Australia ’s field force: evolving on fast forward

The pandemic has, it will surprise no one, upended traditional ways of working for pharma ’s Australian field force. “I don ' t think that we will ever go back to working the way we did pre-COVID, ” says David Grolman, Medical Director at Pfizer Australia and New Zealand.”   But arguably this is less of a revolution than it might first seem. The havoc and disruption it has wreaked has merely accelerated change that was happening anyway, much of it positive, says Matthew Britland, VP of the Australian Pharmaceutical medical and scientific Professionals Association (APPA). “It’s changed everything, but the medical and sales models were looking for an overhaul.” “It’s obviously reduced our interactions with internal and external stakeholders. But it ' s also given medical leaders a unique opportunity to demonstrate the value of medical affairs on a magnitude we ' ve never seen before and we ' re already seeing that in six months. Medical affairs really used to be almost a supportive function to the organisation and I think people have realised it ’s now a fundamental division, a trusted partner.”  The shift from commercial to medical COVID-19 has accelerated the shift in how pharma was engaging with HCPs, professional organisations and even patients in Australia from a commercial to more of a medical footing, says Grolman. “We ' ve seen bigger and bigger MSL teams in all the big companies. ”   This is in large part owing to the medical needs o...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news