Engaging Oncology Patients across Medical Affairs Activities and Functions

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Biotech; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Diagnostic; Medical Device; Health Care; Service; Consulting; Biopharmaceutical; Clinical Research; Laboratories


Companies Profiled:
AbbVie; Adaptimmune; Astellas; Bayer; Daiichi Sankyo; Eisai; EVERSANA; Kyowa Kirin; MEDiSTRAVA; Merck; Merck Sharp & Dohme; NextGen Healthcare; Sanofi; Servier; Teleflex; United Therapeutics

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 17 Medical leaders from 16 Oncology-focused biopharma companies through a benchmarking survey. Deep-dive interviews with selected participants were conducted for further insights. Data in this report are segmented by respondents’ description of their medical team’s effectiveness in oncology patient engagement – highly effective vs. less effective.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Medical Affairs and Oncology Patient Engagement – An Overview
• Representing the Oncology Patient Voice
• Strategies for Early-Stage and Late-Stage Oncology Patient Support
• Medical Affairs’ Roles and Responsibilities in Oncology Patient Engagement
• Internal and External Collaboration for Oncology Patient Engagement
• Lessons Learned and Pitfalls

• Strategies for Early-Stage Oncology Patients Support: Collaboration with patient advocacy groups and disease awareness education are the most effective early-stage oncology patient support strategies, fostering trust and informed decision-making.

• Oncology Patient Education Activities: Generating data to better understand patient needs/knowledge gaps is the most effective activity led by Medical Affairs groups.

• Maturity curve: Evolution of oncology patient engagement in Medical Affairs
• Narrative on what makes Medical Affairs’ oncology patient engagement efforts effective
• Narrative on how pharma advocacy groups represent the voice of oncology patients
• Narrative on Medical Affairs' role in strengthening oncology patient engagement programs
• Product lifecycle stages where oncology Medical Affairs teams engage with patients

• Placing oncology patient needs at the core of Medical Affairs activities
• Effectiveness of Oncology Medical Affairs teams in incorporating patient perspectives
• Narrative on what Oncology Medical Affairs must do to enhance patient involvement
• Best tools and techniques for collecting oncology patient voice during the pre-launch and launch phase
• Narrative on how the structure of oncology patient advocacy groups impacts effectiveness
• Medical Affairs-driven approaches for gathering insights regarding the voice of oncology patients during the pre-launch phase
• Medical Affairs-driven approaches for gathering insights regarding the voice of oncology patients during the early launch phase
• Comparison of Medical Affairs teams in gathering insights regarding the voice of oncology patients – Groups highly effective at patient voice representation vs. those less effective

• Highly effective and most-used strategies for early-stage and late-stage oncology patient support
• Highly effective methods for supporting oncology patients in early-stage treatment
• Narrative on the most strategic moments to capture oncology patient voice
• Highly effective methods for supporting oncology patients at the late-stage of their disease
• Narrative on Medical Affairs’ role in engaging oncology patient advocacy groups
• Strategies for early-stage and late-stage oncology patient support – Medical groups highly effective at patient voice representation vs. those less effective
• Narrative on working closely with oncology patient advocacy groups
• Medical Affairs’ collaborative relationship with oncology patient advocacy groups
• Collaborative effectiveness of Medical Affairs with oncology patient advocacy groups – Groups highly effective at patient voice representation vs. those less effective

• Narrative on SOPs defining Medical Affairs’ roles and responsibilities in oncology engagement
• Medical Affairs’ role across different oncology patient engagement programs
• Comparison of Medical Affairs’ roles in oncology engagement – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Leading oncology patient education initiatives within Medical Affairs teams
• Medical Affairs’ involvement in different oncology patient education initiatives
• Key activities for developing a successful oncology patient education program
• Comparison of oncology patient education strategies – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Most effective oncology patient advocacy activities led by Medical Affairs
• Medical Affairs’ role in various oncology patient advocacy efforts
• Best practices for building a high-impact oncology patient advocacy program
• Narrative on aligning organizational objectives with oncology patient advocacy group goals
• Comparison of oncology patient advocacy strategies – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Most effective oncology patient medication adherence programs led by Medical Affairs
• Medical Affairs’ involvement in oncology patient medication adherence initiatives
• Best practices for developing an effective oncology patient medication adherence program
• Most impactful oncology patient health outcomes initiatives led by Medical Affairs
• Narrative on collaboration between Medical Affairs and oncology patient health outcomes programs
• Medical Affairs’ role in different oncology patient health outcomes activities
• Best practices for improving oncology patient health outcomes through Medical Affairs initiatives
• Narrative on optimizing communication with oncology patients
• Comparison of oncology patient health outcomes strategies – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups

• Effectiveness of Medical Affairs’ internal collaboration on oncology patient engagement initiatives
• Comparison of internal collaboration effectiveness – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Narrative on Medical Affairs’ role in amplifying the voice of oncology patients
• Collaboration effectiveness between Oncology Medical Affairs teams and external partners
• Comparison of external collaboration effectiveness – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Degree of involvement of Medical Affairs sub-functions in oncology patient engagement
• Comparison of sub-function involvement – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Frequency of internal collaboration for Medical Affairs-led oncology patient engagement programs
• Frequency of external collaboration for Medical Affairs-led oncology patient engagement programs
• Frequency of Medical Affairs collaboration with internal teams – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Frequency of Medical Affairs collaboration with external teams – Highly effective groups vs. less effective groups
• Key lessons learned from representing oncology patient voice in Medical Affairs
• Common challenges and barriers in capturing and representing oncology patient voice in Medical Affairs

• Geographic span of participating Medical Affairs groups involved in oncology patient engagement activities
• Product development stages where benchmarked Medical Affairs teams engage with oncology patients