Advisory board materials

Medical advisory board materials support expert discussion of unmet needs, record the discussion and turn its conclusions into a report. The writer's assignment can extend from preparation and invitations to minutes, an updated executive summary and an approved report, with publication depending on the meeting's outcome.

Purpose and participants

A medical advisory board brings healthcare professionals together under a chairperson to discuss literature against a predefined agenda and develop consensus, guidelines or an agenda for another meeting. ¹ Meetings are usually informal and flexible, allowing discussion of issues outside the original agenda. ¹ They identify knowledge gaps in a therapeutic area and suggest measures to bridge them. ¹

Boards combine practising health professionals' and key opinion leaders' experience with published literature to develop practical, region-specific solutions and give companies a market-informed understanding of unmet needs and their products' medical benefits. ² They can provide non-binding, informed guidance on business questions and were considered the most valuable form of pharmaceutical-company engagement with health professionals and patients in 2016. ² Expert views can help refine clinical research programmes or medical communication strategies, and regular board meetings are mostly confidential. ³

The writer should understand the meeting's purpose and objective before starting. ^{4, 5} Its primary goal is to gather insights into research opportunities, including clinical development and trial protocols, and unmet needs that could shape future clinical strategies. ^{4, 6} Information is usually shared with peers and other healthcare stakeholders to improve patient outcomes, although a sponsor may keep it internally or share it only with participating experts if consensus is not achieved. ⁶

The sponsor usually selects the key opinion leaders; representatives of relevant medical societies may also participate. ⁷ Board members usually select the chairperson unanimously to moderate discussion and steer the panel towards a conclusion. ⁷ Pharmaceutical companies initiate most boards, but publication companies, sponsored or unsponsored medical societies and medical communications companies may also organise them. ⁷

Scope of the assignment

The writer may support the board from conception and preparation through the meeting to report writing and publication. ⁸ Responsibilities can include engaging experts, preparing questionnaires, surveying unmet needs online, producing pre-meeting reports, executive summaries and presentations, hosting the meeting, taking minutes, drafting the report and preparing it for publication. ^{8, 4} They vary with the meeting's nature, objectives, organising body and stage. ^{8, 4} A detailed discussion with the organising body and experts should establish their expectations, the final deliverable and timelines. ^{4, 5}

An agency may organise the meeting and prepare its agenda, provide a chairperson and deliver a comprehensive client report containing minutes and strategic recommendations. ³

Summary-writing assignments can involve attending a meeting where a pharmaceutical company presents data or a research plan to roughly a dozen physicians, taking extensive notes and writing up their feedback afterwards. ⁹

Preparation

In 2016, there were no standard guidelines or templates for preparing and hosting boards and producing their reports. ¹ Recommended pre-meeting preparation has five parts: ^{10, 11}

1. Communication. Establish why the meeting is being held, which unmet needs it addresses and what deliverable is expected. The writer may help select experts.
2. Invitations. Help send invitations and an introductory email if the organising body requests it.
3. Familiarisation and information gathering. Search the literature thoroughly and well in advance. For a regional clinical-practice guideline meeting, learn the local disease situation, existing local guidelines, practitioners' knowledge gaps and global guidelines. This also builds familiarity with the terminology used in discussion and helps with minute-taking. Learn about the participating experts and, where permissible, discuss their perspectives and expectations beforehand to identify critical points to capture. For a continuing board, request previous minutes and reports to focus on the issues to be discussed.
4. Questionnaires, presentations and reports. Particularly for an opening meeting, the organising body may request a survey questionnaire, presentation or report on unmet needs and meeting objectives. Clarify its requirements and prepare the requested document.
5. Executive summary. If requested, prepare a summary of the problem statement, proposals and key discussion points to help experts make decisions and reach consensus.

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Meeting record

Writers should arrive early, dress professionally, carry business cards and introduce themselves to participants. ^{12, 11} Capturing minutes is the writer's most important meeting duty. ^{12, 11} Recording all important information manually is difficult, so audiovisual aids may be needed; the writer should ask the organising body for technical support to help capture relevant material. ¹² Notes should contain an outline of the meeting and its sessions. ¹² The writer should listen carefully, document all relevant points and pay particular attention to discussion, recording both sides of disagreements. ^{12, 5, 11} The organising body may ask the writer to close the meeting and explain when participants will receive the minutes and updated executive summary. ^{12, 11}

Minutes, summary and final report

The post-meeting sequence has four parts: ¹³

1. Minutes. Deliver the first essential document, usually requested within 48 hours, to the organising body and participating experts. It gives an overview and the foundation for the final report. Ask whether a specific format is required, since there is no standard format. Ideally include meeting particulars, the organiser and participants, background on the unmet need, the meeting objective, discussion highlights and expert-suggested future directions.
2. Updated executive summary. Revise the pre-meeting summary according to the experts' comments and suggestions.
3. Final report. Begin after the organising body and experts approve the minutes. Content depends on the desired publication document; there is no fixed format, but the report should centre on the objective. An ideal report gives therapeutic-area background, unmet needs and practitioners' knowledge–practice gaps, the meeting objective, expert insights compared with current literature, and possible future directions. It often guides research opportunities, clinical development and trial protocols, so it should add to the existing literature. Share the final draft with the experts and sponsor for approval.
4. Publication support. If consensus is achieved, format the final report for the selected journal and submit it for publication or sharing with the scientific community. Without consensus, the organising body retains the report for future reference.

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