Part One: Medical Affairs’ Billion-Dollar Problem

Published 11 August 2026

Author(s): Sam Dixey

This is part 1 of 2 posts I'm planning, explaining the confusion around insights in Medical Affairs (and pharma in general). Part 2 will dive deeper into how insights are uncovered, the implications of AI on this process, and what can be done to solve this challenge.

Panic followed by a distant stare

Ask 100 different Medical Affairs professionals what an insight is and you'll likely get 100 different answers. You'll also likely get 100 mini signs of panic at having to explain the term on the spot, followed by a look into space, and an answer that goes from left to right and is filled with such pithy business words: "strategy-informing", "actionable", "customer-focused".

It's a concerning situation for a function who define one of their core responsibilities as "providing insights". And a costly one. When you do some quick maths calculations of the hours per year spent by Medical Affairs roles across the globe on insights in one form or another ("collecting", "gathering", "generating", "sharing", "actioning" - although we'll get to the validity of these terms later) multiplied by the average salary - the figure is substantial. At a conservative estimate based on UK working weeks and salaries, it's approximately $1 billion.