceutical industry is getting tougher all the time. So we’ve moved to where the discussion is extremely scientific and this is because the areas of unmet medical need is more specific and very complex. The discussion that is needed is at a much higher scientific level so I think the role of Medical is just going to get bigger and bigger.

“There’s going to be a big role in global harmonisation of approval processes. To repeat the process again and again in every country in the world with the delays of getting medication to patients is becoming unacceptable. People want to see this rapid timeline maintained.

“The collection of real world data to maintain patient safety, I think, is a big issue and we now have the ability to utilise big data techniques to improve outcomes. So many exciting things on the horizon,” he noted.