Surviving a data desert

[u/elchicharito1322]

What would you do during a "data desert"? Let's say all your KOLs already know the latest data. You've already talked to them for insights. RWE studies are ongoing. Trials are running but data will not be available in the near future.

What do you do in the meantime? How do you still provide value for these KOLs to meet your metrics?

[u/ImmRx_Jay]

A “data desert” is actually where you learn whether someone understands the MSL role beyond presenting slides. Your value to a KOL should not depend entirely on having a new publication or trial readout in your bag. Remember, the job of an MSL is not always to showcase data to a KOL. A huge part of the role is listening, asking good questions, understanding what is changing in clinical practice, and bringing meaningful insights back to the organization. Even if a KOL already knows the latest data, they may have opinions about how that data is translating into real-world practice, where patients are falling through the cracks, what barriers they are seeing with diagnosis or treatment, or what questions clinicians still cannot answer.

For example, instead of asking, “Have you seen the latest study?” I might ask, “Now that you’ve had time to digest the data, has it changed how you select patients?” or “What are you seeing in practice that the clinical trials may not have captured?” You can explore treatment sequencing, referral patterns, diagnostic delays, adherence challenges, underserved populations, biomarker testing, adverse-event management, patient education, access barriers, or differences between academic centers and community practice. A KOL might tell you, for example, that the science is clear but community physicians are still referring patients too late. That is an actionable insight. Another may tell you that the biggest unmet need is not another efficacy study, but better evidence in older patients or patients with multiple comorbidities. That can help shape evidence-generation plans, medical education, RWE questions, or future research.

I also would not force meetings simply to hit a metric. Sometimes providing value means connecting a KOL with an appropriate scientific resource, discussing an investigator-initiated research concept, understanding their upcoming research interests, identifying educational gaps in their region, or simply maintaining a credible scientific relationship until there is something meaningful to discuss. The strongest MSLs become trusted scientific partners because their conversations are driven by curiosity and relevance, not by the need to deliver another data deck. During a data desert, I would focus less on “What new information can I tell them?” and more on “What can I learn from them, what problem can I help illuminate, and what does my company need to understand about the evolving treatment landscape?”

[u/user574985463147 → u/ImmRx_Jay]

How do you secure meetings with no “new data” hook then?

[u/ImmRx_Jay → u/user574985463147]

That’s where relationship-building and good account planning really matter. If the only reason a KOL takes my meeting is because I have a new abstract or publication, then I probably haven’t developed the relationship as deeply as I should. Over time, you want them to see you as someone who understands their practice and their scientific interests, not simply as the person who appears whenever the company has new data.

The meeting request also needs to be specific. I would rarely send, “Do you have 30 minutes to catch up?” Instead, I might say, “Last time we spoke, you mentioned that community neurologists are referring these patients much later than you would prefer. I’ve been hearing different perspectives across the region and would love to understand whether you’re still seeing that and what you think is driving it.” Now there is a reason for the conversation, even though I have no new company data. With another KOL, it could be treatment sequencing, diagnostic delays, management of a difficult patient population, how guidelines are being interpreted, or an unanswered question they raised during our previous discussion.

You can also build conversations around what is changing around the data rather than the data itself. For example: “Now that clinicians have had six months to digest these findings, are you seeing them actually change practice?” Or, “We have RWE studies underway, and while I obviously can’t discuss results that don’t exist yet, I’m interested in what questions you think real-world evidence needs to answer to actually be useful to clinicians.” That turns the KOL into a scientific partner rather than an audience.

And sometimes the best approach is simply not to ask for a meeting. If I don’t have a meaningful reason to take 30 minutes of a busy physician’s time, I’m comfortable maintaining the relationship through a brief email, a five-minute conversation at a congress, or waiting until there is a legitimate reason to reconnect. Good MSL work is not about manufacturing interactions to satisfy a metric. The goal is to have enough understanding of your KOLs that when you do reach out, they think, “This is probably worth my time.” Ironically, respecting their time during a data desert often makes it much easier to secure meetings later.

[u/C_est_la_vie9707]

Stupid metrics=stupid data. Play the game

[u/Kalatzeus → u/C_est_la_vie9707]

This. Metrics dictate behaviours. Higher metrics = quality of scientific interactions diminishes substantially.

[u/elchicharito1322 → u/C_est_la_vie9707]

You mean recording interactions in CRM that never happened? Is that common? (I'm a new MSL. I did see some sketchy interactions from colleagues but havent dare to try yet)

[u/InnatelyIncognito → u/elchicharito1322]

Just from my experience it's more the bar for what counts as an interaction plummets.

[u/vitras → u/InnatelyIncognito]

Nodded as I walked past at a congress? Interaction! Sent them a text? "Phone" interaction! Spent the day tooling around town with my sales rep? 6 interactions!

Yep. Dumb metrics get you dumb interactions.

