How do you lead and mentor a Market Access team or function?

The synergy between leading with a purpose and driving the team toward achieving its full potential is critically important. Key elements to focus on while organizing strategies to lead a team are; 1. Reflecting the leadership value into the philosophy. 2. Understanding the organization's long-term objectives. 3. Assessing the team’s requirements and capabilities; doing a SWOT analysis of the team. 4. Setting up a "Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound" (SMART) strategies. 5. Prioritizing team’s goal and organizing the delivery timeline according to the need. 6. Clear communication, feedback and by taking appropriate measure as required.

To lead and mentor a Market Access team in pharmaceuticals: 1.Understand the healthcare landscape. 2.Set clear goals and recruit a skilled team. 3.Provide ongoing training and mentorship. 4.Foster cross-functional collaboration. 5.Develop data-driven market access strategies. 6.Build relationships with key stakeholders. 7.Ensure regulatory compliance. 8.Monitor performance with KPIs. 9.Adapt to changing circumstances. 10.Prioritize patient-centric and ethical approaches.

Market access vision and goals must indeed be aligned with wider corporate views, but market access teams can also feed the definition of the corporate goals. Indeed, corporate decision-making requires insights about the global access landscape, unmet needs according to HTA and P&R authorities, pricing and access potential.

If your market access function is working in isolation, there are a couple of strategies to remedy this situation. The most effective approach is to unite people by addressing a common challenge. Begin by identifying a business problem that affects multiple functions. Treat this like any other project, establishing clear objectives, roles, responsibilities, and timelines. Afterward, pinpoint the business processes requiring collaboration, such as product launches, and work with team leaders to explore how market access can support.

Market Access is somewhat of a transverse function. Ensuring the best market access conditions require strong collaborations: - Internally, with Clinical R&D, Regulatory, Medical, Commercial, and Public Affairs); - Externally, with partners, authorities, healthcare providers and patients. It must be clear in the culture of a market access team that every stakeholder can bring parts of the puzzle.

One way of mentoring someone coming from another business function or who is new to market access is reviewing hypothetical access scenarios. For example, asking them what would they do if a payer decided to stop reimbursing a product? Or how would they go about proving the value to the health system for a treatment? I find this kickstarts the strategic problem solving market access requires and is a good complement to ‘traditional’ training such as HEOR courses.

Market Access is a vast field and nobody can be an expert in everything. Market Access leader should not be shy of bringing in team members that know better than they do, and keep developing team members' skills and competences. Ultimately, the role of a market Access leader is to empower their team to bring in new perspective that will improve global access to health technologies.

A diverse team brings together many individuals from various backgrounds, cultures and experiences, but connected for a common goal. This enhances creativity, problem solving skills and lead to better decision-making. A better understanding of the market results in developing innovative strategies to build up. Diversity in a Market Access team can offer a range of benefits that contribute to achieving higher goals and success in multiple ways.

Market Access requires the combination of different types of expertises (clinicians, economists, epidemiologists, statisticians, psychologists, ...). Diversity is just an imperative in the field. I also experienced that nobody can better understand local market access dynamics than the experts that actually live and work in these markets, so cultural diversity is also a must.

Passion in Market Access? Just do not forget that, behind economics, science, and products, there are patients. Individuals that are suffering and need innovative treatments. If some health innovations did not exist, I would have lost loved ones, so for me, it is very personal. Always remind your team that, at the end of the day, their work saves lives.

Leading and Mentoring in Market Access is about helping team members master what helps patients access our therapies. This could be tactical when we start; helping new teammates understand healthcare markets, their requirements, and the most appropriate activities we can do to substantiate our claims. As you progress through your career, seek out leadership that helps you understand more of the soft skills that actually elevate your performance across regulatory/HTA submissions, and pricing & reimbursement negotiations. Your goal should be to learn selling skills, writing and storytelling, and finding lots of time for practice! If the goal is to accelerate patient access to medicines, then convincing others of your POV is a superpower!

I had the opportunity to build and lead different global market access teams during my professional life. What I essentially retain from it is that, beyond managerial skills, you firstly need to be human. Humanity, benevolence, and true willingness to make your team members even better versions of themselves go a long way.