Welcome to Pharma Signal by Talmedica.
This is where I examine what the market is signaling for Medical Affairs, and what those signals mean for the people doing the work.
Pharma Insider Brief remains the name of the LinkedIn edition. Here, I’ll connect the organizational view with the career implications.
Four conversations, four planning questions
As you build your 2027 plan, these four conversations are worth revisiting. Each raises a question about what you're asking Medical Affairs to do, and whether the organization is set up to use that work.
1. Leadership Blind Spot: Operating the Model vs. Redesigning It
Running the current Medical Affairs model well is different from knowing when it no longer fits the work. Planning season tests both.
Planning question: Which deployment assumptions are we willing to revisit before we approve next year's strategy?
[Read the article]
2. When Commercial Becomes Clinically Strategic, What Is Medical Affairs For?
Commercial is gaining clinical depth. Medical cannot defend its relevance with reporting lines alone; it needs to name the distinct contribution it owns. Featured in MyMA and discussed on MSLead Chronicles.
Planning question: What distinct contribution are we asking each role to make, and where does overlap actually serve a purpose?
[Read the article] · Watch the discussion
3. If your MSL team ranked last, what would you conclude?
Physician feedback matters. But a ranking may capture only part of the system, and sometimes exposes the organization’s processes as much as the field team’s performance.
Planning question: Which of our measures reflect the field team's work, and which reflect the organization's ability to respond?
[Read the post]
4. When Medical Education Sits Under Commercial
Reporting lines shape priorities, incentives, and what the market assumes about people when they move on. Org design is not neutral.
Planning question: Do our reporting lines, responsibilities, and incentives support the work we actually need?
[Read the article]
Also worth your time: The KOL Network Is Not the Market, on what traditional expert networks reveal about the market, and what they can miss. Featured in Fractional Force Frequency.
The common thread: Across these conversations, it seems to keep on coming back to this — what does the organization need Medical Affairs to contribute, and have we built a model that lets that contribution be recognized and used? Another KPI won't fix unclear responsibilities or field insights nobody owns. And if nobody puts that question on the table this cycle, the default answer will be last year's metrics.
What the numbers say about who's listening
Two of my Q3 pieces traveled almost entirely outside my network. When Commercial Becomes Clinically Strategic reached more than 90,000 people, and my post on how MSL teams get judged reached nearly 19,000 in its first two days.
The responses split in an interesting way. The two pieces about the function's value spread mostly through saves and private shares. The leadership and career pieces drew more open discussion in the comments.
I can't tell from the numbers why. People may be saving these for planning, or passing them to colleagues. But it made me wonder whether the conversations happening between colleagues are reaching the meetings where next year's plans get approved.
Why this matters if you don't lead a team
The same problem shows up at the individual level. If you can’t explain how your work contributed to an organizational priority, the market has less to go on beyond your title, years of experience, and last employer.
Understanding the organization’s problem, and explaining your contribution to it, gives people a clearer reason to consider you for the next opportunity. That’s why you’ll see both kinds of pieces here.
Help me get to know you 👋🏼
For leaders heading into 2027 planning
If you'd like a thinking partner as you set your priorities, clarify your team's responsibilities, and decide what to bring forward this cycle, I've opened a small number of Field Leadership Advisory engagements: three months, 1:1, built around the decisions you're carrying now.
Reply "advisory" and I'll send details.
Christine Ong, PharmD
Founder, Talmedica
P.S. If you're working on your own positioning, I'm developing a Career Positioning OS for pharma, a system for translating your experience into what the market actually rewards. Reply "OS" for early access.