Announcements
BioPharma Advisors offers "Benchmarks in Thought Leader Management" Survey
Today's life science research, development & commercilization issues are becoming increasingly complex. With legal & regulatory scrutiny becoming an ever-increasing burden on life sciences companies, the need for objective, fact-based data on industry benchmarks is needed but difficult to obtain. The current OIG guidelines implicitly recognize the industry access to experts can provide important benefits both to the life sciences companies and to patients, but they also require a greater transparency & understanding of payments made to such medical/scientific experts retained by life sciences companies to advise and consult on their behalf ("Thought Leaders"), and requires them to ensure those services are acquired at A"Fair Market Value."
What is the "Fair Market Value" for a 1-day advisory board for a group of Thought Leaders? What is "Fair Market Value" for a 1/2 day online protocol review with 6-7 Thought Leaders? Although there are a number of factors that contribute to the ultimate determination of such compensation, many life sciences companies do not even know where to begin and many may not have policies in place to effectively manage these contractual relationships beyond this single event.
There are limited reference souces available that discuss payment ranges made to Thought Leaders or sources that have reliable information to determine "Fair Market Value" for their services. This information is typically obtained using a third party vendor to conduct a customized survey of Key Opinion Leaders and/or Field Sales Management on the payment structure for these services but that data is only a snapshot in time and may not provide the full picture.
Given this context, we believe there is an opportunity for the reporting and cataloging of various industry practices that can help personnel within life sciences companies make more informed decisions about their payment and contracting practices with Thought Leadersl. This research study will consist of nine parts that will take place over the next three years and will report specifically on the compensation, structure and contract issues surrounding the management of Thought Leaders ("Research Program"). By comparing and contrasting the Research Program results, the life sciences companies participating in the Research Program ("Participating Companies") will be able to detect the key issues that exist, and possibly implement more specific management processes to manage the issues more effectively.