Laurent Martin

Medical Affairs: a long and winding road Bringing cure to patients - from discovery to patent and beyond - is a long way that all MA physicians have experienced. This involves clinical development, medical expertise, dealing with the environment, communication and above all out-of-the-box thinking. For me it started with the beginning: clinical research associate. Because getting the data is the foundation of everything and because quality of data is key I felt that this first step was compulsory. Being then a trial manager brought forward a number of experiences some of them outstanding like resuscitating a huge project to its happy end or developing a technology: facial thermography had been tried by many without significant success and we developed it successfully with the smart people of the Fraunhofer institute. Being a medical affair manager brought me to a number of fascinating experiences: taking a biologic drug from a 'small' phase 2 study to the best launch ever in the company; bringing information to health care professionals and patients as well; building up the network of medical experts (the former opinion leaders); leading a productive advisory board; being the expert in the team the one who shares his thoughts on the product and make it clear why this product is unique; teaching and training colleagues; meeting health authorities; helping build a campaign. One fascinating task – and pleasure – is to bring ideas, how to make meaningful events and of course how the catch attention from the audience - no one wants to speak in the desert. Many physicians treat patients every day or so of their life. Some work out to find new drugs. The road is still a long one to ride on.