Creating and Maintaining a Strategic KOL Management and Engagement System

Best Practices, LLC Strategic Benchmarking Research

Creating and Maintaining a

Strategic KOL Management and

Engagement System

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Research Overview

Participating Companies

Key Findings & Insights

Universe of Learning: Key Demographics of Participating Companies ………………6

Structuring Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement …………….…9

Administering Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement……………15

Coordinating and Communicating Strategic Thought Leader Management and

Engagement……………………………………………………………………………………...22

Aligning Software Tools to Support Strategic Thought Leader Management and

Engagement……………………………………………………………………………………...30

Identifying and Engaging Thought Leaders………………………………………………..35

Measuring Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement Success……..42

Staffing Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement……………………45

Looking Forward: Success Factors for Strategic TL Management & Engagement..51

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Identify the most common and

favored organizational structure for

strategic TL management and

engagement

Understand the current state of TL

management practices in the

pharmaceutical industry

Determine how TL management

practices are evolving

Identify innovative practices that are

driving TL management success at

other organizations

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Business Issue & Objectives

Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are recognized as one of the most effective avenues for building awareness in medical and scientific communities. As biopharma organizations reconsider their strategic approach to TL engagement, they are seeking an evidence-based understanding of current and evolving approaches to creating and maintaining an integrated, strategically-focused TL management system.

Harvesting

Insights &

Analysis:

Expert

Sources:

Objective:

34 TL management leaders from

29 biopharma and device

organizations participated in the

field survey, and we interviewed

4 for in-depth insights.

Field Survey &

External

Interviews

Formulate a Strategic Approach for:

Improving the Value and Effectiveness of KOL Management System and

Ensuring Alignment with the Organization’s Evolving Strategy and Structure

Research Objectives: Methodology:

INFORMS

Benchmark Class

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29 Life Science Organizations Participated in Study

Thirty-four TL management leaders from 29 biopharma and device organizations participated in the external field survey, and we interviewed 4 participants for in-depth insights

Most Effective Way to

Coordinate TL Activities

Medical Affairs Guides TL

Engagement/Strategy

Strategic TL Management

Structure

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Key Findings: Study Snapshot of Peers’ Strategic KOL Management

Many observations have been harvested from the study. These are some of the key benchmarks to surface.

Most respondents believe a decentralized TL management structure is not optimal, though almost 40 percent use a decentralized system now. Most view a hybrid or centralized structure (48 and 38 percent, respectively) as optimal for modern Thought Leader engagement. Many companies (38%) seek to use a strong core team to lead KOL management companywide. This can be hard as companies employ cross-functional oversight groups with leadership from business units, medical affairs, marketing and others. In fact, 28% said that their companies have no formal KOL management process in place. Eighty percent of companies said Medical Affairs oversees TL engagement and strategy, but their structures do not support this. Only 31 percent say that Medical Affairs handles the administration of such programs. This represents a potential gap or hole where priorities can become misaligned.

(n=33)

Q3. How is your strategic KOL management and engagement system structured? Q4. In your experience, what is the

optimal organizational structure for strategic KOL management and engagement?

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Current & Optimal Strategic KOL Management & Engagement System Structure:

“I've done it both ways.

I’ve worked in

companies where they

had everything broken

down by business units

and then I've worked at

companies that said,

‘Oh no, business units

may become too siloed,

so let's bring it all

together.’”

- Senior Director

% of Responses

33% 48%

27%

38%

39% 3% 10%

Current Optimal

Hybrid Centralized Decentralized Other

(n=29)

Other Optimal: I have not found any system ideal in trying to handle management of internal team with external KOLs;

Marketing & Sales; Optimal structure often depends on the business needs and the size and fragmentation of the businesses.

No One Structure Seen as Best for KOL Management

No single structure for strategic KOL management is embraced by the 33 life sciences organizations that participated in this study, although for current structure the largest percentage - 39% - utilize a decentralized structure. It is noteworthy that while decentralized is used by many organizations, it was only favored by 3% when asked what they felt was the optimal structural approach for this activity. Almost half – 48% - said a hybrid approach was optimal for strategic KOL management.

Communication Key to Coordinating KOL Management

Communication was a theme in other approaches cited by participants for coordinating KOL management across functions.

Q13. In your experience, what is the most effective way to coordinate strategic KOL management and engagement

activities across different functions and/or groups?

