What is MSL?
MSL is a very important functional department of the medical department of pharmaceutical enterprises, and its full name in Chinese is medical science liaison. This position was first founded by American Puqiang Pharmaceutical on 1967, and has a development history of more than 50 years abroad. But in China, the rise of MSL team is only 10 years. MSL is an integral part of regional medicine, and its main responsibility is to communicate with doctors and experts in hospitals in the region as a medical expert in the region, and to play the role of assisting sales, marketing and central medicine. Although MSL is an entry-level position in medical department, it is a very interesting and training position, and a very comprehensive quality can be cultivated through the training of MSL position.
In my opinion, the letters MSL also represent the three main core competencies of this responsibility, m = Master, s = Clever, l = Link. To be a qualified MSL, one should be a smart expert in medical connection and communication.
grasp
In the medical department of a foreign company, it is necessary for MSL to grow into a master in one or more professional diseases. The most basic thing is to be familiar with the medical data and information of your own products (the more you know, the more comprehensive it is, the better, and it is best to have a focused grasp, digest and absorb it into your own understanding), and it is best to master the progress of some competing products and related diseases. If you can master the medical specialty, exchange academic progress with experts at almost the same level in the region, or even know more thoroughly than experts, then no matter which company you are in and which product you are responsible for, you will be recognized by internal and external customers. This understanding is a prerequisite for the smooth development of any work in this area.
Then, someone wants to ask, I am not a medical major, what should I do if I have a clinical background? The only way is to study. Learn from colleagues, such as medical consultants and product managers; Learn from experts, consult experts and attend academic conferences. Then there is self-study, reading high-quality literature, the deeper the better. It is best to carry the documents with you on the way to visit and meet, and be inseparable and become a walking document bag. At least when a sales colleague asks you about the product data, you can answer it quickly, which is basically qualified.
smart
When I say intelligence here, I may mean greater flexibility. Most of MSL's work may be biased towards execution. On the premise of conforming to the market product strategy, formulate and implement the medical strategy in the region with good quality and quantity. Most MSL have some quantitative KPIs, such as the number of expert visits and the number of academic conferences. But more work cannot be quantified. At this time you need to be flexible and improvise. The needs of all departments are likely to find MSL, including sales, marketing, central medicine and even medical insurance departments. Faced with the needs of so many departments, do we have to agree? My answer is to work flexibly and intelligently.
Through cross-departmental mutual assistance, MSL can have the opportunity to understand the working mode and required abilities of other functional departments, which not only helps to improve its own abilities, but also helps to form a reputation within the company, and also helps to understand its career plan more clearly in the future.
But in this way, does MSL become a handyman in other departments? In fact, these jobs seem to be done for others, but they are actually done for themselves. In the cooperation with the sales department, we can sometimes complete the KPI of expert visits, collect KOL insights, and close the relationship with experts. With the foundation of experts, isn't it easier to hold academic conferences? In the cooperation with the central medicine and market, we can also have a deeper understanding of product data and strategies. Isn't it helpful to go back to the region to communicate with experts and choose academic topics? If you work with a learning attitude, any work will not be done in vain, but will only make you grow faster and feel more fulfilled.
ring
MSL is a communication role, the most important thing is to communicate with experts, and of course with internal departments. But it is also a connecting role. MSL is the connector and converter between product scientific data and sales promotion. Sales are tangible products, while MSL is intangible "data". MSL needs to "sell" product scientific data to clinicians and experts in its own language, which needs to be digested, absorbed and transformed by itself.
In addition, for doctors, MSL is also a connector between hospitals and companies. MSL needs to be responsible for collecting KOL insights, which requires you to fully understand the advantages and strategies of the products you are responsible for, find out the current product strategy direction or lack of implementation from the communication with experts, and summarize the expert feedback to form valuable strategies (whether regional, central market or medical strategy), which is the most valuable embodiment of MSL.
MSL's responsibilities are very rich, and the scope of future career development options is relatively broad. There are different paths for M, S, L, S and L. The roles of medical information, medical consultant and R&D manager can be considered for M-strong ability. Those with strong S and L skills can try the roles of MSL manager and project manager; Those with strong communication skills can also turn to sales, and those with good strategic skills can consider turning to the market.
Finally, I sincerely hope that all friends who are already MSL and want to be MSL can be comfortable and happy in this position and gain something!