How Pipeline Medical Science Liaisons Are Helping Optimize Clinical Trials

Clinical trials consume a sizable portion of the pharmaceutical industry’s research budget, estimated at $78 billion annually. Yet 80% of clinical trials are delayed or stopped due to recruitment challenges, with 37% of sites under-enrolling volunteers and 11% not enrolling even a single patient.¹ The problem is staggering in terms of both financial and human costs.

As clinical trial complexity continues to increase, pharmaceutical companies are exploring new ways to strengthen site engagement, improve patient recruitment, and support trial execution. One emerging solution is the Pipeline Medical Science Liaison (pMSL) role, a specialized scientific field position designed to address recruitment and retention challenges during clinical development.

What is a Pipeline MSL?

Pipeline MSLs combine the relationship-building and scientific expertise of traditional Medical Science Liaisons with a focused emphasis on research and development. They serve as a bridge between clinical trial sites and pharmaceutical organizations, performing responsibilities that often extend beyond the scope of MSLs supporting marketed products.

Unlike traditional field medical roles, pMSLs are embedded earlier in the product lifecycle and work closely with Clinical Operations teams, investigators, research coordinators, and healthcare providers (HCPs) to support trial success.

Case Study: Supporting Lupus Clinical Trials

One pharmaceutical company successfully implemented a dedicated pMSL team within two lupus clinical trials to improve engagement, communication, and patient referral efforts. The team focused on strengthening relationships among investigators, clinical research coordinators, healthcare providers, and sponsor stakeholders.

Key areas of impact

Site management and support

The pMSLs regularly engaged clinical trial sites to provide ongoing scientific and operational support, address protocol questions, facilitate communication, and help resolve site-specific challenges.

Patient recruitment support

The team educated clinical research coordinators on trial objectives and patient engagement approaches while also building awareness among healthcare providers located near clinical trial sites to encourage appropriate patient referrals.

Training and education

The pMSLs provided scientific education, site training, and timely clinical updates to investigators and coordinators throughout the studies, fostering stronger and more productive relationships.

Troubleshooting and insight gathering

The team gathered field insights and escalated operational concerns, helping sponsor teams respond more quickly to site-level challenges.

Program results

To measure the value of the pMSL initiative, the organization established KPIs tied directly to engagement and operational objectives. The program produced several measurable outcomes:

• Relevant KPIs were developed to measure site engagement, patient referral pathways, and site impact analytics.
• Weekly updates were communicated to executive leadership, including referral patterns, outreach activity, and site status.
• Clinical Operations teams hosted standing “open door” sessions to support enrollment and issue resolution.
• Study site engagement was driven by site-specific action plans developed by the pMSL team.
• Relationships were established with all activated trial sites across both studies.
• Referral networks totaling 240 and 150 connections were developed across the two studies.
• More than 170 healthcare provider insights were gathered and shared with study teams.
• The pMSL team supported two virtual investigator meetings and four site Q&A sessions.
• The team helped reconnect difficult-to-reach principal investigators with Clinical Operations teams.
• 550 total HCP interactions were completed across clinical trial sites and referral centers.
• 112 site visits were conducted alongside clinical support teams.
• 438 interactions occurred with potential referral sources.

Best practices for implementing MSL teams

• Establish clear ‘Ways of Working’ documentation that defines responsibilities and communication pathways, to ensure effective collaboration between pMSLs and stakeholders.
• Align pMSL KPIs to clinical development and operational objectives.
• Provide clear role expectations and ongoing scientific training.
• Foster strong collaboration between Medical Affairs, Clinical Operations, and investigative sites.
• Keep up with recent innovations and results of pertinent clinical trials to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information.

The future of Pipeline MSLs

The pMSL role is helping redefine how Medical Affairs supports clinical development programs. As organizations continue integrating analytics, AI, and digital engagement strategies into clinical trial execution, pMSLs may play an even larger role in identifying high-potential trial sites, optimizing referral networks, supporting engagement analytics, and strengthening scientific collaboration across stakeholders.

By embedding scientifically trained field teams earlier in the clinical development lifecycle, organizations can strengthen site relationships, improve operational responsiveness, and build valuable scientific partnerships that extend beyond individual trials.

Sources:

[¹] Antidote: “What clinical trial statistics tell us about the state of research today,” What clinical trial statistics tell us about the state of research today