Driving Field Excellence with AI-Enhanced Rep Support

Sponsored by ACTO

INTRODUCTION

In a Pharmaceutical Executive webcast sponsored by ACTO, three experts discussed the current and growing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven benefits to pharmaceutical field reps, including ensuring accuracy of the information given to healthcare providers (HCPs), maintaining regulatory compliance, and beyond.

An exciting discussion evolved from the insights of John Aiken of Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, who has 33 years of experience in healthcare and leadership in marketing; Jennifer Troiano of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, who has worked in pharmaceutical sales for more than 25 years and has broad expertise training sales reps, and Kumar Erramilli of ACTO, a long-time developer of technologies based on natural-language processing.

WHERE AI FILLS A GAP

AI is already playing a key role in Life Sciences, (see FIGURE 1),¹ and there are many opportunities where AI could benefit pharma field reps. A few examples include giving sales teams ready access to accurate and company-approved information and completing mundane tasks, such as simplifying notes and completing expense reports. Perhaps most important, AI-based applications can enhance the human aspect of pharma sales—how a rep handles live, face-to-face conversations with HCPs.

Webcast attendees were invited into the conversation by responding to a live poll question regarding their confidence that sales reps are consistently communicating information with accuracy during face-to-face interactions with HCPs. It did not surprise the panelists that no audience participants indicated being “very confident” that their field reps consistently communicate accurately with HCPs. Still, more than 80% of the poll participants selected “somewhat confident.”

As Troiano noted, “The key part of this question is the consistency part. I don’t think we can be sure that there is a consistent and compliant message all the time.”

Figure 1: AI in Life Sciences¹

Given the vast amount of information that field reps face, Erramilli pointed out that “they need tools and technologies that can help them recall and communicate information.” ACTO provides an AI-powered knowledge assistant that helps reps deliver consistent and compliant information during HCP conversations.

According to a 2023 study (see FIGURE 2),² 50% of respondents in leadership roles catch incidents of field reps using unapproved content weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Plus, 93% of those respondents who encountered field reps using unapproved content and messaging indicated that it had a negative impact on their company. These findings raised a key question: Why is there inaccurate messaging from field reps?

Part of the problem, Troiano explained, is the difference between training and real-world environments. After training, a field rep might be prepared for a full, accurate, and compliant conversation with an HCP, but over time, she says, “your effectiveness starts to really get chipped away, and you’re not as great as when you left training,” which can lead to less-than-perfect messaging.

Aiken agreed, adding that the path of a perfect conversation in training often gets sidetracked in reality. “We’re in the moment, trying to figure it out. How do I pull this messaging back to make sure that it’s accurate and compliant?” Field reps must meet a company’s messaging guidelines—all while infusing their own personality and not turning into robots.

PUTTING AI IN THE FIELD

Companies develop messaging guidelines from an enormous amount of information—from clinical data and research papers to industry metrics and regulatory guidance. Even when all of this information is condensed for field reps, they are often faced with complex questions from HCPs who want replies in seconds. As one example, Erramilli said, “You’re expected to know an 80-page slide deck for competitive pricing information,” which is not something that a field rep can memorize and summarize on the fly in a hallway meeting with an HCP.

Figure 2: Survey results from a 2023 market research survey indicate low confidence that field reps are consistently communicating with accuracy.²

To find out how field reps currently find information when faced with questions they can’t answer off the top of their head during meetings with HCPs, the audience was polled to help determine the top three ways field reps are getting answers to HCP questions during face-to-face interactions. Most respondents selected:

• searching approved content in Veeva or other systems;
• calling a colleague or manager;
• and turning to Google.

Not surprisingly, some field reps also turn to ChatGPT.

Troiano pointed out that physicians often ask very specific or technical questions. For example, what is a product’s required storage temperature? Or, how long can the drug sit safely at room temperature? Often, the answer lies in 80 to 100 pages of prescribing information. Unfortunately, the doctor is standing face-to-face with the sales rep and expects a response right away. If the field rep is not entirely sure of the right answer, they often call or text a colleague.

