Ashfield MedComms

Matt Pugh

 There is an abundance of available commentary on the changing role and growing importance of those who work in medical affairs in strategically supporting research and development (R&D) and commercialisation teams. The rapid advancement of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with an exponential increase in data, is also reshaping the medical affairs landscape. We have witnessed this evolution at Ashfield MedComms (AMC), an Inizio Medical Company. There is more change to come, as outlined by Stephen Jones, director of client engagement at AMC:

‘Medical affairs teams are now expected to embrace a more strategic role within their organisation and are already looking at faster ways to generate insights from rich data pools and speed content generation and approval. At AMC, we are increasingly being asked how we could bring AI-driven insights into medical communication strategies and advise on AI-content support tools.'

Whilst the heightened strategic role of medical affairs in connecting R&D and commercial teams is undoubtedly exciting, it also impacts the role of medical communications agencies, such as AMC. Scientific rigour, writing excellence, and dedication to customer service remain core to our business. However, clients now expect access to multidisciplinary teams offering broader skillsets and strategic consultancy – working relationships have evolved to be far more collaborative than transactional.

AMC has diversified to meet these changing demands; we actively collaborate with colleagues in our sister group, MEDiSTRAVA, an Inizio Medical Company, to provide a differentiated approach to communications focussed on three critical outcomes: approval, access, and adoption. AMC’s global, cross-functional teams, supported by MEDiSTRAVA, provide future-proof leadership for our  clients in key areas including digital and creative strategy, patient engagement, clinical trial optimisation, value and evidence, medical analytics and innovation, and AI.

Many of our medical clients have been tasked with transitioning from multichannel communication planning (non-personalised, broad-spectrum communications)  to omnichannel engagement (highly targeted, hyper-personalised communications). At AMC, we are excited to guide our clients along this journey, and we consider it vital to continue investing in our people to ensure full preparedness for this changing environment. We are meeting the increased demand for insight-driven, audience-personalised communications by supplementing existing client insights with our own unique perspectives, creating individual audience personas, visualising audience journeys with tailored communication channel plans supported with modular content strategy, and measuring outcomes with feedback loops for continual improvement. Within this framework, we partner with leading academic institutions to apply behavioural science techniques that can help overcome barriers along the audience journey. David Woods, vice president of medical analytics and innovation, portfolio lead, MEDiSTRAVA, concludes:

‘Medical affairs is optimally positioned to take a leading role in omnichannel engagement across all life sciences organisations. This is because of their strong skill set and position among key stakeholders as drivers of insight and key contributors to building a holistic customer view. We will see medical teams start to overcome traditional barriers to communications success, like vast volumes of complex content, by orienting toward a more personalised and modular content approach.’

Another notable change across healthcare communications is the growing need to listen to and engage with patients and advocacy groups as partners and as a pivotal audience group. AMC has teams dedicated to creating patient-focused content, and we collaborate with colleagues from our patient engagement group – especially when it comes to strategic planning, patient advocacy, and considerations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Joanna Fearnhead-Wymbs (SVP, Patient Engagement, MEDiSTRAVA) is facilitating a workshop at the annual Medical Affairs Professional Society EMEA meeting in Madrid this May, entitled: ‘Hearing the Patient Voice: Promoting Patient Involvement in Publications’:

‘The medical industry can adopt a patient-first approach and focus on transparent communication by strengthening their dialogue, making patients and their families a part of the discussion, and sharing information with them in a more open and transparent manner. Sharing lay summaries of clinical trials is a step in the right direction, but there is still room for improvement in the way that the medical industry communicates with its patients, and that’s something we strive to improve at Inizio Medical.’

Arguably, the hottest topic currently within healthcare communications is the growing influence of AI, which will likely have a far-reaching impact across our industry over the coming years. Led by Matt Lewis, global chief artificial and augmented intelligence officer, we have an important role in developing awareness and governance in this area. This includes authorship of a recently published joint statement by the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals, which recommends best practice guidelines for the safe, ethical, and productive use of AI. We are excited to be running several pilot projects with Medical Affairs teams as we investigate AI's validity and wider application.

The adage that change is the only constant in the healthcare industry has never been more relevant. While challenging at times, there are tremendous opportunities for everyone working within medical communications to develop new skills, remain relevant for our clients in medical affairs, and play a very active role in creating positive change across healthcare.

Inizio Medical combines three global medical communications agencies – ApotheCom, Ashfield MedComms and Nucleus Global- underpinned by our medical excellence and transformation agency, MEDiSTRAVA.