Best Practices in Medical Education Program Strategy: Establishing the Right Structures, Resources and Activities to Optimize Biopharmaceutical Education Groups

However, regulatory changes have tempered the sponsorship of some medical education programs by pharma companies, as well as some third-party providers of such services.

Best Practices, LLC, undertook this benchmarking study to investigate emerging Medical Education trends at biopharmaceutical organizations regarding funding and program types. The study also provides leading benchmarks around the proper size, resources, and structure for the Medical Education function.

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 15 leaders supporting medical education at 13 leading life sciences companies. More than 50% of the participants are at the level of director/ senior director and around 20% of participants are managers. More than 80% of participants were from the United States.

Key Findings

1. Medical Education Structure Is Predominantly Centralized

More than three-fourths of pharma companies centralize their medical education structure; 46% of them have located their centralized medical education group in the United States.

2. Benchmark Companies Rely Heavily On Outsourcing

Pharma companies heavily rely on outsourcing for developing and deploying medical education programs. They outsource 86% of medical education program development to vendors, while they depend totally on vendors for program deployment and delivery.