Medical Affairs Manager - JHB at Abbott

What You’ll Do 

• Ensure that all activities and interactions are conducted with due regard to all applicable local, global and national laws, regulations, guidelines, codes of conduct, company policies and accepted standards of best practice.
• KOLs Management and development;           
• Develop & maintain professional and credible relationships with key opinion leaders and academic centers to ensure access to current medical and scientific information on the products and areas of therapeutic interest.  
• Develop & maintain scientific expertise of company products and related therapeutic areas.
• Foster collaboration and partnering between opinion leaders and the company.
• Obtain feedback and advice about company products through peer-to-peer interactions and advisory boards.
• Identify and develop speakers for the company’s TAs & products.
• Identify investigators appropriate for clinical trials.
• Act as a conduit for unsolicited, investigator-initiated research proposals by facilitation proposal, approval, completion, presentation, and publication of studies
• Keep abreast of cutting edge research and literature in therapeutic area.        
• Assist in the initiation, oversight and follow up of assigned clinical studies and medical projects initiated within the relevant therapeutic area of Abbott (e.g. post marketing clinical activities such as registry/database projects, epidemiological surveys, post-authorization studies (phase IV), IIS projects, etc.): all activities to comply with applicable local laws, guidelines, codes of practice, SOPs, and Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development (GPRD) SOPs.
• Ownership of pre-launch medical activities (BD, new products assessments, market research program, advisory boards, experts’ insights meetings…)
• Conduct medical and product training for medical representatives (Initial training, Refreshment sessions, preparation of quizzes and assessments of all TAs)
• Ownership of Pepper System, supervision and follow-up on the review and approval of medical / scientific promotional materials till the release to the market.
• Deliver credible presentations on scientific matters to physicians (individually or in groups meetings, clinical sessions, RTDs etc.), where requested.
• Participate in the selection process to identify appropriately qualified physicians the Company would wish to engage in collaborative efforts – such as potential research collaborations, or lecture/meeting support (Round Tables, Congresses, Symposia, etc.); and to ensure a high level of scientific or educational integrity in these collaborative efforts.
• Ensure Proper documentation for various medical activities; PSAs, Medical Research & Sponsorships.
• Assist in developing awareness and understanding of competitor issues/intelligence – for example, product strategies, studies, commercial messages, positioning, etc – and communicate, where appropriate, within the Company.
• Attend relevant Scientific Societies meetings and Conferences, and develop summaries of key messages for use within the Company – such as key areas of scientific/company interest, new trends in diagnosis, monitoring and treatments in the therapeutic area, etc.
• Upon request, assist physicians to appropriately direct requests for access to Company products on a named patient or compassionate use basis, subject to all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
• Support sales/marketing/internal team areas to develop their scientific and technical expertise through the delivery of scientific update presentations.
• Ensure up to date knowledge of products uses and external data.
• Provide key opinion leaders and internal medical and clinical teams with scientific and technical support for publications of scientific or medical interest.
• Deliver scientific presentations and medical education programs to healthcare professionals individually or in groups where requested.
• Screen relevant literature and other information from relevant scientific societies meetings and conferences and develop summaries of key messages for use within the Company.
• Deliver training to sales forces and other departments and develop and update relevant training materials.
• Review and preparation of promotional material.
• Ensure the medical/scientific content is correct and fully compliant with Abbott’s internal policies and guidelines.
• Identify new business opportunities within areas of therapeutic interest in the company
• In field visits to healthcare professionals with and without representatives
• Backup Affiliate Safety Representative.
• Duly fulfil all the requirements of the Affiliate Safety Representative when they cannot perform their duties

Support Pharmacovigilance Responsibilities: 

• Liaises with Health Care Professionals to obtain as much information as possible with respect to adverse events associated with Abbott products
• Records, reports and tracks all adverse events, both serious and non-serious, to GPV and local health authorities in the time   frames as required by the relevant company SOP’s and current legislation
• Trains all new sales, marketing and affiliate staff on matters pertaining to Pharmacovigilance
• Tracks submission of PSUR’s
• Documents the receipt of all external queries for safety information in collaboration with the Medical Advisor.
• On a daily basis review all global adverse events appearing in the OSYRIS work flow
• Advise OSYRIS Management of any changes required

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Medicine (MBChB)
• OR Bachelors In Pharmacy ( BPharm)
• OR Masters in Pharmacy ( MPharm)
• OR Doctor of PHARMACY (PharmD) Degree is essential

Preferred experience: 

• A minimum of 5 years within similar roles.
• 7 years’ experience with the Pharmaceutical industry preferably having worked within the Emerging Africa Markets.
• Experience working in a pharmaceutical industry and general knowledge of drug development and clinical research
• Experience in Scientific report writing would be advantageous
• Skills in administration, planning and organizing essential
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Experience working in a pharmaceutical industry and general knowledge on drug development and clinical research an advantage.
• Candidate should be customer and patient oriented while having the ability to build strong relationships with stake-holders and other relevant KOL and Parties.
• Strong commitment to compliance with the relevant rules and procedures, and to scientific quality and integrity.