  {"id":81200,"date":"2024-12-16T19:21:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/?post_type=customer-stories&#038;p=81200"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:05:25","slug":"a-growing-dermatology-biopharma-improves-oversight-with-in-house-drug-safety","status":"publish","type":"customer-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/customer-stories\/a-growing-dermatology-biopharma-improves-oversight-with-in-house-drug-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nMany smaller biotechs with limited resources rely heavily on outsourcing their<br \/>\npharmacovigilance (PV) functions to contract research organizations (CROs).<br \/>\nBut, \u201coutsourcing models only work when you have proper oversight,\u201d<br \/>\nsays the PV director at a dermatology biopharma that launched its first<br \/>\ncommercial product in 2022.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSmaller companies may see sacrificing data ownership and real-time<br \/>\noversight as the price to pay for outsourcing safety activities. However, the<br \/>\nPV director, with over 10 years of drug safety experience, believes even the<br \/>\nleanest PV teams can improve oversight by bringing safety in-house. \u201cI\u2019m a<br \/>\nbig advocate for owning your data. The lift is not any different when you own<br \/>\nyour system. You\u2019re still paying the same amount of money and it takes the<br \/>\nsame amount of work. But, if you\u2019re paying someone else to do it for you, you<br \/>\ndon\u2019t get visibility into it. It also doesn\u2019t look good to an auditor when you have<br \/>\nto go to a vendor to get your data,\u201d she explains.\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8220;I\u2019m a big advocate for<br \/>\nowning your data. The lift<br \/>\nis not any different when<br \/>\nyou own your system.<br \/>\nYou\u2019re still paying the<br \/>\nsame amount of money<br \/>\nand it takes the same<br \/>\namount of work. But, if<br \/>\nyou\u2019re paying someone<br \/>\nelse to do it for you, you<br \/>\ndon\u2019t get visibility into it.\u201d<br \/>\n<span>&#8211; Pharmacovigilance director at a dermatology biopharma<\/span>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\nThe company\u2019s three-person PV team brought safety in-house while maintaining<br \/>\nfull control over its data and operational oversight. \u201cWith ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety, I<br \/>\ndon\u2019t have to wait for someone to pull my data for me. I can see my data in real-<br \/>\ntime. I know how it\u2019s flowing and how long it takes to process a case,\u201d says the PV<br \/>\ndirector. \u201cIf an agency walks in and wants to see a report, I can run it for them right<br \/>\naway. Without that oversight, you can\u2019t give an inspector the timely answers they\u2019re<br \/>\nlooking for.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<h2>Outsourcing without sacrificing<br \/>\ndata oversight<\/h2>\n<p>\nWith ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety, the company\u2019s PV team manages safety in-house and gives<br \/>\nvendors access to their system. Currently, they outsource case intake to a CRO.<br \/>\nThen, a service provider uploads case information or adverse events into Vault<br \/>\nSafety to process those cases.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOnce their service provider has processed the cases, the PV team spends the<br \/>\nmajority of their time on data reconciliation and follow-up activities. This helps<br \/>\nensure their data is accurate and complete. \u201cWe review all the information from<br \/>\nour call center. We also check to make sure all the source documents are correct<br \/>\nbefore they go over to our processing vendor,\u201d says the PV director. \u201cFrom an audit<br \/>\nperspective, everyone needs to be on the same page at all times. For example, if<br \/>\nsomeone says they sent me five cases, I want to be sure that I got five cases and<br \/>\nboth parties signed off on them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Safety-Customer-Story-Image-1.png\"><\/p>\n<h2>Safety data ownership for real-time visibility<br \/>\nand control<\/h2>\n<p>\nSome sponsors may not realize that outsourcing safety activities will impact their<br \/>\ndata access, visibility, and ownership. \u201cMost PV teams think \u2018Of course we own our<br \/>\ndata. Our partner just stores it for us,\u2019\u201d says the PV director. \u201cBut, if you have to pay<br \/>\na fee to access or get it, then you don\u2019t own your data.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nTypically, most small PV teams rely on their vendors to access their safety data.<br \/>\nWhen a company reaches out to its vendor with a request, it is up to the vendor<br \/>\nand the contract when they respond. Even for the most urgent requests, it can take<br \/>\nanywhere from several hours to multiple days to get the data and may come at a<br \/>\nfinancial cost.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOne of the ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety features that the company values most is the ability to<br \/>\nquickly run reports that are based on real-time data and stored in one place. The<br \/>\ncompany\u2019s PV director most frequently uses a report that reconciles serious<br \/>\nadverse event data from its clinical team on a monthly basis. The PV team has<br \/>\nalso created custom reports to track key metrics. For example, they have a report<br \/>\nthat tracks case volume and changed components to ensure their vendor is billing<br \/>\nthem correctly. They also have a report that checks the PADER for errors before<br \/>\nsubmitting it to the gateway. \u201cI pull this report at least once a week to make sure<br \/>\nthere are no errors in the coding. And, if there are, we know exactly what to send<br \/>\nback to our vendor,\u201d says the PV director.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nBefore implementing ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety, the PV team would take the full 30 days allotted<br \/>\nto them from data lock to submit their PADERs to the FDA. Since streamlining their<br \/>\nreconciliation reporting with Vault Safety and collaborating with Vault Submissions<br \/>\nPublishing, their reporting time is down to just 2 weeks \u2013 a 50% improvement. In<br \/>\nthe future, the company\u2019s goal is to further shorten its reporting time to 7-10 days<br \/>\nusing auto-submissions.