Principal, Medical Writer

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. is seeking a Principal Clinical Medical Writer to lead the medical writing function within Development Sciences. The role focuses on authoring and editing regulatory documents, maintaining timelines, and ensuring consistent documentation quality across programs.

The ideal candidate will have a strong medical writing background, experience with protocols, CSRs, and regulatory filings, and the ability to coordinate cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Masters (MS) or higher degree preferred; scientific focus desirable.
• Experience in medical writing for protocols, CSRs, INDs, BLA/NDAs, and regulatory briefing books.
• Ability to interpret clinical data and create complex tables/figures.
• Remote work may be possible; within 100 miles of San Rafael, hybrid onsite required 2x weekly.

Responsibilities

• Oversee Medical Writing staff and establish program timelines.
• Draft and edit regulatory documents (protocols, study reports, PSIs) for regulatory submissions.
• Provide peer review and editing support for regulatory documents and study materials.
• Lead cross-functional teams and ensure adherence to SOPs and quality standards.

Skills

Medical Writing

Regulatory Knowledge

Leadership

Project Management

Team Oversight

Education

Masters or higher in a scientific field

Tools

MS Word

eCTD process

Regulatory Documentation

Job description

BioMarin is a leading rare disease biotechnology company focused on genetically defined conditions.

Guided by our purpose to develop medicines that make a profound impact on people’s lives, our global teams have delivered a portfolio of therapies since our founding in 1997. Our revolutionary treatments for conditions like achondroplasia (the most common form of dwarfism), PKU (phenylketonuria), CLN2, a form of Batten disease, and a number of forms of MPS (mucopolysaccharidosis) offer new possibilities for patients and families who previously had few, if any, available options. More recently, with the close of the Amicus acquisition, our portfolio has expanded to include therapies for Fabry disease and Pompe disease, expanding our ability to reach more people living with rare genetic conditions.

Our success comes from our unwavering commitment to excellence, our deep understanding of patient needs, our scientific expertise, and our world-class manufacturing capabilities. At the heart of BioMarin is a dedicated team of the brightest minds in the industry working together to deliver innovative therapies to patients and families around the world.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:

This position progressively develops the medical writing function in alignment with the requirements of the Development Sciences department and organizational goals. Filling this need with a regular full-time employee will enable BioMarin to reduce writing-related CRO and contractor costs, increase Clinical Medical Writing productivity to meet development needs, and realize efficiencies and consistent documentation quality across programs through repeatable processes and continuity of knowledge of programs, investigational products, and indications. The Principal Clinical Medical Writer has functional oversight responsibilities for medical writing staff and for the medical writing requirements for clinical development programs, including authoring/editing documents.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Oversight responsibilities for Medical Writing staff
• Works with the Head of Medical Writing to establish and maintain timelines for program planning.
• Drafts and edits documents used in conducting and reporting the results of clinical studies, including protocols, protocol amendments, informed consent forms, and clinical study reports
• Drafts and edits documents used in reporting aggregate safety and efficacy information for a molecule, such as investigator’s brochures and periodic safety reports (e.g. PBRERs, DSURs)
• Drafts and edits documents used in the preparation of regulatory filings (e.g. briefing books, CTD Module 2/Module 5 clinical or integrated summaries).
• Manages study team participation in the preparation of such documents, including scheduling and chairing meetings, developing and managing timelines, and managing the document review and comment adjudication processes
• Represents CMW at cross-functional team meetings (e.g. study team, development team, other sub-teams).
• Provides peer review and editing support for other regulatory documents, such as statistical analysis plans, CRFs, and other study materials
• Adheres to departmental procedures and practices and technical and industry standards during all aspects of work.
• Assists in developing and reviewing standard processes and templates within Clinical Medical Writing, and may also review/consult on the development of standard processes and templates in other departments
• Works effectively with cross-functional groups within BioMarin
• Other tasks as assigned.

EXPERIENCE:

Clinical Studies

• Advanced understanding of the drug development process (discovery to market), biostatistical and clinical research concepts, clinical study conduct, clinical study data collection, database management, data integration, and generation of datasets.
• Intermediate to advanced understanding of scientific concepts integral to nonclinical development, CMC, PK, PD, and antibody detection.
• Advanced applied knowledge of:
• Documentation required for the conduct of clinical studies
• Protocol design (including objectives, efficacy and safety endpoints, and procedures for collecting and reporting AEs and SAEs)
• Study results reporting
• Integrated results reporting
• Management Experience:
• Prior administrative and/or functional management experience as a manager of a medical writer team or department in a clinical development setting preferred but not required
• Demonstrated leadership abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to plan timelines and resources for multiple documentation projects with shifting priorities.
• Experience with delegating and overseeing projects and tasks.

Medical Writing

• Writing high-quality documents that support corporate goals and objectives.
• Experience writing, reviewing, or editing protocols, clinical study reports, INDs, BLA/NDAs, periodic safety documents, and regulatory briefing books required.
• Advanced applied knowledge of routine document content preparation, including the use of style guides (internal, AMA, CBE, Chicago), medical dictionaries, and guidance documents that prescribe content.
• Ability to interpret and create complex tabular and graphical clinical data presentations.
• Ability to interpret basic clinical laboratory tests.
• Understanding of the concepts of coding dictionaries (MedDRA, WHO Drug).

Regulatory

• Ability to plan and manage development of the following documents in context of regulatory requirements and guidances, development program plans, and organizational business needs:
• Standalone’ regulatory documents (eg, protocols, investigator brochures, clinical study reports, IND annual reports)
• Prior familiarity with standard eCTD IND/NDA work, including:
• Modules 2, 3, 4, and 5 of INDs/NDAs in eCTD format
• Integrated Summary of Safety (ISS), Integrated Summary of Efficacy (ISE)
• Support project teams by identifying and summarizing relevant regulations and guidelines, including differences between US and EMEA submissions and to provide recommendations for changes in documentation in response to new or modified regulations and guidances.

Project Management

• Ability to plan, resource, and assign multiple simultaneous document development projects (standalone and complex dossiers) with shifting priorities.
• Ability to keep CMW line management apprised of program document status, to anticipate potential issues within a program, and to raise those issues to CMW line management with proposed mitigations/solutions
• Ability to support staff in renegotiating timelines during development as necessary.

Program Management

• Capable of managing and maintaining multiple timelines governing multiple projects within a program.
• Capable of performing resource assessments (short- and long-term) based on projected project needs within a program.
• Capable of anticipating potential issues within a program and raising those issues to CMW line management with proposed mitigations/solutions.

Communication

• Capable of well organized, concise and clear written and verbal communication.
• Capable of comprehending complex scientific concepts and translating them into clear, concise, appropriately referenced text that meets regulatory requirements.
• Effective at explaining writing principles to a varied audience both in individual and group settings; basic presentation skills.

EDUCATION:

• Masters (MS) or higher degree preferred; scientific focus desirable.
• Evidence of medical writing career development desirable, e.g. European/American Medical Writers Association certificate, Editor in Life Sciences certificate, or relevant training through Drug Information Association.

WORKSTYLE:

• Role may be conducted remotely unless you live within 100 miles of our Headquarters in San Rafael, California or 2nd site in Novato, California. If you do then role reverts to hybrid requiring an onsite presence 2x weekly.

Note: This description is not intended to be all-inclusive, or a limitation of the duties of the position. It is intended to describe the general nature of the job that may include other duties as assumed or assigned.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.