6 Types of Medical Writing

What is medical writing?

Well it’s not a straight forward question to answer. Turns out, there are many types of medical writers (MWs). Medical writing is an umbrella term to describe a number of writing positions that support the pharmaceutical industry.

At its core, medical writing is simply the creation of documents around a pharmaceutical product or medical procedure. The document could be anything from a patient information leaflet, to a step-by-step submission protocol to apply for a drug licence, or a publication explaining how a new medical device works.

For healthcare professionals (HCPs), getting information about a drug or medical device is important for their patients. Likewise, other stakeholders in healthcare including patients, payers (insurance companies, governments), and regulatory agencies, also require information from pharma and medical device companies about new and existing products. Therefore, MWs need to know how to write about complicated medical information in a way that’s easy for the relevant audience to understand.

It’s more than just writing about drugs, diseases, and medical conditions, it’s about creating messages on health, treatments, and medicines, and presenting transparent scientific information on the efficacy and safety of medical products.

MWs must have excellent writing skills as well as an understanding of clinical research, pharmaceuticals, and the healthcare treatment landscape of different therapeutic areas.

Medical writing encompasses a number interesting and often lucrative careers, and the demand for experienced MWs is high. Furthermore, MWs can work for employers or be self-employed as freelancers, which provides a lot of flexibility to these writing careers.

Those new to the field may wonder exactly what kind of work MWs do. This article outlines the 6 main types of medical writing, the associated employers, and typical job descriptions (JDs) for each.

What are the different types of medical writing?

1. If you enjoy technical writing – Regulatory Medical Writing

Regulatory MWs work in regulatory affairs and prepare documents needed for the development of drugs or medical devices. These include clinical study reports, safety updates, application submission dossiers, and post-marketing documentation.

Regulatory MWs work at pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies, as well as Clinical Research Organisations (CROs), and specialist agencies.

Click here if you want to learn more about what it’s like to work as a regulatory MW.

Typical JD Requirements

• A good understanding of common statistical methods used in clinical trials and/or interpretation of their results
• An ability to integrate, interpret, and summarize data from a variety of sources in a clear and concise manner
• Depth of knowledge in drug development, regulatory medical writing standards, and associated regulations
• Good understanding of statistical principles and medical terminology across a range of therapeutic areas
• Strong knowledge of ICH (The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use) regulations, and CONSORT, STROBE and PRISMA guidelines

2. If you enjoy communicating science – Medical Communications 

Medical communications (Medcomms) is another umbrella term for the dissemination of scientific information about pharmaceutical products and medical devices to different audiences (e.g. scientists, HCPs, patients, payers, and carers).

Medcomms writers most frequently work at Medcomms agencies, which provide consultancy services to the pharma industry to help raise awareness of medical products. But they can also be employed by pharma companies directly, CROs, and even non-profits.

The work is diverse and Medcomms writers (sometimes also termed Scientific Writers in the pharma industry) work on varied project types. Their work can be categorised into 2 main areas:

• Publications

Medcomms writers frequently work with physicians and other researchers to write and edit manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, as well as posters, abstracts, and oral presentations for medical conferences. They write and publish the results of clinical trials and real-world evidence studies, sponsored by pharma/medical device companies.

Writers in this space can also get involved in the strategic planning of publications for specific pharmaceutical products/medical devices.

• Medical Education

Medical education (med ed) is a broad term to describe reporting on the educational content leveraged from biomedical and clinical research. Medcomms writers working in med ed spread knowledge amongst stakeholders about particular treatments. This can include materials for conferences, training guides, webcasts, case studies, website-based knowledge hubs, scientific events, and interactive resources to name a few.

The content can be externally or internally facing to the company. The latter being focused at employees of the company, such as field medical or sales teams for example.

External facing med ed content needs to be tailored to the specific audience, from expert scientific materials through to plain language summaries for patients. Therefore, Medcomms writers need to be flexible in their language style.

Click here if you want to learn more about what it’s like to work as a Medcomms MW.

Typical JD Requirements

• Prepare meeting materials for scientific events including satellite symposia, advisory boards, and other internal/external meetings
• Research and write original content for publications (primary and review manuscripts, abstracts, posters), slide decks, and other deliverables based on direction and materials supplied by clients
• Interpret and apply clinical data in Medcomms deliverables
• Work in conjunction with the wider service team to develop and adhere to attainable timelines for project completion
• Participate in strategic and tactical publications planning and related research
• Clearly communicate medical scientific concepts in a condensed, audience-appropriate way. Follow all internal processes and procedures with regard to workflow, quality, development of deliverables, and adherence to industry best practices, including GPP3
• Demonstrate a command of assigned therapeutic areas and expertise with assigned products, and the flexibility/adaptability necessary to function on different therapeutic teams as needed and to work on projects across multiple brands at any given time

3. If you enjoy the creative side of scientific writing – Commercial Writing 

MWs can also focus on promotional content for medical products. Here the communications are concerned with the marketing of a particular drug or medical device, and how this solves a problem or improves the health of a patient.

