Best Practices in Funding US Fellowships: Using Pharma Grants Effectively to Support Post-Graduate Education

STUDY OVERVIEW

Forward-thinking pharma companies have realized that funding the post-graduate education of new investigators is a way to potentially advance understanding in therapeutic areas that are key to the company’s success. However, US fellowship grant practices among pharma companies differ; some have a dedicated fellowship program while others award them ad hoc, for instance. Funding levels for fellowships also vary.

Best Practices, LLC conducted this short study to gather insights on current practices around the funding and administration of pharma fellowship programs that provide grants supporting post-graduate medical education in the United States.

"Best Practices in Funding US Fellowships: Using Pharma Grants Effectively to Support Post-Graduate Education" will allow you to see how your company’s approach compares with industry peers on the evolving use of fellowships to support new areas of research.

Questions addressed in the short study include:

• What percentage do fellowship grants represent of total budget for independent medical education?
• How common is it for companies to have dedicated fellowship programs?
• Do companies use the same people to review and award fellowship grants and IME grants?

• Fellowship funding
• Fellowship activities
• Fellowship application and review process
  

• What group in your organization funds US fellowships?
• Do you fund fellowship program through your independent medical education (IME) program?
• If it is not funded through IME, how is your fellowship program funded?
• Do you have a dedicated budget to support your US fellowship program?
• Estimate what percentage your total funding for US fellowships represents of your total IME budget
• Does your organization limit the type of fellowship-related activities that can be funded through a US fellowship grant?
• Which activities can be funded through your fellowship grants?
• Does your organization fund a limited number of individual fellowships or an overall fellowship program that funds a flexible number of fellowships?
• How do you inform US fellowship applicants of areas of research interest and the application process
• What is your organization's process for reviewing US fellowship applications?
• What criteria do you use when evaluating a fellowship application?
  

• Fellowship application process is public and often follows process for other grant types: Five companies (78%) make their process for requesting fellowship grant public and use same process as other grant types.
  • Most companies (89%) use the same group to review and approve fellowships and other grants.
  • Quality of the [education] training environment was the most-used evaluation criteria for fellowships.

Best Practices, LLC engaged 10 Medical Affairs/grants leaders from 10 pharma companies through a benchmarking survey. All responses were US-focused.

Industries Profiled:
Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Biotech; Manufacturing


Companies Profiled:
Eisai; Verastem Oncology; Allergan; Astellas; EMD Serono; Sanofi Genzyme; Mallinckrodt; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; Lundbeck; Vifor Pharma

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