Abstract
Executive Summary
Adapting Speaker Programs to New Regulation through Innovation
The ever-present regulatory scrutiny that the life science industry currently
faces has not overlooked speaker events. Soaring healthcare costs and worries
about the influence of drug companies on prescribing behavior bring any
intersection of the two communities under the harsh glare of inspection. For
speaker programs, new regulation limits the measures the pharmaceutical
company had at their disposal to entice physicians to attend.
States have outlawed dinner programs, prohibited gifts, including food, and
have created a confusing myriad of reporting rules for companies to deal with.
The outside incentives that historically drew doctors away from their homes
and families to attend speaker events have been all but eradicated. Such
scrutiny and reporting of physician involvement with the industry makes
doctors shy of having too much contact with the industry or appearing to be
influenced by pharmaceutical companies. These factors have negatively affected
both attendance and recruitment efforts.
Yet leading companies have adapted to these challenges. The first tactic
relies upon a refocusing of the agenda of speaker programs. Speakers
presenting drugs with strong marketing or commercial overtones have fallen out
of favor. As the incentives have decreased, physicians attend for the
educational value. For pharma companies, catering to this desire for
educational content aligns with regulatory pushes and provides a utility to
physicians. Presentation including discussion on treatments, as well as the
presence of MSL or brand team staff to answer questions and hold private
discussions increases the educational engagement and the utility for
physicians.
Study Methodology
Data Collection
Analysts developed the information upon which this study is based through both
primary and secondary sources. Cutting Edge Information' s process for
collecting and analyzing information encompasses two distinct tools:
quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. Both tools are necessary for
understanding not only the hard metrics included in this study, but also the
reasoning behind the metrics. CEI aims to answer why some companies maintain a
larger speaker bureau than others and who they target, for example.
Our analysts began developing the quantitative survey tool used in this study
by working closely with pharmaceutical industry executives. Once the research
team completed the survey design, analysts recruited study participants from
pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and medical device firms to
collect data on speaker programs recruitment, speaker bureau management,
department resource allocation, and other key metrics. The research team
collected all survey data through primary research with front-line thought
leader development experts. Altogether Cutting Edge Information collected and
analyzed more than 500 data sets from almost 40 companies of all sizes. Study
participants included vice presidents and directors of medical affairs, vice
presidents of marketing, speaker programs department directors, product
managers, marketing consultants, marketing support services directors, and MSL
team leaders.
Once participants submitted a survey, analysts used qualitative interviews to
uncover more detailed information. Cutting Edge Information used the telephone
interviews with pharmaceutical executives to understand challenges and
solutions to driving attendance and planning speaker events in the current
compliance environment. Not all participants agreed to telephone interviews.
Cutting Edge Information gathered enough information from its completed
interviews, however, to properly interpret the data. In return for these
parties' contributions, Cutting Edge Information distributed the study results
to all participants. Analysts used additional secondary research focused on
public information related to specific companies, OIG guidelines, ACCME policy
changes, and PhRMA code changes.
Company Blinding
To ensure that Cutting Edge Information protects the identities and privacy of
all study participants, this research does not name the companies or products
it examines, nor does it link specific companies with therapeutic areas.
Company blinding is a critical device that allows survey respondents to
comfortably provide accurate data for studies such as this one.
Profiled Companies
The responding companies provided primary information either in the form of
survey data or a telephone interview. Cutting Edge Information' s analysts use
secondary data to supplement the information provided by study participants.