This can include both marketing and advertising pieces that promote diagnostic or therapeutic products in a compliant manner. Marketing materials include brochures, websites, advertisements, infomercials, print or digital ads, research papers/articles, and any other promotional content.

Commercial medical writing is often handled by third party advertising agencies and consultancies, on behalf of pharma companies.

Typical JD Requirements

• Familiarity with the medical literature and databases such as PubMed, to perform literature searches and corroborate, challenge or strengthen client-supplied materials and messages, as appropriate
• Good knowledge and appreciation of ethically accepted vocabulary, phrases and messaging used in the pharma industry
• Ability to communicate the science behind a brand or product category in an effective, clear and concise manner in individual and group settings (e.g. to inform colleagues)
• Appreciation of writing for digital media (e.g. search engine optimisation, delivering a story effectively through digital media, etc.)

4. If you enjoy applying for funding – Grant Writing

Some MWs focus on writing grant proposals to fund clinical research. The grant recipients range from academic and healthcare institutions, to private foundations. MWs working in grantsmanship need to possess not only knowledge of the scientific process and research, but the ability to also clearly and competitively present this to the funding body.

MWs in this field work for various organizations including academic and healthcare institutions, private foundations, patient advocacy groups, and professional associations.

Typical JD Requirements

• Knowledge of the external funding landscape and an ability to analyse and identify relevant funding opportunities
• Written and verbal communications skills; and proficiency in data analysis for generating and writing technical reports for grant submission
• Demonstrated ability to articulate compelling and impactful scientific/academic communication
• Ability to work with diverse interdisciplinary research teams and adapt to changing collaborative environments, with limited supervision under tight deadlines
• Ability to understand and explain organizational policies and positions on topics such as intellectual property rights, facilities, administrative costs, and cost-sharing

5. If you enjoy the financial side of pharma – Market Access Writing

Even though a biopharma technology is licenced, this doesn’t necessarily mean that eligible patients gain access to that treatment, due to barriers (namely costs). Market access is concerned with the accessibility patients have to new medicines and devices.

The work includes evidence generation by health economic evaluation and patient outcome research (HEOR), coupled with market access activities to ensure eligible patients gain access to medical products.

MWs working in HEOR/market access communicate the value of new technologies to relevant stakeholders to avoid barriers in product take up. They work to ensure product reimbursement and access to medical products for the patients who need them. This involves preparing heath technology assessments, value and reimbursement dossiers, health economic evaluations, systematic literature reviews, and market access tools.

Med comms agencies, CROs, and pharma companies all employ market access writers.

Typical JD Requirements

• Development of market access materials, including value communications, HEOR deliverables and strategic content plans, as well as adapting writing styles for different target audiences
• Development of value communications, health economics and pricing/reimbursement materials
• Creating high-quality scientific content for a range of communications, according to scientific data and evidence, and in line with HEOR and market access objectives/briefs
• Collaborating with colleagues to ensure consistency and quality of content by supporting project briefings, technical reviews, training and mentoring
• A detailed understanding of the market access landscape, the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and effective project management to build positive client relationships

6. If you speak more than one language – Medical Translation

Pharma and biotech companies possess global business opportunities for their products, providing the impetus to reach a variety of markets worldwide. Therefore, the communication strategies employed by pharma and medical device companies often need to be translated into several different languages.

For MWs who fluently speak more than one language, this offers an opportunity to work in medical translation.

Employers of Medical Translators are similar to those of other MWs, but lots of writers in this space work for themselves as freelancers.

Click here if you want to learn more about what it’s like to work as a Medical Translator.

Typical JD Requirements

• Fluency in target and source languages (spoken and written)
• Reviewing, editing, and translating life sciences content including clinical trial documents
• Desirable: A university degree or recognised certificate in translation or linguistics and/or at least 2–4 years of translation experience
• An ability to work to tight deadlines, independently is a must
• Experience with translation management systems and CAT tools

Takeaways 

• Medical writing is a broad term incorporating many different types of careers. It is important to know what options you have as a MW and to pursue the types of writing that you are most interested in (and where you should focus your background training efforts).

The 6 most common types of medical writing include: 

• • Regulatory writing: Requiring knowledge of IHC guidelines
  • Medcomms: Requiring knowledge of clinical trial design and GPP3
  • Commercial writing: Requiring knowledge of marketing/advertising rules for pharma
  • Grant writing: Requiring knowledge of funding landscapes
  • Market access writing: Requiring knowledge of health economics
  • Medical translation: Requiring knowledge of translation/linguistics and translation tools

• Medical writing can offer a wide variety of opportunities and is a great fit for people who enjoy science communications and are interested in healthcare

• The first step to becoming a MW is to choose the type of medical writing that is right for you. The aim of this blog post is to help you start to explore these interesting areas of work

If you have any questions about medical writing or how to get started, feel free to reach out by leaving a comment below.

If you’re looking to learn more about the types of writing, working environments, and projects available to MWs, subscribe to this blog:

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Thank you for reading!