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Coordination of Strategic KOL Management and Engagement Activities continued:

• Define the roles of

each functions and

joint committees

• Having a defined

process and

transparency across all

functions and groups to

increase efficiency and

decrease redundancies

• Expert database with

strategic planning tool

and CRM database for

info sharing on activities

• Via regular quantitative

and qualitative feedback

(CRM tool, OL surveys)

• Regular, collaborative

meetings between KOL

strategic leadership

personnel and

relationship owners.

• Flexibility/ Course

correction based on

both micro and macro

trends: Discuss/revise

plan based on KOL

maps, scorecards (ROI/

strategy), what is

working/not working,

current and future

product mix,

megatrends affecting

healthcare, competitive

inroads, etc.

Communicate

effectively

between all

stakeholders

Organize &

leverage

field

feedback

Conduct

regular

meetings

Other

Ad Boards & Scientific Presentations Most Valued KOL Activities

A wide range of KOL activities are valued by organizations since these respected scientists, clinicians and faculty members provide invaluable insights and credibility. Advisory boards and scientific presentations were seen as the most valuable by participants.

(n=30)

Q22. Which KOL activities below are most valued by your company? (Check all that apply.)

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Most Valued KOL Activities

87% Supporting Advisory

Boards

77% Delivering

scientific

presentations

73% KOL relationship

management

67% Investigator-

initiated

research (i.e.

IITs, IST, etc.)

57% Educating

KOLs & other

healthcare

professionals

50% Coordinating

company-sponsored research/

trials

50% Identifying &

training

speakers 47% CME

activities

43% Recruit-ment for medical

pubs

43% CI

gathering

from TLs 33%

27% 33% - Attending medical conferences

27% - HEOR presentations/research involving TLs

17% - Managed Care activities involving TLs 17%

% of Responses

Extremely variable. No consistent process that I

am aware of. Each team does it individually.

Sales modification of physician behavior affecting sales

or patient safety // By tests and surveys // Cross

functional team meeting based on inputs from colleagues

Assessed by evaluating strategic utilization on a monthly basis

Market share or clinical trial results

Dedicated FTEs // Monthly report in spreadsheet // Project

deliverables // Publications, presentations and IIS plus more

difficult-to-measure relationship and advice received

Not evaluated // Not typically assessed within the company. But,

during the engagement activities, if the project was not performed to

satisfactory level, we will just not engage the KOL again.

Many Have Trouble Evaluating KOL Management System

Like KOL management itself, there doesn’t seem to be one accepted approach for assessing an organization’s strategic KOL management system. While many claim no formal system is in place, a quarter of participants said they rely on KOL feedback for their evaluations.

(n=24)

Q25. Describe how strategic KOL management and engagement success is assessed or evaluated within your company.

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Evaluating Success of Strategic KOL Management and Engagement:

29%

25%

8%

8%

21%

13%

Highly variable/ No formalevaluation process

KOL feedback

KOL utilization levels

ROI

Other

None

% of Comments

Strategic KOL Management Requires Multiple Players, Layers

Executive interviews surfaced several recurring themes around what’s needed for an effective KOL management system: software or internal platform that shows interactions; a coordinator or primary point of contact for medical and commercial and a cross-functional team in each TA or BU that tracks, aggregates and then shares KOL interaction information with senior leadership.

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“Medical should not be

creating the commercial

strategy, and the

commercial should not

be influencing medical

strategy. Once you get to

the very senior

management level of the

company, we're talking

Senior VP level, then

everyone needs to be in

congruence that ‘Yes, we

should go forward based

on what we're hearing

from the medical and our

commercial colleagues.’”

- Sr. Director 2,

Medical Affairs

• Identifies/Segments KOLs

• Shows Interactions (who,

when) for Medical &

Commercial

• Includes Notes Visible only

to Medical or Commercial

• Gathers Information from

Coordinator, platform/system

and across Functions

• Aggregates Information to

Show Status of Current and

Future Projects

• Shares Overview of Medical

and Commercial Status on

Current and Future Projects

with Senior Leadership

Cross-

Functional

Strategic

Group (in each TA/BU

and includes

Coordinator)

Coordinator/

Primary

Contact

Point

System/

Platform

• Separate Medical &

Commercial Person for each

TA/BU

• Coordinates KOL Interactions

for Functions that don’t have

Regular KOL Contact

• Oversees and Guides Use of

System/Platform

KEY ELEMENTS FOR STRATEGIC KOL MANAGEMENT

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Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that conducts work based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics, and winning strategies of world-class companies.

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Health & Medicine

Creating and Maintaining a Strategic KOL Management and Engagement System