19cannabisbusinessinsights.comAUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2025fund new therapies, and we are seeing an increasing number of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) being shown at scientific congresses for all new therapies. In addition to PRO's, as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) evolves, we need to find better ways to include societal and personal impacts from innovative medicine which is not currently being assessed in the HTA process.2. Invest Early in Medical Affairs Start your medical affairs team early in the pre-launch/planning phase. You need medical affairs who are the functional team within pharma, with the most in-depth scientific knowledge and who are in the unique position based off both this, and industry code restrictions, to be able to interact with both PAGs and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the pre-registration phase. Medical affairs can also be directly involved in the relevant registration clinical trials if your company is also the sponsor of these, as well as collaborative and investigator sponsored studies. Working in the research and development of the treatment to maximise the benefit to patients and subsequently the indications and potential of a given therapy in the market, as well as helping to generate the relevant data you will need to support the optimal use of your product once it becomes available in the market. Medical affairs can then support and drive the development of your whole registration, patient, and HCP education strategy, in addition to the commercial and marketing strategy based off this unique intelligence of the TA landscape, patient insight/need, KOL opinion, and trial experience. A successful launch then comes down to execution, followed by monitoring and adapting post-launch with the cross-functional team to ensure continued success in the TA. 3. Cut Through the Digital NoiseCreate on-demand digital content and drive traffic to it. Wherever your target patient and HCPs population is, you must also be there. In other words, meet them where they are. Typical platforms which should be considered are; a company and/or therapy area website (for medical affairs, you can consider a product specific website to on-label and promotional product specific information too), a company - LinkedIn page, Twitter account, Instagram account, and even TikTok, if you want to engage a younger HCP and patient population (current demographic of TikTok users is 57% female with the majority of users (23.8%) falling in the 18-24 yr age bracket and under 35 yrs overall (DataReportal, January 2022)). All the content you previously developed for print form can be transferred to these channels in digital form. You can now also make your previously static print content much more interactive and palatable, for example, via the use of videos, and decreasing the volume of information in each post, but increasing the frequency of information output. This can increase the absorption of the content by your audience, and also make them more likely to want to engage with your content, as it is now being delivered to them in a more palatable and convenient format, which they can view on a device anywhere, at any time. The more positive the experience for your end user ­ HCP or patient ­ the more likely they will want to continue to engage and rely on your page for the disease area and/or product information they require. As a result of this increased reliance and interaction with your page(s), they we also become more familiar with your company and portfolio. Increased use of Telehealth and Teletrials, on-demand educational content, and digital education and promotion, are just some of the recent innovations which have seen an increase in this era to better meet Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) and patient needsMatthew Britland
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