Did you know that the overwhelming majority of scientific research is supported by the pharmaceutical industry? According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Association, the private sector invested $44.2 billion for approved medicines vs. $670 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The working relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare ecosystem is vitally important to ensure that physicians and other healthcare providers are getting important education and information to support the best treatment decisions for their patients. 

A key element to providing objective and compliant education is working with medical key opinion leaders (KOLs) to help offer greater awareness for new mechanisms of action, new products, and new data from clinical trials. KOL speakers have played a pivotal role in engaging in peer to peer scientific exchange with other healthcare providers and offer their insights and knowledge to expand treatment options for patients. Typically these meetings were conducted over dinners or in hospitals and medical offices.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way the entire world interacts and works. In this new digital age, pharmaceutical companies need to find more efficient and effective ways to offer KOL speaker programs that can still provide a valuable learning experience for the audience. To that end, properly training KOLs is vitally important to help safeguard companies from compliance risks but also ensure that the information that is going out to the audience is objective and relevant.

There are 3 key ingredients that are necessary for every KOL speaker training program:

• Product and disease state training
• Compliance training
• Effective communication and presentation skills training.

Product and disease state training needs to be objective, comprehensive and delivered by experts in the particular therapeutic area. Compliance training should be conducted by an independent accredited organization which works with pharmaceutical companies and is trusted by regulators, such as the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA). Finally, presentation and communication skills training needs to help KOL speakers conduct programs that will be engaging, dynamic and close the gap in understanding for the audience. Self-paced, online modules can help to bridge this gap and help busy KOLs learn on their own time.

KOL speaker training in the post-COVID-19 era needs to adapt to the evolving needs of healthcare providers who have had to readjust their practices amidst the pandemic. Ensuring proper KOL speaker training will benefit companies in the long term and safeguard future risks to companies from a compliance perspective. KOL speaker training programs facilitated in partnership with accredited organizations which work with the pharmaceutical industry such as the ACMA can help provide greater value for both physicians and patients long term.