“Is AI good enough to create the content I need?”
I’m often asked this question when I meet marketing professionals in the pharma industry who are eager to harness the power of artificial intelligence in their operations. But we need to frame the question differently to get a meaningful answer: “In the era of generative AI, who decides what good content is?” If you approach the question from this perspective, you start to understand that AI is one part of a workflow and process, not the beginning and end of content production. Instead, it will augment human content creation, with humans making the key decisions about creative direction, quality, and compliance. The intelligent use of AI is very much a human endeavour. However, the need for augmenting human effort is beyond doubt.
The Changing Landscape of Healthcare Professionals Engagement
Recent research by Elsevier reveals that physicians are busier than ever, seeing more patients per day in 2024 compared to 2023. This increased workload underscores the need for efficient, easily digestible medical information. Simultaneously, healthcare professionals (HCPs) are increasingly turning to digital channels for medical information:
- 84% of physicians consider medical journal articles (both online and print) as one of the most important resources for staying informed.
- 68% use online medical journals as their top digital resource for professional purposes.
- Surprisingly, 18% of physicians now rank social media in their top 3 channels for information on new medical developments.
These statistics highlight the importance of creating high-quality, accessible content across various platforms. Content production is a question of speed and scale. This is where AI can play a crucial role.
AI as Part of the Content Creation Workflow
In life sciences, the promise of AI includes accelerated drug discovery and more personalised treatments, according to a widely read McKinsey report. For medical affairs, the same McKinsey report sees significant gains in efficiency and effectiveness that could result in a “30-50% reduction in content creation costs”, for example. Despite this potential, medical affairs professionals find it difficult to understand where and how to apply AI in their work (see MAPS).
At SciencePOD, we’ve implemented several AI-powered solutions that demonstrate the efficiency potential in content creation:
- Clinical Study Summaries: Our AI generates summaries in minutes, extracting key information such as methodologies, findings, and conclusions.
- Infographic Generation: AI creates templated infographics outlining key messages, findings, and methods from clinical studies, automatically selecting appropriate illustrations.
- Video Summarisation: AI algorithms generate video excerpts from webinars or congress recordings, serving as teasers for full content.
Our typical workflow involves:
- AI generating initial content based on input data.
- Human experts reviewing and refining the AI-generated content, ensuring scientific accuracy and adding nuanced insights.
- Content undergoing compliance checks and approvals.
- Tailoring final content to specific channels and HCP preferences.
This approach combines AI’s efficiency with human expertise, critical thinking, and regulatory understanding.
Meeting HCP Needs with Multimedia Content
Elsevier’s research also shows a growing preference for multimedia content among HCPs:
- Education-based videos or instructional videos are the most popular type of multimedia content among physicians.
- 48% of physicians watch videos because it’s more convenient than attending a conference.
- 46% say videos are quick to watch.
AI can help in creating these multimedia resources by:
- Automated Video Script Generation: AI analyses multiple sources to create initial scripts or outlines for educational content.
- Personalised Content Creation: AI analyses data to tailor messages based on speciality, geography, or specific interests derived from interaction history.
Leveraging Social Media and Online Platforms
YouTube, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn are the most common social media platforms used by physicians, with significant regional variations. This presents an opportunity for medical affairs teams to reach HCPs where they already are.
After reading a medical-related post, the most common action by HCPs is clicking a link to read the full contents of an article or paper. This behaviour underscores the importance of creating compelling, AI-assisted summaries that lead to more comprehensive, human-crafted content.
Medical Congresses: A Prime Example
Medical congresses provide an excellent example of how AI can enhance, rather than replace, human-driven content creation. At SciencePOD, we’ve seen how AI-generated summaries can increase the impact of clinical studies presented at congresses by up to 300% and boost live event attendance by at least 2 or 3 fold.
Our approach includes:
- Pre-event Content: AI summarises KOL speakers’ most recent clinical publications, generating preview content to provide context to the event in text and infographic format.
- Real-time Coverage: During events, we deliver live coverage of key presentations.
- Post-event Engagement: AI generates personalised follow-up content including video excerpts, based on video recorded sessions of KOL presentations.
- E-book Creation: We collate pre-event AI-generated summaries into comprehensive e-books on clinical research trends.
This approach not only benefits pharma companies but also provides value to medical and scientific publishers by increasing the reach and impact of presented research.
Quality and Compliance: A Human-Defined Concept
When we talk about “quality” in medical affairs content, we’re referring to a complex set of criteria that includes scientific accuracy, relevance, clarity, compliance with regulations, and engagement potential. While AI can contribute to many of these aspects, the ultimate judgement of quality remains a human responsibility.
The MAPS study emphasises the need for human oversight and validation of AI outputs. This is particularly crucial in the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, where compliance and accuracy are paramount.
Looking Ahead: The Future of AI in Medical Affairs
As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more sophisticated applications in medical affairs. From predictive analytics to real-time content personalisation, the possibilities are exciting. However, successful implementation will always require human guidance and oversight.
McKinsey’s research and MAPS insights highlight the importance of a comprehensive strategy for AI implementation, including addressing data architecture, talent, and change management. This underscores that while AI offers tremendous potential, realising its benefits requires careful planning and execution.
In a nutshell, I see AI as a powerful tool for medical affairs teams to enhance their content creation and HCP engagement strategies. By integrating AI thoughtfully into existing workflows, pharmaceutical companies and scientific publishers can improve their operational efficiency while maintaining the high-quality, compliant content that HCPs expect and deserve.
The key is to view AI not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a powerful augmentation of our capabilities. By combining the strengths of AI with human creativity, judgement, and industry knowledge, we can create content that is not only efficient to produce but also valuable to increasingly time-pressed healthcare professionals and, ultimately, to patients.