In response to the audience poll question results, Aiken added, “It’s a little frightening that only 28% are accessing approved content in Veeva or some other way.” He emphasized that three in four field reps are not turning to approved content. Moreover, he believed that more field reps have used ChatGPT than the answers reflected, because the use of such open platforms is discouraged. In fact, a 2024 ZoomRx survey found that 53% of Life Sciences companies have banned the use of ChatGPT.³

As Erramilli explained, generic tools like ChatGPT excel at natural language processing, such as drafting an email message, but these tools are trained on generic information, such as Wikipedia. Consequently, these tools do not provide the best approach for field reps.

To solve this gap in information, ACTO developed LAICA (Life Sciences AI Conversational Assistant) RepAssist.⁴ With this AI knowledge assistant, Erramilli pointed out, field reps get reliable information at “their fingertips at the time they need it.” Moreover, LAICA provides company-approved and secure information. The platform is compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and is SOC 2 Type II certified.

With a tool like LAICA, Troiano noted that a field rep can use a phone to get a quick, accurate, and compliant answer to a question. As Aiken added, LAICA provides a visual that a field rep can share with an HCP, which “can enhance your presentation.”

By collecting anonymized data from approximately 40,000 reps who use ACTO’s technology, ACTO has learned a lot about field rep behavior. Erramilli explained how top reps are “always looking for material that is more value based—material that is already approved and put out by the company to convey that message to the doctor.”

Moreover, ACTO runs LAICA off their secure framework built in AWS. “We use their latest models to power LAICA, which is a more responsible AI approach,” Erramilli said. This cloud-based approach adds many features: adjusting models, anonymizing data, stopping models from hallucinating based on generic knowledge, and more.

KEEPING MESSAGES ACCURATE, COMPLIANT, AND ACCESSIBLE

Audience response to a poll question confirming the top three benefits of an AI knowledge assistant indicated a concern that an AI knowledge assistant provides accurate answers. As Erramilli said, LAICA’s “accuracy thresholds are above 90%”, which is the industry standard. He also emphasized that LAICA doesn’t make up responses, sometimes referred to as “AI hallucinations.” If LAICA doesn’t have the answer, it confirms so. In other words, if a question is not related to the company-approved content from which LAICA generates answers, it will not make up an answer, as generic AI tools do. “As long as the answers from an AI-based assistant are accurate and based on approved content, the information will be compliant and secure," added Troiano.

The AI-based assistant must also be easy to use. As Aiken pointed out, even if companies ban the use of ChatGPT, field reps will use it because it’s on their phones, which provides such easy access. Instead of just banning such open-platform options, he believes that companies should offer its reps an equally easy-to-use option that is based on a closed AI system that provides accurate and compliant information.

“The end objective is to give the rep the information they need at their fingertips, within seconds, so they can deliver the message to the HCP in that moment,” Erramilli said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with LAICA RepAssist. The reps need to find information in seconds or maybe microseconds.” Not only does this support the rep’s competence and confidence, it also respects the HCP’s time in their busy day.

Beyond providing an answer, LAICA RepAssist shares the source of the information, such as authors of a specific journal article and its date of publication. This is important for the rep, who is often asked for the source. This helps reps engage via a seamless process.

Creating, managing and maintaining that content depends on collaboration among a company’s many teams, from Medical, Legal, and Regulatory teams to commercial and marketing groups. Making this content easily available in the palm of a rep’s hand and in a conversational manner helps maintain compliant messaging and the business-forward movement “trickles down to the field,” Troiano said.

CONCLUSION

AI-based knowledge assistants are available to help pharma field reps provide HCPs with accurate and compliant information—all performed in a fast but secure cloud-based environment. The innovation behind LAICA RepAssist benefits many aspects of healthcare, from company and rep success to physician knowledge and patient outcomes.

References

1. VULTR. Unlocking the power of AI in healthcare & life sciences. (2024). https://www.vultr.com/marketing-sales-files/ai-healthcare-life-sciences.pdf
2. Khanna, P., Letourneau, K. Risk reduction in the life sciences industry: content messaging compliance in the field. (2023). https://acto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Citeline_ACTO_Risk-Reduction-022323.pdf
3. Ferma.ai. State of AI. (2024). https://www.zoomrx.com/reports/FERMA_State_of_AI_Report_April_2024.pdf
4. ACTO. Meet LAICA: The AI Knowledge Assistant for Life Sciences Field Reps. (2024). https://acto.com/platform/laica/