Participating companies include six top 20 and nine top 30 pharmaceutical
companies, as well as biotechnology companies and medical device firms.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Adapting Speaker Programs to New Regulation through Innovation
- Study Methodology
- Study Definitions
- Profiled Companies
- Five Key Findings and Recommendations
Speaker Programs Management
- Speaker Programs Structure
- Recruiting, Selecting, and Contracting Speakers
- Speaker Training
- Monitoring and Communicating with Speakers
- Speaker Bureau Management Systems
Ensuring Effective Speaker Programs
- Choosing the Types of Speaker Events and the Best Times to Maximize
Program Value
- Driving Speaker Program Attendance
- Gathering and Incorporating Audience Feedback
- Tracking and Improving Speaker Programs ROI
- Speaker Programs Costs
- Communicating the Value of Speaker Programs to Outside Agencies
The Future of Speaker Programs
- Prevalence of New Media
- Managing Speaker Programs in the Current Compliance Environment
- Effect of State Legislation on Speaker Programs
- Compensating Speakers in an Increasingly Strict Environment
Speaker Programs Resource Allocation and Outsourcing Strategy
- Staffing Levels for Speaker Programs Departments
- Budget Benchmarks for Speaker Programs Departments
- Outsourcing Speaker Programs Activities
Appendix A
CHARTS AND GRAPHICS
Executive Summary
- Figure E.1: Rating the Best Drivers of Attendance
Speaker Programs Management
- Figure 1.1: Breakdown of Speaker Programs Structure for All Pharmaceutical
Companies
- Speaker Programs Structure
- Figure 1.2: Breakdown of Speaker Programs Structure for Medical Device
Companies
- Figure 1.3: Breakdown of Speaker Programs Structure by Company Type
- Figure 1.4: Reporting Relationships and Company Interactions for Speaker
Programs
- Figure 1.5: Ranking of Recruitment Tool Effectiveness on a Scale of 1 to 10
- Recruiting, Selecting, and Contracting Speakers
- Figure 1.6: Rating Challenges Facing Pharmaceutical Speaker Programs on a
Scale of 1 to 10
- Figure 1.7: Process for Incorporating a Physician into the Speaker Bureau
- Speaker Training
- Figure 1.8: Average Hours of New Speaker Training by Company
- Figure 1.9: Hours of New Speaker Training per Pharmaceutical Company
- Figure 1.10: New Speaker Training per Medical Device Company
- Figure 1.11: Compensation Methods for Speaker Training by Company Type
- Speaker Bureau Management Systems
- Figure 1.12: Percentage of Pharmaceutical Companies with Annual
Compensation Caps for Speakers by Company Type
- Figure 1.13: Average Annual Speaker Compensation Caps by Company Type
- Figure 1.14: Annual Speaker Compensation Cap by Pharmaceutical Company
- Figure 1.15: Breakdown of Aggregate Compensation Caps by Company Type
- Figure 1.16: Specific Functions with Compensation Caps at Companies
Without Companywide Caps
Ensuring Effective Speaker Programs
- Figure 2.1: Rating Challenges Facing Pharmaceutical Speaker Programs
- Figure 2.2: Rating Challenges Facing Medical Device Speaker Programs
- Choosing the Types of Speaker Events and the Best Times to Maximize
Program Value
- Figure 2.3: Stage in Brand' s Lifecycle When Speaker Programs Begin
- Figure 2.4: Stage in Brand' s Lifecycle When Speaker Programs are Most
Effective
- Figure 2.5: Effectiveness of Speaker Programs, by Type (on a Scale of 1-10)
- Figure 2.6: Percentage of Each Type of Speaker Program by Company Type
- Figure 2.7: Best Time to Conduct Each Type of Speaker Program
- Figure 2.8: Typical Length of Each Type of Speaker Program in Hours
- Figure 2.9: Rating the Best Drivers of Attendance
- Driving Speaker Program Attendance
- Figure 2.10: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in Urban
Areas
- Figure 2.11: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in
Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.12: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in Rural
Areas
- Figure 2.13: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.14: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.15: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.16: Average Attendance Levels for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.17: Average Attendance Levels for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.18: Average Attendance Levels for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.19: Average Attendance Levels for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.20: Average Attendance Levels for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.21: Average Attendance Levels for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.22: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in Urban
Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.23: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in