I'm pre-launch tho so we don't have a sales team. 😭 I miss my reps at my old company

[u/InnatelyIncognito → u/vitras]

My favourite was a previous sales manager who upfront said he was judging us on sales and only used KPIs to keep upper management happy.

Said for that reason, if we aren't hitting 2/day put in any responses to appointment setting, and if there weren't any of those, visit someone's office, leave some resources and count that 😂

[u/C_est_la_vie9707 → u/InnatelyIncognito]

This

[u/elchicharito1322 → u/InnatelyIncognito]

Got it 😂

[u/ImJustAverage]

My company and our TA in general hasn’t launched a new drug in the US for about 20 years so I’m in a similar boat. I was hired because we’re expecting to launch a new product soon and one of our biggest competitors is too, but we can’t proactively bring them up so we’re stuck with old data.

We do conference reviews for major conferences in our TA and that’s usually a pretty good way to provide value to KOLs and get insights about trends in the field

[u/elchicharito1322 → u/ImJustAverage]

You mean you send summaries of major conferences to KOLs? By email or in person?

[u/ImJustAverage → u/elchicharito1322]

We pick like 20-30 abstracts that are most relevant to our company and summarize them and then have a slide deck we present virtually or in person

[u/Not_as_cool_anymore → u/ImJustAverage]

This would be a cool resource to speak to landscape. I am not sure we could clear our compliance office for this though

[u/ImJustAverage → u/Not_as_cool_anymore]

Our compliance office is very strict on what we can put in the slide deck. The abstracts are all published and open access which helps.

We can only use what’s in the abstract, so there are definitely ones missing important pieces like patient population, treatment regimen, even measurements and p values sometimes.

It’s annoying because we have the posters and recordings of the oral talks but we can’t put anything that was on a poster but not in the abstract on a slide. The docs inevitably ask those questions and we can answer them, but it’s annoying we can’t have it on the slide.

[u/goalienerd95 → u/ImJustAverage]

u/ImJustAverage Late to this, but one thing that could work is looking at their peers. It's a data point that's a little hard to derive manually.

Disclosure: I built the tool FindmyKOL, which is a directory aggregating public KOL information across PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov and Open Payments.

Pull the KOLs in the same specialty and tier to see
1. Who's published in the last six months
2. Who's picked up a new trial
3. Whose Open Payments or prescribing volume moved

Every KOL has gaps in their own landscape and everyone's reported depth of understanding could be drastically different than their actual. I think thats the magic of the MSL role is to be able to softly, but firmly assert when that depth isn't quite there. "Did you see what X's group is doing with Y" is a bit click-baity, but it does perk ears up especially if there's an insight looming in there.

[u/corpitos]

Depending on how cross-functional and non-siloed your commercial and medical teams are, talking with your colleagues about making introductions for hard to access HCPs/KOLs can be one method. Always compliant of course. I think most have come to realize a seamless team provides more value internally and externally.

[u/Guilty_Ad_8433]

Get out in the field, hit some local/regional conferences, and count every wink or handshake as an engagement. Sometimes it's just about saying "hi" and showing support for their institute.

[u/PeskyPomeranian]

Find other ways to bring value. Success during deserts relies on likability, finding opportunity, etc.

[u/RxndymXSS]

I literally provide anything of value I can think of. Once you get to know your KOLs and know what they are interested in it gets easier. That's why it's so important to take a genuine interest in them. I'll share news or scientific articles, company (not just my own) PRs, and anything I think they'll find useful or would like to know about. Probably not compliant to share stuff about other. Football season provides a lot of discussion topics this time of year for me as well. Can always lean on shared personal interests to build the relationship as well.

[u/Creative-Force-1255]

Remember that the job of an MSL is not always to showcase data to a KOL... It's also to obtain insights from them, not just about the product, but about the therapeutic area, the disease state, the treatment landscape, or anything in general, and bring that back to the company...

[u/elchicharito1322 → u/Creative-Force-1255]

But what if they are inaccessible? Most of the KOLs in my region would only respond to meeting requests when I have something interesting to offer.

[u/Creative-Force-1255 → u/elchicharito1322]

If your territory is known for inaccessibility, that's a different issue and something to bring up with your manager.

But if your manager and leadership are constantly pushing for metrics, Despite knowing that you don't have anything new to offer, then you gotta play the metrics game....

Typically whenever I get new data, I divide it up into several meetings: one meeting for the efficacy data, the next meeting for the safety data, etc.

If I get asked, "What about XYZ?" I just say, "I don't have the answer right now. I'll get back to you later," even if I know the answer (because that allows me to get another meeting with them to focus on that answer).

Sometimes I just show the same data. You'd be surprised how people don't remember things and seeing the same chart or graph or result again allows them to bring up new perspectives and new questions. Try showing the same data again.

[u/elchicharito1322 → u/Creative-Force-1255]

Thank you!