Medical Advisory Boards have been a part of the healthcare industry for years. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies in particular, benefit from the informed views on today’s medical and healthcare needs provided by key opinion leaders (KOLs) in a guided setting. Through these boards, practicing healthcare professionals (HCPs) provide non-binding guidance on strategies, product directives, and needs to help direct companies onto a path for success.
In general, an Advisory Board is made up of specialists and experts across multiple relevant fields to provide a broad knowledge base for a company to pull from.
Medical Advisory Boards in particular are made up of various healthcare specialists that help to fill the gaps in knowledge that companies have regarding new strategies and product lines. By ensuring a complete view of emerging needs and issues, companies can ensure the right approach is taken from the start.
The Benefits of Advisory Boards
Medical Advisory Boards offer a host of benefits for companies working in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biotech space. These boards can provide insights and advice on topics such as:
- Messaging development
- Strategy development
- New product development
- Existing product repositioning
- Company rebranding
- Patients need recognition
Aside from providing these key insights into the healthcare industry, medical Advisory Boards also give companies the opportunity to form new relationships with industry experts. By working with an experienced consulting firm like Prime Meridian Group, companies can get access to a vast base of healthcare professionals to draw knowledge from.
Types of Advisory Boards
Medical Advisory Boards can be run in-person, virtually, or even in a combination of the two. Each type of Advisory Board has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Virtual Advisory Boards
Advisory Boards can be run virtually through many popular meeting platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. Virtual Advisory Boards offer multiple benefits over in-person Advisory Boards, including:
- Lower expenses: Virtual Advisory Boards allow companies to keep costs at a minimum while still receiving the benefits of KOL inputs on strategies and products.
- Less planning: By removing the need for travel and reducing meeting location logistics, virtual Advisory Boards are easier to schedule and require less work on the part of the advisors themselves.
- Ease of Review: Virtual Advisory Boards can be easily recorded depending on the virtual platforms used. This allows for virtual notetaking and post-meeting reviews to ensure all information is accurately gathered.
In-Person Advisory Boards
Despite the many advantages of virtual Advisory Boards, face-to-face meetings may also prove productive. Some of the advantages of in-person Advisory Boards are:
- Ease of Discussion: In-person meetings tend to provide more open discussions than virtual meetings. Having a face-to-face Advisory Board can lead to new ideas and new thoughts that only come about due to the face-to-face interaction.
- Lack of Distraction: Virtual meetings can cause distractions due to device notifications, day-to-day life, and even technical difficulties. Having face-to-face meetings can help keep Advisory Board members more engaged in the discussions at hand.
Combination Advisory Boards
In the event that a desired KOL is unable to come for an in-person session, an Advisory Board can meet using both face-to-face and virtual interactions. These combined sessions can pull together the benefits of both virtual and in-person meetings:
- More Connection: Even though some of the KOLs may be virtual, having some of Advisory Board members be available in-person will still help to facilitate more open discussions among each of the members.
- Less Commitment: Combined sessions allow KOLs who are unable to visit in-person to provide valuable insights without affecting personal schedules and causing logistical problems for the rest of the Advisory Board.
The Output
Advisory Boards go beyond providing valuable input. By pooling together the knowledge and expertise of KOLs, companies are able to output white papers, podcasts, and many other beneficial yields.
It is important to establish the desired outcome of each Advisory Board meeting in order to direct the final output. Advisory Board outputs can be used to inform and educate on the need for product and services for consumers, help reposition companies and product lines based on valuable insights, and even generate ideas for new products after the meetings are over.
Advisory Board Management
Managing an Advisory Board is an in-depth assignment. Initial budgeting and planning, KOL recruiting, travel logistics, in-meeting management, meeting output and distribution, final reporting, and all the steps in between must be taken into account.
Prime Meridian Group provides both traditional and virtual Advisory Board solutions for clients in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biotech industry. Using 25 years of experience and an expansive physician network, Prime Meridian handles all the planning, recruitment, logistics, and reporting.
Through customized programs, Prime Meridian is able to ensure successful meetings that meet all the necessary goals for outputs. Prime Meridian even delivers customized post-meeting reports enabling brand teams to devote more attention to product discussions.
Prime Meridian Group offers turn-key Advisory Board management solutions for companies across the industry. The learn more, contact us today at our website.
