As the effects of COVID-19 dramatically increased the need for virtual engagement solutions, life science organizations accelerated the adoption of Within3 as a key element of their business continuity plans. This is true for their medical education agency partners and regional associations as well.
Within3’s Virtual Engagement Partner (VEP) certification program provides agencies with dedicated training, extended resources, and client success consultation to understand the applications of the Within3 virtual engagement platform.
Based in San Jose, Costa Rica, EDU Pharma is a provider of evidence-based medical education designed to ensure life science innovators remain compliant with regulators in their jurisdiction. The organization plans to have the entirety of its client support team complete the VEP certification program. EDU Pharma’s CME and Learning Director Mauricio Giron is the first to have done so.
“One of our clients’ biggest challenges is producing needed or required scientific papers where team members are highly dispersed,” said Giron. “Email is madness when team members are expected to meet complex responsibilities in a timely manner. Particularly for scientific papers, Within3 is invaluable for our team and our clients, especially medical managers and scientific liaisons for medical associations, pharmaceutical, and medical technology developers.”
Addressing complexity with virtual engagement
Giron explained that standard-of-care medical guidelines can vary from country to country within Latin America. “Regional medical associations and their associates need to adopt the latest evidence involving a drug or device regardless of the research’s origin or publication,” he said. “We strive to deliver the best evidence-based analysis on which local or regional associations can base their guidelines and generate better outcomes for their populations.”
A common perception is that Central America and the Caribbean represent a relatively small region, but the area comprises more than a dozen countries, each with their own health regulatory authority and different processes for new therapies, vaccines, devices, services, and technologies that enter the market. Educational and promotional activities need to be based on approvals in each country as well. The Within3 platform provides a familiar way to engage at every step in the process, regardless of location, without having to rebuild time and time again.
The impact of 4x insight gains on advisory boards and beyond
The robust level of engagement among medical managers and KOLs in advisory boards generates more meaningful data compared to legacy processes that included time-consuming travel and confusing email exchanges. EDU Pharma’s Giron shared that a recently completed executive report from a medical advisory board meeting generated approximately four times more data and insight compared to a less sophisticated online meeting. These insight gains accelerated the decision-making process and, ultimately, a new product’s time to market and effect on patient care.
“Having completed the VEP Certification Program, I now have a better understanding of how and where we can improve engagement, data collection, and ultimately knowledge dissemination for our commercial customers, medical associations, and the broader community at large,” said Giron. “We are getting started with our use of the platform beyond advisory boards and medical writing, editing, and planning to include speaker training, internal training, and internal communication for life science companies and medical associations.”
Giron plans to offer customers more ways to engage in a timely manner with doctors, patients, and decision-makers. “By keeping doctors engaged in a variety of activities on the same platform, it is easier to plan ahead. That kind of streamlining can’t help but accelerate a product or technology’s commercialization pathway.”
If you would like to know more about how the Virtual Engagement Platform certification program can help you add value to your clients’ product development and commercialization activities, contact us.