Optimizing Key Opintion Leader Relationships

Study Overview

The advocacy of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) has proven to be among the most effective and critical means of building product awareness in the medical and scientific communities.

Indeed, KOL relationship management itself has emerged as its own business discipline, a necessary and challenging component of brand promotion. as one interviewed director put it, "KOL relationship management has changed very quickly. I've found that large companies have difficulty adapting in a timely manner."

This Best Practices, LLC research examines how leading pharmaceutical companies approach KOL management.

This report identifies the organizational structures, management strategies and tactics, and critical success factors associated with KOL management excellence. Pharma executives can use this benchmarking research to learn best practices in KOL management and discover how they can maximize KOL relationships to benefit their own products and therapies.

Key Findings

• Marketing has functional responsibility for KOL Management at 73 percent of companies surveyed.
• Medical Affairs also shares some responsibility for KOL Management at 61 percent of benchmark partner companies.
• A majority (59 percent) of respondents reported that Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) are either moderately or highly involved in KOL development at their companies. among Top 30 pharma respondents, that figure jumps to 80 percent.
• More than one-fifth of participant companies report that they have no method for evaluating KOL activities.

Key Topics

• KOL Segmentation and Behavior Drivers
• KOL Roles over Product Lifecycle
• KOL Management Models
• Role of Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) in Managing KOLs
• Emerging Trends in KOL Management
• Innovative Practices in KOL Management
• Critical Success Factors in KOL Management
• Most Difficult Challenges in KOL Management

Key Metrics

• Functional Responsibility for KOL Management
• Budgetary Responsibility for KOL Management
• Optimal KOL Management Organizational Structure
• Highly Effective Tactics for KOL Management
• National and Regional KOL Contact
• Level of MSL Involvement in KOL Management
• KOL Evaluation
• KOL Involvement Satisfaction
• How KOL Management is Valued Internally
• Recent Changes in KOL Management
• Future Changes in KOL Management

Methodology

This research involved an online survey of nearly 60 respondents representing 42 different biopharmaceutical companies. in-depth field interviews were also conducted with selected participants. about half of the respondents were from marketing and/or sales departments

Industries Profiled

Pharmaceutical; Biotech; Chemical; Health Care; Media; Manufacturing; High Tech

Companies Profiled

Abbott Laboratories; URL Pharma; Transoma Medical; Steris Corporation; Spectrum Pharmaceutical; Skila; Rivermark LLC; RBP Chemical Corporation; Promeco SA de CV; Noven Therapeuticals; Nobel Biocare; Lundbeck; Kendle International; Inspire Pharmaceuticals; Impact Communications; Esteve; Becton Dickinson; Anesiva; Vistakon; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; Solvay Pharmaceuticals; Shire; Sanofi-Aventis; Pfizer; Novartis; Myriad; Merck; Medrad; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Cilag Pharmaceutical; Invitrogen; Innovex Global; Genentech; Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc; EMD Serono; Cubist Pharmaceuticals; Covidien; Celgene; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Biogen Idec; Bayer Schering AG; Baxter Healthcare; Amgen; Alcon Laboratories