Medical Affairs and Pharma Launches: Strategies, Budgeting and Planning with Meg Heim of Heim Global Consulting

Meg discusses how COVID-19 was a transformational moment for the pharmaceutical industry, and how it has forced companies to re-examine, at multiple levels, the way they do business. Meg and Bozidar delve into innovation in the biotech industry, and how businesses will find new methods to connect and rely on solid partnerships, by developing meaningful relationships that provide mutual value and advantages. Meg also talks about how innovation has influenced the activities of Medical Affairs and MSLs, and the evolving role of Medical Affairs in pharma launches.

Bozidar and Meg also discuss how the pharmaceutical industry can respond to the massive disruption and shifting methods used by customers to consume information, as well as the need to adapt to new budgeting, team engagement, and transparency models in order to maximize both customer interactions and investor contributions.

In this episode of Pharma Launch Secrets, Bozidar is joined by Meg Heim, President and Founder of Heim Global Consulting, LLC.

They cover:

[ 00:01:39 ] - COVID redefined how launches will be done in the future. "You need to figure out a way to communicate. You need to lean on strong relationships. And so it's not just about having a digital presence, but do you have a relationship, a meaningful relationship? And do you have a way of communicating that brings value to both parties?"

[ 00:04:34 ] - Digital is going to be more disruptive rather than incremental. There will be "other players that haven't been in it in the past that will bring other types of industry other highly regulated that will help us move forward"

[ 00:09:07 ] - Medical teams need "diverse groups not just of age and gender but geographically to see where is the best way to get people to understand the information in a way that they can accept it"

[ 00:10:27 ] - "Digitalization is the buzzword, the omnichannel, but the reality; it's a roadway, all things travel, the digital roadway"

[ 00:11:01 ] - Peer-to-peer scientific exchange and the use of technology are powerful. It took nine months for the world to develop a vaccine because of the scientific peer-to-peer exchange and collaboration

[ 00:11:48 ] - The hardest thing is getting entire groups aligned from a legal, regulatory, and scientific standpoint and getting people comfortable with how information is delivered, privacy is managed, and how people opt-in

[ 00:14:50 ] - Medical can show value, but you need to be ready to have a business conversation when you negotiate your budget. You should ask crucial questions like; what investment do you need to meet your strategic imperatives? How will you measure your impact?

[ 00:16:39 ] - Your impact over time is measured by; how prepared you are with your strategy, how it ladders up to the global strategy or the global strategy ladders up to the product strategy, and how you're going to bring a product to the market, what the impact you believe will be and how you're going to measure

[ 00:16:59 ] - "There's no ROI in medical," but there has to be an impact on the care providers served globally and how the right drugs and information gets to the patients

[ 00:19:50 ] - "Budgets should show value to the groups that need them"

[ 00:20:14 ] - Know your story and strategy, connect the dots, how strong the logic behind it is, and never position it as a cost but rather as an investment

If you want to learn more about post-pandemic pharma approaches, strategies, budgeting, and planning, tune in to this episode of Pharma Launch Secrets, a Podcast by Evermed.

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And connect with Meg here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megheim
Website: http://heimglobalconsulting.com

About The Show:

“Pharma Launch Secrets” is a podcast by Evermed and hosted by Bozidar Jovanovic, where we host direct, actionable conversations with world-leading pharma launch experts and help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies to help you launch your product successfully.