Drug Information Journal - March 2009 - (Page 127) A Pharmaceutical Alliance in Medical Information MEDICAL INFORMATION 127 Old and New Promotional Review Processes TABLE 3 Old Process Promotional material developed by marketing champion Promotional material, along with annotated references, routed to BMS and Otsuka teams of medical, regulatory, legal reviewers Promotional material discussed in live teleconference Changes are captured by team for revision No promotional review coordinators New Process Aspect remained the same Aspect remained the same Discussed via live teleconference and live same-time computer broadcast; met in person as needed Changes are captured by content coordinator Added role of promotional review coordinators Send out the meeting agenda and materials ahead of time to the reviewers Maintain documentation of final sign-off by the reviewers Updated to new computer software process for review documentation Computer software utilized should be noted that SOPs are not shared between companies; SOPs are proprietary. The actual SOPs remain in each respective company, and each company is responsible for creating its own SOPs. However, they are similar because the procedures are discussed and agreed upon before drafting SOPs. The change in the medical review process affected the teams at both companies, who had to complete joint live training. We required review and sign-off for all team members as to their understanding of the process. The new review process has more structure and definition of the flow of review materials compared to the older process and has enhanced communication. Members from each team communicate regularly, sometimes daily, via email or telephone depending on the deadline for the project; however, particularly important is regular communication with the partner, such as a medical counterpart, at the other company. When needed, some meetings are held in person at either company, with most members (or at least one counterpart from each team) from both companies present to review materials. In addition, occasional meetings are conducted between medical counterparts to foster good communication. New members from each team are required to attend joint training meetings to strive toward consistency between both groups. Current members also attend joint training meetings for regular and ongoing updates. The key factor to working together as one team is that both medical information departments have been flexible to changes that have occurred along the way and communicate regularly. Most often, contracts will describe top-line responsibilities only for medical information and so it is the responsibility of each team leader to make the process work. The more scenarios your departments can work through and the better the understanding of the overall process prior to formation or early in the life of a new alliance, the easier the transition will be into a functional partnership. LESSONS LEARNED FROM A PARTNERSHIP ALLIANCE COMMUNICATION We set up regular meetings with the same agenda to be discussed at least monthly but usually weekly when appropriate. Email is commonplace in business and serves to transfer information but sometimes is less effective than an inperson meeting. We communicate regularly via email when needed and in person when possible. Our approach is to be proactive and pick up the phone and directly talk to our partner when Drug Information Journal
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