Developing a medical affairs functional vision, plan, and roadmap

Challenge

Our oncology client was approximately two and a half years from launching its first product for the treatment of a rare form of cancer. We were engaged by the Chief Medical Officer, who was leading medical affairs, to develop a functional vision, structure, and plan for the medical affairs organization that would truly differentiate it from competitors and establish best-in-class capabilities.

Approach

We began with harnessing the internal knowledge of the organization by conducting a series of cross-functional interviews to gain insights that would shape the medical affairs organization. This insight-gathering was augmented by benchmarking, secondary research, and external discussions within our broad executive network to highlight opportunities for medical affairs innovation and differentiation. We synthesized the internal and external perspectives and, through a series of collaborative workshops, defined elements of the functional vision, crafted the organization design and scope, and developed a detailed medical affairs activities roadmap through launch.

Impact

The recommended vision and organization design were implemented, and The NemetzGroup transitioned to an embedded support role through which we managed the implementation of the critical near-term priorities from the roadmap. We continued to operate in this role for over a year, at which point the Medical Affairs organization was fully staffed.