Suburban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.24: Average Attendance Levels for Live Speaker Programs in Rural
Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.25: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.26: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.27: Average Attendance Levels for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas (Medical Devices)
- Speaker Programs Costs
- Figure 2.28: Average Cost per Live Speaker Program by Setting
- Figure 2.29: Average Cost per One-Way Webcast by Setting
- Figure 2.30: Average Cost per Interactive Webcast by Setting
- Figure 2.31: Average Cost per Teleconference by Setting
- Figure 2.32: Average Cost for Urban Speaker Programs by Event Type
- Figure 2.33: Average Cost for Suburban Speaker Programs by Event Type
- Figure 2.34: Average Cost for Rural Speaker Programs by Event Type
- Figure 2.35: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in Urban
Areas
- Figure 2.36: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in
Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.37: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in Rural
Areas
- Figure 2.38: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.39: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.40: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.41: Average per Attendee Cost for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.42: Average per Attendee Cost for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.43: Average per Attendee Cost for One-way Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.44: Average per Attendee Cost for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Urban Areas
- Figure 2.45: Average per Attendee Cost for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Suburban Areas
- Figure 2.46: Average per Attendee Cost for Teleconference Speaker Programs
in Rural Areas
- Figure 2.47: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in Urban
Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.48: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in
Suburban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.49: Average per Attendee Cost for Live Speaker Programs in Rural
Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.50: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Urban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.51: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Suburban Areas (Medical Devices)
- Figure 2.52: Average per Attendee Cost for Interactive Webcast Speaker
Programs in Rural Areas (Medical Devices)
The Future of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.1: Change in Speaker Program Effectiveness over the Last 3-5 Years
- Prevalence of New Media
- Figure 3.2: Overall Percentage of Companies Utilizing Each Type of Speaker
Program
- Figure 3.3: Average Percentage of Pharmaceutical Companies Conducting the
Following Types of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.4: Percentage of Small Companies Conducting the Following Types
of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.5: Percentage of Mid-size Companies Conducting the Following
Types of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.6: Percentage of Large Companies Conducting the Following Types
of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.7: Percentage of Biotech Companies Conducting the Following Types
of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.8: Percentage of Medical Device Companies Conducting the
Following Types of Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.9: Effectiveness of Speaker Programs, by Type (on a Scale of 1-10)
- Managing Speaker Programs in the Current Compliance Environment
- Figure 3.10: Status of State-Level Pharmaceutical Marketing Legislation
- Figure 3.11: States That Have Not Discussed Pharmaceutical Marketing
Legislation in the Past 3-5 Years
- Figure 3.12: States That Have Proposed Pharmaceutical Marketing
Legislation in the Past 3-5 Years
- Figure 3.13: States That Have Passed Legislation Affecting Pharmaceutical
Marketing
- Effect of State Legislation on Speaker Programs
- Figure 3.14: Speaker Program Challenges (on a Scale of 1 to 10)
- Compensating Speakers in an Increasingly Strict Environment
- Figure 3.15: Compensation Methods by Company Type
- Figure 3.16: Compensation Methods: Pharma Average
- Figure 3.17: Compensation Methods: Medical Device
- Figure 3.18: Average Total Compensation for Live Speaker Programs by
Company Type
- Figure 3.19: Total Compensation Range for Live Speaker Programs by Company
Type
- Figure 3.20: Average Total Compensation for Virtual Speaker Programs by
Company Type
- Figure 3.21: Total Compensation Range for Virtual Speaker Programs by
