Job description: Medical Writer
Reports to: SMW / PMW / STL / ASD
Core responsibilities
- Develop and maintain knowledge of therapy areas relevant to own projects, including product and competitor awareness, key trial data, key messaging and terminology
- Develop and deliver scientifically accurate, high-quality content across a range of projects that is aligned with client objectives and meets the specification and budgetary and schedule requirements
- Participate fully in client meetings to discuss scientific and editorial aspects of the project
- Liaise with and brief KOLs as required with senior support
- Act as the point of contact for both clients and KOLs on specified projects
Main duties
- Develop and maintain in-depth knowledge of therapy area(s)/ market/ audiences/ key messages and input into the implementation of strategic communication plans in close collaboration with clients and account teams with guidance from manager
- Research and write copy to the highest scientific and grammatical standards for a range of med ed and communications materials (including manuscripts, abstracts, posters, oral presentations, print items and multimedia) and target audiences (e.g. specialist doctors, generalist doctors, nurses, patients, client staff)
- Work to processes (in the agency and/or client) that facilitate adherence of all customer-facing material to legal and regulatory requirements (e.g. ABPI and EFPIA); this will include upload and referencing of items in preparation for regulatory and legal review, as well as briefing of other staff members to perform these tasks
- Ensure accurate interpretation and incorporation of review comments from NexGen staff, clients, KOLs and other project stakeholders
- Proactively manage and discuss own workload to ensure workflow is smooth and ensures timely delivery to meet clients’ briefs
- Briefing of freelancers (e.g. writers and designers)
- Remain aware of current industry practices and regulatory requirements that affect medical writing, keeping abreast of current literature, emerging science, technological developments and medical trends; create summaries and maintain files on informative medical and scientific journal articles for the team
- Attend congresses or client meetings on own to provide medical writing or client support as required, with a thorough debrief to the team afterwards
- Provide concise and effective communication with internal and client team to ensure timely discussion of factors that affect our ability to profitably deliver high quality work
- Ensure style of writing is consistent across multiple projects for a particular client (this may include input into a style guide)
- Work with manager to participate in pitches and proposals, e.g. research on unmet needs and, in collaboration with the rest of the pitch team, formulate strategic recommendations and ideas for tactics
- Collaborate with the team to ensure efficient working, contributing ideas for this when possible
- Full understanding of hours in the budget for projects you are working on
- Propose new ideas for organic growth
Key result areas
- Delivery of consistently high-quality medical education and communication projects that meet project specification/brief, are on time and to budget
- Clear and proactive communication with manager, members of the account team and colleagues across agency to ensure key information about own projects is available in a timely manner
- Ownership of own work quality
- Adherence to healthcare compliance laws & guidelines, and agency & client SOPs
Skills and knowledge required
- Degree level or higher in a biomedical science
- 1–2 years’ med comms agency experience, including strong evidence of teamwork
- Solid understanding of the process of drug development and the regulations that drive this in the USA and EU
- Top quality scientific writing, with skills to adapt content and style to suit different audiences
- Excellent attention to detail, good grammar and syntax skills
- Ability to apply feedback received, to ensure highest standards of quality and scientific accuracy are consistently achieved
- Strong project management and organisational skills, combined with some understanding of the commercial drivers of the business
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work as part of a team in a high-pressure environment
- Excellent use of MS PowerPoint and Word
- Ability to conduct thorough medical literature searches, appraise search results and process complex scientific information to produce required deliverables