5 Tips for Planning an Effective Pharmaceutical Advisory Board
Pharmaceutical and biotech advisory boards give clinical development and medical affairs teams an opportunity to gather focused insights from external experts and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). Whether held in person or virtually, an effective advisory board requires clear objectives, the right advisors, thoughtful content and skilled facilitation to generate meaningful, actionable insights.
After planning and supporting advisory boards across therapeutic areas and stages of clinical development, I've found that the most successful meetings share several fundamentals. Here are five considerations for planning an effective pharmaceutical advisory board.
The Role of Advisory Boards in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs
In pharmaceutical and biotech clinical development, advisory boards can help teams gather external perspectives on study design, patient populations, endpoints, investigator strategy, unmet needs and potential challenges within a development program.
Within medical affairs, advisory boards can help identify evidence and education gaps, understand evolving treatment practices, explore unmet needs and gather perspectives on how new scientific information may affect healthcare professionals and patients.
Whatever the objective, an advisory board should be designed to answer specific questions that will inform decisions. The meeting is most valuable when the objectives, advisor selection, agenda and discussion format are all built around those questions.
Selecting the Right KOLs for Your Advisory Board
A successfully structured advisory board is one that convenes true experts in their field, particularly those who are known as KOLs. This may include experts who are highly published, active in professional societies, experienced presenters, and involved in developing or authoring clinical guidelines. There may be an interest in global experts or regional experts (i.e. screening methods and rates in rural areas may be different than in urban areas).
Identifying who should be on your advisory board is only half the battle. Here are a few things you should consider when planning your advisory board meeting:
5 Tips for Structuring an Advisory Board
1. Define Clear Advisory Board Objectives. It's important to understand the mission of your advisory board meeting as you begin. Set high-level goals before talking specifics tied to a particular institution or demographic. Below are a few questions you can use to get started:
- Is this a national or regional issue? Are there differences? If so, make sure you have the right advisors in the room to answer these questions.
- Are you interested in feedback from a particular group of HCPs, i.e. specialists or general medicine internists? Have a representative group of each at your meeting.
- Do you want to understand knowledge gaps in your therapeutic area? Consider surveying your attendees upfront to see what the gaps may be.
2. Select Engaged KOLs, Not Just Recognized Experts. You're looking for advisors who are genuinely interested in the questions you're exploring and willing to contribute thoughtful perspectives.
As their sponsor, make sure your group of advisors understands your goals and what their role is in helping you reach each one. Make sure they want to contribute, and not just dominate the conversation. Passion, commitment, and a real interest in adding value are of paramount importance for your group of advisors. Some of the best advisors may not be the most highly-published authors or sought-after speakers, but rather the most invested healthcare professionals who are committed to changing the lives of their patients. Some may need to tap into the proverbial "sixth sense" to know who these advisors are, but their care, passion, and interest usually shines through pretty clearly.
3. Choose the Right Chair or Facilitator. You might decide to choose one of your advisors or an external consultant as the chair of your advisory board. The chair leads the meeting and the dialogue with the advisors. It's important that the chair has a strong presence and is well-known by the advisors. The chair sets the tone and ensures that dialogue is shared equally throughout the meeting. The chair will ask questions and engage with each advisor to ensure everyone participates and has an opportunity to share their perspective. They should be highly respected, skilled at guiding discussion, and approachable enough to encourage candid participation.
4. Balance Scientific Rigor With a Thoughtful Meeting Experience. The advisory board meeting reflects the identity and culture of your company.
Treat your advisors nicely and with the utmost respect and appreciation from the start. Your relationship with them begins the moment you invite them to join the advisory board and continues through follow-up conversations and additional meetings.
The advisor experience matters. From the initial invitation through arrival, the meeting itself and follow-up, every interaction should feel organized, thoughtful and respectful of advisors' time. Consider the details that affect their experience, including travel and transportation, venue selection, meeting flow, hospitality and opportunities for informal interaction. When logistics are handled seamlessly, advisors can focus on what matters most: the scientific discussion and exchange of insights.
Ensure the room setup supports discussion and that all audiovisual elements are tested in advance. Rehearse and review meeting content with presenters so the scientific discussion can remain focused and polished. Use a mix of formats when appropriate, including facilitated discussion, breakout groups, individual exercises or other interactive approaches that help draw out perspectives from every advisor.
5. Follow Up With Advisors and Close the Feedback Loop. After the meeting, send each advisor a personal note, and highlight some of the contributions they offered. This can help your advisors know they were heard and valued. Keep them updated on how their feedback is being used, and how you look forward to their input at the next meeting. Ask them what their interests are in helping further.
When you meet with the advisors again, provide an update on actions taken since the last meeting. This should include how you incorporated their previous input into projects that helped you achieve specific goals or milestones. And of course, set the goals and intentions for the next meeting.
Effective advisory boards don't happen by accident. They require thoughtful advisor selection, clear objectives, well-designed content, skilled facilitation and careful follow-through. When each element is aligned, an advisory board can provide insights that meaningfully inform clinical development and medical affairs strategy.
SBHC partners with pharmaceutical and biotech teams to plan and execute advisory boards from strategy through execution, including KOL identification and engagement, agenda and content development, meeting logistics, facilitation and post-meeting insights.
Planning an upcoming advisory board? Let's talk.