Within the last ten years, medical affairs roles expanded by over 300%, and medical affairs career opportunities will continue to rise. Due to the increasingly complex regulatory environment, life science organizations have shifted focus from commercial activities to medical affairs. Within the medical affairs team, the medical science liaison(MSL) acts as the organization's scientific face, ensuring healthcare providers (HCPs) understand the value of an organization's innovations.

MSLs act as subject matter experts within field medical affairs teams by disseminating accurate, unbiased data to key opinion leaders (KOLs) and digital opinion leaders (DOLs), who are thought leaders within a therapeutic area. Due to the emergence of biologics, oncology is one therapeutic area experiencing rapid growth. Biologics, medications derived from living organisms, are revolutionizing oncology and improving patient outcomes.

By 2025, the oncology market is expected to generate $269 billion. Due to the rapid pace of innovation in personalized medicine and the complexity of cancer treatments, MSLs play an increasingly essential role in scientific collaboration with oncology HCPs. The expanding oncology market opens up opportunities for current and aspiring MSLs. 

Here are 5 reasons why the oncology market and MSL opportunities are expanding.

1. Rising Incidence Rates of Cancer 

According to the Global Cancer Observatory (GCO), 19.3 million new cancer cases occurred worldwide in 2020, and 10 million people died from cancer, with lung cancer remaining the leading cause of cancer deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project cancer cases to nearly double by 2050. Cancer death rates may surpass those from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease.5 As the population ages and cancer rates rise, the demand for MSLs with oncology expertise will also expand. Life science organizations increasingly recognize the high demand for cancer therapy and have adjusted their research and development (R&D) pipelines. 

2. Extensive Oncology Pipelines

With the rising rates of cancer deaths, life science organizations have significantly shifted their pipelines (the number of drugs a manufacturer has in development) to focus on oncology R&D, including discovering novel treatments for cancer patients with unmet needs. As a result of improved molecular genetic knowledge and increasing patient demand, the number of therapies in clinical development increased by75% in the last 7 years.1,3 Biologics, such as gene editing, CAR-T, and RNA therapies, are the focus of early-stage pipeline development. Additionally, immunotherapies will remain a vital component of oncology pipelines.4 

3. Advances in Drug Development Due to Artificial Intelligence 

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), drug development has accelerated. AI is any technology designed to mimic human intelligence. Researchers utilize AI throughout every stage of drug development, from identifying biomarkers to post-marketing real-world evidence (RWE) analysis.

Here are some examples of how AI has overall improved the field of oncology:4

• increasing the speed of drug development through automation 

• calculating genetic risk scores 

• improving detection of certain tumors such as glioblastomas (GBMs), an often fatal form of brain cancer. 

4.  Abbreviated Regulatory Pathways

According to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science's recent oncology report, approval rates for oncology drugs have increased due to abbreviated regulatory pathways established by the Orphan Drug Act and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCI Act).

The FDA created theOrphan Drug Act to enhance the number of medications available for rare diseases, including some forms of cancer. Compared with more extensive population oncology trials, rare cancer trials are six times more likely to succeed. Due to the abbreviated regulatory process, life science organizations can launch rare drugs faster.1 As a result, many organizations have shifted spending towards rare cancer development and trials. Rare oncology trials accounted for 63% of all oncology trials and 64% of all rare trials in 2020.1

Due to the rising costs of biologic drugs, the FDA enacted the BPCI Act enabling drug manufacturers to create biosimilars, a "highly similar" version of the originator biologic. As originator biologic patents expire over the next decade, more oncology biosimilars will enter the market, potentially reducing drug prices and improving accessibility. For example, the patent for the blockbuster drug KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) expires in 2028, enabling biosimilar manufacturers to flood the market with pembrolizumab biosimilars through the abbreviated regulatory pathway established by the BPCI Act. 

5. The Value of MSLs in Oncology  

With the expanding role of medical affairs and the coinciding growth of the oncology market, oncology MSLs will be in high demand in the future. MSLs contribute to life science organizations by generating data, fostering scientific communication, training internal stakeholders such as the commercial team, and educating external stakeholders. As subject matter experts, MSLs maintain current knowledge in a specific therapeutic area, and oncology MSLs can enhance their knowledge by receiving additional biologic training. 

In November 2022, the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA) will offer the Board Certified Biologics and Biosimilars Specialist Program BCBBS®, the first-ever board certification in biologics and biosimilars. As more sophisticated biologic therapies enter the oncology market, biologics expertise is becoming increasingly valuable, and becoming board certified in biologics and biosimilars offers MSLs an advantage when competing for medical affairs opportunities.

 References 

1. IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science.Global Oncology Trends 2022. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports/global-oncology-trends-2022

2. Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021;71(3):209-249. doi:10.3322/caac.21660.

3. The oncology pipeline overview: Recent approvals and near-term drugs. Am Health Drug Benefits. 2021;14(4):154-155. Accessed September 2, 2022. https://jhoponline.com/jhop-issue-archive/2021-issues/december-2021-vol-11-no-6/19096-the-oncology-pipeline-overview-recent-approvals-and-near-term-drugs

4.Vobugari N, Raja V, Sethi U, Gandhi K, Raja K, Surani SR. Advancements in Oncology with Artificial Intelligence-A Review Article. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Mar 6;14(5):1349. doi:10.3390/cancers14051349. 

5. Weir HK, Thompson TD, Stewart SL, White MC. Cancer incidence projections in the United States between 2015 and 2050. Prev Chronic Dis. 2021;18(210006):E59. doi:10.5888/pcd18.210006.