Most people in pharma have at least heard of the MLR process, if not played a part in it. But even seasoned pharma professionals will admit that the MLR process is incredibly complex, partly because of the sheer number of key players involved. Each plays their own important role and is reviewing for different reasons. In our new blog series, Role Call, we’re exploring the role each reviewer has in helping create and approve promotional materials—and how technology can help.  

The Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) review process is a collaborative effort that taps experts to ensure pharmaceutical content is accurate, truthful, compliant, and balanced. Leveraging advanced clinical expertise, Medical Reviewers validate claims against scientific evidence, ensuring alignment with product labeling. Legal Reviewers safeguard against litigation risks, navigating federal and state laws, while Regulatory Reviewers ensure compliance with FDA standards, balancing efficacy and safety. They’re all supported by MLR Coordinators, who streamline workflows, and marketing teams, who craft strategic messaging. Together, this multidisciplinary team protects patient and clinician trust and brand integrity. 

We built the Revisto platform to help reviewers across the pharma organization streamline the MLR review process, giving back time in their busy days without sacrificing quality. One such person on every review team is the Medical Reviewer. 

The Medical Reviewer’s job

The volume of promotional content has been increasing lately, and will continue to grow, due to the increase in drug approvals and pharma’s focus on omnichannel marketing. That’s why the Medical Reviewer’s job is more important—and more challenging—than ever. 

Medical Reviewers are tasked with evaluating the scientific and clinical accuracy of any and all claims that are made. Like a master chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant, the Medical Reviewer combines multiple “ingredients”—like clinical sources, public data, and internal data—to create a standout “dish” by developing and validating a wide range of promotional claims. Quality is critical and all of the pieces need to work together flawlessly. 

One of the major tools in their toolkit is a claims library. Medical Reviewers build libraries of existing, approved claims, and then maintain them over time to ensure they stay up to date. The biggest challenge in this job is keeping up with the latest research—including company-proprietary data, competitor data, industry trends, trial results, and a steady stream of peer-reviewed studies and clinical guidelines. 

The Medical Reviewer’s biggest challenges

Being a Medical Reviewer is a big job, and it’s a challenging one for a few reasons: 

• Manually reviewing scientific literature is incredibly time-consuming, yet very important. This literature serves as the basis for proving all claims in promotional materials, so it’s vital. But manually reading through scientific journal after scientific journal could easily be a full-time job, and most Medical Reviewers don’t have this luxury of time.  

• Accuracy is vitally important, as content creators across the business will use the libraries to create compelling campaigns. Because the claims can be used far and wide across the organization, keeping them up-to-date and accurate mitigates risk. 

• In a competitive industry, the stakes are high. Part of the Medical Reviewer’s role includes making sure that every claim is supported by robust data, that information is presented in a fair and balanced way, and that no important safety details are omitted. Broadly, this work protects both the integrity of the brand and the well-being of patients. It helps avoid the dreaded untitled letter as well as the reputational damage that can come with false claims. 

• Speed is paramount. Medical Reviewers need to move quickly to respond to any updated competitor data, yet they can’t rush through reviewing claims and risk sacrificing quality or accuracy. 

How AI can help Medical Reviewers

If a Medical Reviewer’s job sounds like a big one—it is, and the challenges just keep increasing. That’s why savvy Medical Reviewers are keen to harness the power of emerging technology to ease the burden of constantly creating and updating claims libraries. For example, AI can help with a wide range of tasks, including: 

• Performing real-time literature searches across databases like PubMed or ClinicalTrials.gov

• Prioritizing urgent updates, like new trial results, for immediate review by generating concise summaries of lengthy and detailed documents

• Identifying how new data impacts existing library content

How Revisto supports Medical Reviewers

Revisto uses the power of AI to streamline the MLR review for Medical Reviewers and all other key roles. With direct integration with Veeva Vault PromoMats, our solution accelerates time to market for life sciences marketing materials, without sacrificing quality or compliance. 

For Medical Reviewers specifically, our technology helps: 

• Identify potential claims from source materials

• Substantiate promotional statements against approved claims

• Highlight impacts from updated claims 

• Facilitate collaboration with other reviewers 

Reach out today to schedule a demo and see the power of Revisto for yourself. Then, stay tuned for the next profile in our Role Call series.