Pharma companies spend a lot on outsourced content. But what if they could bring this expertise in-house and keep the quality, save some money, and build something sustainable at the same time?
That’s exactly what this global biotech client wanted to do. So, they brought us in to help build a brand-new content development department from scratch. No pressure, right?
Fast forward a bit, and that little team is now a full-blown business unit, operating across six countries. Not bad for a first draft.
The trainers were everything! Caroline reminded me of my favourite high school teachers. The teachers that truly cared about your learning. Those that made you feel safe to think, share, and express yourself… All of your sessions were exciting, interesting and engaging!
Where we came in
Our client is one of the world’s largest biotech companies – think cutting-edge science, diagnostics and a huge product portfolio across a range of specialisms.
They were tired of relying on external agencies for content. They wanted control of materials, consistency and a team that truly understood their brand. They envisioned a new content development department responsible for creating global assets and supporting brands across the company. Ambitious, but totally doable, with the right support.
A colleague who liked our content-first approach put us in touch with the client. As expert medical writers known for our commitment to scientific excellence, we were ready to go.
Our strategic approach
We crafted a multi-step strategy to assess needs, deliver tailored medical writing training, test outcomes and refine our approach. We grounded this strategy using behavioural science and a validated approach that maximises capability, opportunity and motivation.
Understanding the business need
We kicked things off with a deep-dive needs assessment. Working with our client, we mapped out strategic objectives, organisational structures and got a feel for the regulatory market.
Two critical needs stood out:
- A solid foundation for an in-house medical writing team
- A framework to support and assess the writing team as it grew
Building the right tools
This initial approach gave us the groundwork to design training that sticks. The research stage provided key insights into our client’s business and allowed us to understand what was working well and where motivational barriers could be cleared.
We partnered with our client to establish the internal infrastructure and core competencies for each role. Our expert medical writers developed onboarding materials to support the team: think lexicons, style guides, file naming conventions, disease backgrounders and lay summaries. Everything the new team needed to get started.
Delivering training
Next up was training. We developed a bespoke training programme that distilled over 150 years of combined writing and training expertise into an intensive 2-week course. Not bad! This programme gave the new team the tools to meet the client’s high standards, through:
- Live seminars – interactive, tutor-led sessions tailored to specific learning objectives
- On-demand modules – engaging content with instructor videos and knowledge checks
- Peer feedback sessions – guided group discussions to reflect on and apply learnings
- 1:1 coaching sessions – weekly personalised sessions with a course tutor
The emphasis on empathy and storytelling was a valuable and interesting perspective that I had not considered in my writing before in my previous agency. I found these helpful for engaging my target audience more effectively… especially in patient-engagement materials.
The results
We helped the client turn content creation into a core internal service. We built the infrastructure, trained the first cohort of writers and supported the business case for expanding the team.
Since then, we’ve successfully trained multiple teams, from fresh-faced juniors to seasoned senior medical writers, creating a diverse and skilled team that now operates across six countries and multiple continents.
The medical writing teams have allowed the client to invest in their own talent, reduce dependence on external content creation agencies, and maintain high-quality communications across time zones.
The client was so pleased with the results that they’ve asked us to run the training course three times!
The content was tailored to my needs, and even the examples used during the presentations were perfectly aligned with the types of projects I am going to work on.
If you’re ready to develop your writing team into a team of experts and supercharge your in-house expertise, we’d love to chat. Get in touch to find out how we can help.