{"id":96054,"date":"2026-04-04T00:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/?post_type=customer-stories&p=96054"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:19:18","slug":"pioneering-a-modern-medical-insights-journey-perspectives-from-two-biopharma-leaders","status":"publish","type":"customer-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/customer-stories\/pioneering-a-modern-medical-insights-journey-perspectives-from-two-biopharma-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"UCB"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nResearch<\/a> shows that 98% of key opinion leaders (KOLs) want to share insights with biopharmas, but believe that only a third of the insights they share are actually used. Although these insights contain valuable information that impact patients, many organizations struggle to find an efficient way to collect, analyze, and quickly disseminate them to the right people. As the director of DD&I, BP global medical affairs at a global pre-commercial oncology biopharma experienced, \u201cWe didn\u2019t have an elegant way to capture these insights \u2014 these \u2018pearls\u2019 \u2014 from our field medical team, home office, or medical HQ users.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nMany who already have systems in place, like Ivo Huybrechts, head of medical insights at UCB, are finding it\u2019s time to seek a new solution as their needs and available technology evolve. \u201cWe\u2019ve had our system for five years, but in the technology and AI landscape, it\u2019s outdated,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n

Re-imaginging the capture and analysis of medical insights<\/h2>\n

\nChoosing a new solution was part of a bigger strategy for these medical affairs leaders who were looking to redefine their end-to-end process for capturing and analyzing medical insights. While their overarching goal was similar \u2014 they both selected ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights<\/a> \u2014 each had different considerations when approaching possible solutions.\n<\/p>\n

Pre-commercial biopharma: Expanding stakeholder use<\/h3>\n

\nWith a focus on pioneering novel innovative therapies for cancer and infectious diseases, the pre-commercial biopharma is currently building its infrastructure. The team wanted a solution where both CRM and non-CRM users could easily submit insights to be ingested, synthesized, and then actioned. \u201c³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights has an evolved user experience and interface,\u201d the director says. \u201cNo matter whether information comes in from an MSL or global medical affairs colleague, we can capture this as a medical insight entry in the system.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

UCB: Improving three pillars of insights<\/h3>\n

\nUCB, a larger, more mature company, already had established infrastructure in place. Huybrechts outlined three main pillars of his insights program he wanted to improve \u2014 the human component, process, and technology.\n<\/p>\n

\nHuybrechts explains that people\u2019s behaviors can affect the quality of the insights. \u201cPeople are not motivated to enter insights,\u201d he says. \u201cThey see it as something that needs to get done and it\u2019s typically put off.\u201d UCB also wanted to bring non-CRM users into the process, especially internal global stakeholders who interact with the most important medical experts. \u201cThey don\u2019t enter anything into the CRM so we miss all that critical information.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nTo create a more consistent, end-to-end process for insights generation, Huybrechts and his team developed key intelligence topics and listening priorities and scheduled regular meetings to discuss insights. To bring both the human component and process improvements together, he looked to leverage more modern technologies, including AI.\n<\/p>\n

Criteria for selecting a solution<\/h3>\n

\nWhen it came time for UCB to select a solution, Huybrechts looked at three main criteria \u2014 input, output, and user experience. \u201cWhat\u2019s most attractive to me about ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights is the visibility of what\u2019s being entered,\u201d he says. “Any user, at any time and anywhere, can see the insights that are entered into the platform, which is hugely motivational.” His second criterion was what he could do with the data captured. \u201cThere\u2019s so many things you can do right at your fingertips.\u201d The third criterion was the user experience and convenience of the platform. \u201cAI speeds up the process of tagging and sorting insights to find themes or patterns, which helps us get them to the right people quicker than we could previously.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nFor the pre-commercial biopharma, the director and his team were already familiar with ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ. \u201cWe were at the right place and time to implement ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights and we were able to get up and running with our use cases quickly,\u201d he says. The technology implementation also provided his team with another benefit: the opportunity to train all relevant functions on the organizational definition and compliant usage of a medical insight. \u201cWe were able to layer on how we do this better from a process perspective.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Going beyond field medical<\/h2>\n

\nRedefining the insights journey has also allowed both companies to involve other stakeholders beyond field medical. For the director at the pre-commercial biopharma, this includes home office medical colleagues. \u201cOur medical directors and global medical affairs colleagues go to congresses, which is a prime venue for collecting insights,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom a global lens, ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights ensures there is a harmonized process for how we capture and report across all functional areas.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nHuybrechts is also bringing advisory reports into the system. \u201cWhen you add those golden nuggets into the bigger mix, it puts things into perspective, which adds incremental value,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s really when you take insights generation to a higher level.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Insights and the impact of medical affairs<\/h2>\n

\nMeasuring the impact of medical affairs<\/a> is a topic that is top of mind for most organizations. When it comes to insights, it\u2019s important to understand their strategic influence across the larger organization. But for most, the only visibility they have is quantitative metrics.\n<\/p>\n

\nHuybrechts believes the implementation of ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights will help them move beyond that typical quantitative perspective. \u201cNow we can shift the discussion away from just numbers to what really matters, the nature of the insights. That’s where we really need to go.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nThe director at the pre-commercial biopharma agrees, \u201cIt brings us from task to value.\u201d For him, using ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights is part of a bigger strategic initiative. \u201cThe insights from our thought leaders will help shape the direction we take our launch in the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Preparing your organization to modernize medical insights<\/h2>\n

\nFor those thinking about next steps in their medical insights journey, the director at the pre-commercial biopharma encourages them to take the leap. \u201cRemember to think long term, including how to embed this into the DNA of your medical organization and, more importantly, the downstream impact this will have.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nHuybrechts emphasizes setting your strategy first and getting all of your ducks in a row. \u201cThis implementation touches many areas from compliance and analytics to legal. \u201cIt\u2019s an important decision and everybody needs to be on board.\u201d Change management is also an important area of consideration. \u201cPut yourself in the shoes of stakeholders in each area of your organization,\u201d he says. \u201cFor those capturing insights it’s a step forward, but all other functions involved need to feel comfortable with what you’re doing, so make sure to manage that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201c³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights is a significant advancement for the industry in how to capture insights and action them,\u201d the director says. \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen substantial benefits but the real value is yet to come.\u201d He and his team are going to be feeding these insights and other significant data from Link Key People<\/a> into a data analytics platform. \u201cOnce we start mining this, we\u2019re going to see a tremendous amount of value.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Do you want to accelerate your insights from capture to action? Learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how biopharmas like UCB use ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Link Medical Insights to modernize insight capture and turn them into strategic action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":92398,"parent":0,"template":"","product-link-list":[],"class_list":["post-96054","customer-stories","type-customer-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories\/96054"}],"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\/96054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96055,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/customer-stories\/96054\/revisions\/96055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product-link-list","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-link-list?post=96054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}