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Defining KPIs and success<br \/>\nmetrics<\/h2>\n<p>\n³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety helps the biopharma ensure that vendors<br \/>\nprocess cases within their contractual agreed-upon timeline.<br \/>\n\u201cMeeting those time frames is important for oversight,\u201d says<br \/>\nthe company\u2019s PV director. \u201cYou don\u2019t ever want to be in a<br \/>\nposition where you miss a serious case and your vendor<br \/>\nis late to process it.\u201d She also appreciates having visibility<br \/>\ninto the company\u2019s safety data. \u201cIt\u2019s important to be able to<br \/>\nsee your data flowing in real time to know if there are any<br \/>\npotential safety signals.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe PV team also tracks the difference in case dates. \u201cIt\u2019s a<br \/>\nsimplistic metric, but it\u2019s important to make sure that you\u2019re<br \/>\non top of things,\u201d says the PV director. In ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety, she<br \/>\nfilters through her workflows, then filters by date to find<br \/>\ncases that have been sitting in data entry or QC without<br \/>\nbeing processed. \u201cOnce we find those cases, we reach out<br \/>\nto our vendors to ask why they haven\u2019t been processed or if<br \/>\nthere\u2019s a problem with them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<h2>Tips for audit-readiness<\/h2>\n<p>\nThe PV director recommends mock-audits \u2013 especially for first-time audits. Her team developed a checklist for audit readiness, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Regulations:<\/strong> Take a look at what evidence regulators are expecting to see. Do you have a folder with the information to answer each of their line items?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Contracts:<\/strong> Do you have all your contracts? Are they signed and dated? Are they easily accessible?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reporting:<\/strong> Do you have a quick or pre-generated report that you can run if an auditor wants to see all the serious cases you\u2019ve submitted? Can you pull that within 15 minutes?<\/li>\n<li><strong>SOPs:<\/strong> Have you prepared your external vendors to share their SOPs if necessary?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nAbove all, having a single global repository to house the biopharma\u2019s data and information gives the PV director confidence during an audit. \u201cYou never want to leave an auditor hanging around waiting for a response or leave your team scrambling looking for documents,\u201d she explains.\n<\/p>\n<h2>How to seamlessly scale globally<\/h2>\n<p>\nNow that the PV team has created a strong foundation of operational oversight, they are scaling<br \/>\ntheir safety processes globally. The company has partnered with a Japanese pharmaceutical<br \/>\ncompany to file for approval of their latest treatment with the PMDA. As the company prepares<br \/>\nfor its upcoming approval, the PV team is planning to use ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety to communicate with<br \/>\ntheir Japanese counterparts while ensuring they meet both FDA and PMDA regulations. \u201cAs your<br \/>\ncompany grows, you have more countries and responsibilities. It\u2019s great to be able to scale your<br \/>\ndatabase quickly,\u201d says the company\u2019s PV director. \u201cComplex updates like these usually take a<br \/>\nyear or two. But, with ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety, we can make them in a few months.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n\u201cAs your company grows,<br \/>\nyou have more countries<br \/>\nand responsibilities. It\u2019s<br \/>\ngreat to be able to scale<br \/>\nyour database quickly.<br \/>\nComplex updates like<br \/>\nthese usually take a year<br \/>\nor two. But, with Vault<br \/>\nSafety, we can make<br \/>\nthem in a few months.\u201d<br \/>\n<span>&#8211; Pharmacovigilance director at a dermatology biopharma<\/span>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Embracing new safety technology<\/h3>\n<p>\nFor emerging biopharmas, bringing a safety system in-house might feel daunting. There is<br \/>\na common misconception that sponsors who own their data will no longer have any vendor<br \/>\nsupport. In past roles, the PV director felt like she was left on her own after implementing a new<br \/>\nPV system. But, that has not been her experience with ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety. \u201cWe have a strong support<br \/>\nteam with ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Safety. Even after going live, we\u2019re still meeting with managed services regularly<br \/>\nand getting real-time responses to our questions,\u201d she says. \u201cIn all my years, I have not had this<br \/>\nkind of support from a vendor.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAlthough PV professionals are typically risk-averse, the company\u2019s PV director recommends<br \/>\nbeing open to trying new tools. \u201cDon\u2019t be scared of technology. It doesn\u2019t hurt to see what<br \/>\nresources are available for you,\u201d she advises. \u201cEven if you\u2019re not ready right now, what if you\u2019re<br \/>\nready in a year or two?\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/customer-stories\/bringing-safety-in-house-for-real-time-data-access-and-visibility\/\">Learn more about how bringing PV in-house drives better oversight and faster data analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how an emerging biopharma brought their safety system in-house and cut PADER reporting time by 50%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":87616,"parent":0,"template":"","product-link-list":[1439,1451,1452,1453],"class_list":["post-81200","customer-stories","type-customer-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","product-link-list-veeva-quality-cloud","product-link-list-veeva-submissions","product-link-list-veeva-submissions-archive","product-link-list-veeva-submissions-publishing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories\/81200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/customer-stories"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories\/81200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81205,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories\/81200\/revisions\/81205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product-link-list","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-link-list?post=81200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}