Medical science liaison

As a medical science liaison (MSL) you'll be your company's scientific expert for specific drugs, acting as the key link between clinicians, research and the pharmaceutical industry

As an MSL, you will be focused on education rather than sales. Your main aims will be to:

• educate key clinicians about specific drugs or medical devices
• answer their scientific questions about these products
• feed key information back to colleagues in commercial functions, such as marketing and sales, to inform their strategies.

You'll need to provide clinicians with accurate and balanced information about a specific drug and relevant data from drug trials, so that they can make decisions on how to use that drug.

It's likely you'll be assigned a specific geographical area to cover, and will specialise in a particular drug, medical device or therapeutic area.

Job titles can vary depending on the company and the role may also be known as medical affairs, medical scientific adviser, medical manager or regional scientific manager.

Responsibilities

As an MSL, you'll need to:

• identify leading influential experts in fields of medicine or research relevant to your product, e.g. senior physicians and professors. These experts are referred to in the industry as key opinion leaders (KOLs)
• build peer-to-peer relationships with KOLs
• provide medical and scientific information to respond to KOLs' technical questions about your drug or medical device
• lead meetings with KOLs to discuss relevant scientific literature and address their enquiries
• make educational presentations to senior doctors and researchers, for example on clinical trial data
• respond to scientific enquiries from distributors and internal colleagues
• gather information from KOLs as to how they are using your drug
• feed information back to marketing and sales colleagues to help develop marketing materials and commercial strategy
• develop and deliver scientific training courses to other staff members and international distributors
• provide information to clinicians with an interest in studying your drug in a different context, or with a different patient group from the one it was initially intended
• coordinate trials to test the drug in different contexts
• keep up to date with the latest scientific research and clinical data relevant to your focus drug or device.

Salary

• Medical science liaisons typically start on around £50,000.
• Experienced MSLs usually earn between £60,000 and £80,000. Science to Pharma reports that medical science liaisons with one year's experience earn a base salary of at least £58,876, with earning potential rising to £91,350 with up to eight years' experience.
• MSLs progressing to associate medical director roles can earn over £100,000.

Pay is often supplemented by bonuses. Many companies also offer yearly car allowances or a company car. Other incentives and benefits can include a laptop, mobile phone, pension and private health insurance.

Income data from Science to Pharma (FSTP). Income figures are intended as a guide only.

Working hours

Working hours typically include regular extra hours and evening work to take calls and answer enquiries.

Job shares and part-time work are unlikely due to the depth of expert knowledge typically required for MSL posts. Self-employment and freelance work are uncommon.

What to expect

• You're likely to spend between two and four days a week working out at sites, including hospitals and clinics, within your geographical area of responsibility. Depending on the company you work for, this may include some overseas travel. You'll often spend the rest of your working hours undertaking desk research and meetings from an office or from home.
• The job requires a lot of confidence to build relationships with very senior people including consultants and professors. This can be daunting, but also intellectually stimulating as you'll often be working with experienced experts in your therapeutic area.
• Dress codes are usually business casual, with full business dress only required at more formal events.
• You'll occasionally need to attend and/or present at national and international conferences, which may involve working weekends. In larger companies, conference attendance is usually shared out across the wider MSL team.
• Initiatives are in place to help encourage women into STEM roles and to offer them support in their career. To find out more, see WISE.

Qualifications

You could become an MSL with a degree in a subject such as:

• biochemistry
• biomedical sciences
• medical sciences
• medicine
• nursing
• pharmacology
• pharmacy.

However, it's highly likely that alongside your degree, you'll be expected to have some significant experience in a related area. Many people enter MSL after having worked in other careers within medical sales and drug safety, biomedical science and clinical research.

In addition to an undergraduate degree, some jobs will ask for an advanced science degree such as a PhD, MPharm or MD to show you have the required level of knowledge and understanding. Having one of these will significantly increase your chances of securing a role.

Developments in pharmaceutical R&D have led to a high demand for medical science liaisons within the following areas in particular:

• haematology
• immunology
• neuroscience
• oncology.

Skills

You'll need to have:

• scientific expertise in the relevant therapeutic area
• excellent communication and presentation skills
• teamwork skills and an ability to work effectively with a variety of colleagues
• networking skills and the confidence to interact with senior experts on a peer-to-peer level
• critical data analysis skills
• a willingness to keep up to date with scientific literature
• the ability to adapt your writing to meet the needs of different audiences, for example business-focused versus technical audiences
• a high level of emotional intelligence to work effectively with stakeholders
• commercial acumen.

Work experience

It's useful to gain some work experience within the pharmaceutical industry, and particularly if you're coming straight from a PhD as it helps with the transition from an academic environment to a commercial one.

A sandwich year or placement in a biotech or pharmaceutical company may improve your chances of getting a job. Experience in clinical-focused research can also be helpful as an understanding of clinical codes of practice is beneficial.

Having experience of working on relevant disease pathways within your PhD or postdoctoral research is also very useful as you'll need to be able to align your knowledge with the diseases and drugs the company is working on. Try to focus on applying for MSL roles in therapeutic areas that match your expertise to increase your chances of success.

Consider becoming a member of the Medical Science Liaison Association (MSLA) to help you network with current MSL professionals and develop your understanding of the role so that you can demonstrate this in your applications.

Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Employers

The main employers of medical science liaisons in the UK are:

• pharmaceutical companies
• biotechnology companies
• medical device companies.

For details of pharmaceutical companies who may advertise MSL roles, see the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) members' list of pharmaceutical recruiters.

Look for job vacancies at:

• emedcareers
• Pharmajobs
• PharmaTimes
• PharmiWeb

Recruitment agencies also handle MSL vacancies. Relevant agencies include:

• Carrot Recruitment
• CHASE
• Proclinical

Professional development

Initial training is provided by your employer and tends to be well-structured. Training usually covers knowledge of the product you'll be responsible for, as well as company processes.

In smaller companies you may undertake a period of field-based training, shadowing MSL colleagues out at hospitals, clinics and other sites in their designated area. In some larger companies training may be more instructive and based on-site. It may be several months before you start working out in the field in your assigned geographical area.

After your initial training, you can aid your professional development by gaining membership with a relevant professional body. These include:

• Medical Science Liaison Association - UK-based professional association that runs annual conferences and regular professional training through both face-to-face workshops and webinars
• Medical Science Liaison Society - a largely US-based society that works to advance the global profession, but also runs training and networking initiatives for those working in medical science liaison.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is vital throughout your career, and involves keeping up to date with new products, changes in regulations, developments in research and changes in the NHS. CPD activities include attending conferences, events and seminars, reading industry press and delivering presentations.

Career prospects

Roles and prospects vary from company to company. Typically, you can progress to a role as senior MSL with three to five years of experience. Some companies offer opportunities to take on a larger territory with these senior MSL positions. This could mean progressing from covering a single region in one country to covering multiple countries, for example.

Progression from senior MSL to MSL manager depends on the company's structure. With at least eight years' experience, it's possible to progress to medical director. These more senior roles tend to be based at head office and involve more work on commercial strategy.

You can also progress into other more office-based roles in medical affairs, such as medical adviser or medical information roles. The work of medical information professionals tends to be more reactive (i.e. responding to requests for product information from customers and colleagues), while MSL work tends to be more proactive.