Effective Practices for Speaker Programs and Physician Advisory Boards during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The pharmaceutical industry gains strategic inputs from physician advisory boards to deliver high quality patient care, and relies on speaker programs to educate the medical community about disease states and new products.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the administration of these critical programs, driving many drug manufacturers to adopt virtual and other innovative approaches to accomplish them.

Best Practices, LLC conducted this benchmarking research to identify effective practices for managing virtual speaker programs and physician advisory boards during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore innovative approaches that will drive success in the future.

This study examines key challenges related to virtual speaker programs, approaches to addressing virtual program challenges, speaker program training formats for new and existing products, tactics to enhance virtual physician advisory boards, and managing virtual dinner programs and training during and post-COVID-19.

Industries Profiled:
Medical Device; Biotech; Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Consulting; Biopharmaceutical; Communications; Professional Services


Companies Profiled:
Alcon; Allergan; Avant Healthcare; B. Braun; Boehringer Ingelheim; Cofactor Group; Ethypharm; IDbyDNA; Merck; Merck Sharp & Dohme; Paratek Pharmaceuticals; Prime Global; Roche; Straumann; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Wellspect HealthCare

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 17 leaders from 16 life sciences organizations in this research through a benchmarking survey. Nearly 60% of the participants serve at the Director / Head level or above.

Key topics covered in this study include:

• Managing Virtual Speaker Programs
• Speaker Program Training
• Physician Advisory Boards

Key Findings

Select key insights uncovered from this research are noted below. Detailed findings are available in the full study.

• Effectiveness of Virtual Speaker Programs: Quality content that stimulates and engages participants seen as best way to improve effectiveness and attendance of virtual speaker programs. Getting renowned speakers and providing real-time technical assistance also seen as effective ways to address challenges of virtual programs.

• Physician ad boards will make a significant shift to the virtual format post COVID-19: While 90% of participants’ physician ad boards were in the face-to-face format in 2019, that practice will fall to 54% post COVID-19. Meanwhile, the virtual format will increase from 10% in 2019 to 46% post COVID-19.

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