Company Type
Speaker Programs Resource Allocation and Outsourcing Strategy
- Figure 4.1: Average Number of Speaker Programs Conducted Annually by
Company Type
- Figure 4.2: Average Number of Speakers in the Speaker Bureau by Company
Type
- Figure 4.3: Speaker Program Events per FTE by Team Size
- Staffing Levels for Speaker Programs Departments
- Figure 4.4: Speaker Program Events per FTE by Company Type
- Figure 4.5: Speaker Program Staffing within Business Units (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.6: Speaker Program Staffing (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.7: Medical Device Companies' Speaker Programs Staffing (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.8: Small and Biotech Companies' Speaker Programs Staffing (in
FTEs)
- Figure 4.9: Mid-Size Companies' Speaker Programs Staffing (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.10: Large Companies' Speaker Programs Staffing (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.11: Speaker Programs Staffing by Company Size (in FTEs)
- Figure 4.12: Average Speaker Programs Budgets by Company Type
- Budget Benchmarks for Speaker Programs Departments
- Figure 4.13: Biotechnology Companies' Speaker Programs Budgets
- Figure 4.14: Medical Device Companies' Speaker Programs Budgets
- Figure 4.15: Small Companies' Speaker Programs Budgets
- Figure 4.16: Mid-Size Companies' Speaker Programs Budgets
- Figure 4.17: Large Companies' Speaker Programs Budgets
- Figure 4.18: Pharmaceutical Companies' Average Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.19: Average Budget Allocation for Speaker Programs by Company Type
- Figure 4.20: Biotechnology Companies' Average Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.21: Medical Device Companies' Average Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.22: Small Pharmaceutical Companies' Average Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.23: Mid-Size Pharmaceutical Companies' Average Budget Allocation
for Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.24: Large Pharmaceutical Companies' Average Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.25: Percentage of Pharmaceutical Companies' Speaker Programs
Budgets Dedicated to Specific Regions
- Figure 4.26: Regional Breakdown of Speaker Programs by Company Type
- Figure 4.27: Percentage of Large Companies Holding Speaker Programs by
Region
- Figure 4.28: Percentage of Mid-Size Companies Holding Speaker Programs by
Region
- Figure 4.29: Percentage of Small Companies Holding Speaker Programs by
Region
- Figure 4.30: Percentage of Biotechnology Companies Holding Speaker
Programs by Region
- Figure 4.31: Percentage of Medical Device Companies Holding Speaker
Programs by Region
- Figure 4.32: Brand-Level Speaker Program Spending by Phase (Brands with
Peak Sales of $0 - $500 Million)
- Figure 4.33: Brand-Level Speaker Program Spending by Phase (Brands with
Peak Sales of $500 Million - $1 Billion)
- Figure 4.34: Brand-Level Speaker Program Spending by Phase (Brands with
Peak Sales of $1 Billion - $3 Billion)
- Figure 4.35: Brand-Level Speaker Program Spending by Phase (Brands with
Peak Sales of $5+ Billion)
- Outsourcing Speaker Programs Activities
- Figure 4.36: Pharma Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for Speaker
Programs
- Figure 4.37: Average Outsourcing Budget Allocation for Speaker Programs by
Company Type
- Figure 4.38: Medical Device Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.39: Biotechnology Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for
Speaker Programs
- Figure 4.40: Small Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for Speaker
Programs
- Figure 4.41: Mid-Size Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for Speaker
Programs
- Figure 4.42: Large Companies' Outsourcing Budget Allocation for Speaker
Programs
- Figure 4.43: Percentage of Speaker Programs Utilizing an Event Management
Company
- Figure 4.44: Percentage of Medical Device Companies' Speaker Programs
Utilizing an Event Management Company
- Figure 4.45: Percentage of Biotechnology Companies' Speaker Programs
Utilizing an Event Management Company
- Figure 4.46: Percentage of Small Companies' Speaker Programs Utilizing an
Event Management Company
- Figure 4.47: Percentage of Mid-Size Companies' Speaker Programs Utilizing
an Event Management Company
- Figure 4.48: Percentage of Large Companies' Speaker Programs Utilizing an
Event Management Company
APPENDIX A
- Total Speaker Compensation by Provider Category
- Total Speaker Compensation by Provider Category: Small Companies
- Total Speaker Compensation by Provider Category: Mid-Size Companies
- Total Speaker Compensation by Provider Category: Large Companies
- Total Speaker Compensation by Provider Category: Device Companies
