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You may have heard of the saying to ‘treat feedback as a gift’. If so, then our latest study feels like a gift that keeps on giving. Our 2023 Optimizing Affiliate Engagement to Improve Performance of Key Regulatory Activities survey is a landmark study designed to capture the voice of the affiliate. As most life science companies want to be better and get better at managing key regulatory information on a truly global scale, improving how affiliates work and how headquarters interacts with and supports those affiliates are critical components.

Improving Data Quality with better Data Governance cross-functionally is a “hot topic”. Companies are investing in people and technology to get more out of their information assets, realising this through large system and process modernization, plus the ability to connect data across functions, and the bottom line is “the quality of information in systems has to improve - period”. Great things happen when there is high confidence in the information we use as regulatory professionals every day – speed, better decisions, efficiency, and trust.

It’s been an interesting 12 months to say the least with ArisGlobal buying both Amplexor and SPORIFY, Ennov buying Samarind, Calyx divestiture from PARAEXEL only to be acquired by CapVest/GLO Healthcare in Q1 2023, and Honeywell buying Sparta Systems. We also witnessed some successful partnerships, especially the combined Generis/Extedo capabilities in both systems and services.

Imagine a world where metrics can identify issues before they occur, where forecasts are accurate, and stakeholders can perform effectively and grow in their jobs thanks to full process transparency. And imagine that these dashboards are automatically populated, forecasting models automatically updated, periodic reports automatically generated, and issues automatically identified and reported. We need not rely upon artificial intelligence, simply using the data and metadata within our systems (see figure below) can provide the insights to effectively manage and continuously improve regulatory performance.

A key headline from the 2022 WCRIM Study highlights the need to optimize engagement at the affiliate level in order to ‘solve the last mile’ in terms of achieving global RIM operational performance, high data confidence levels, quality, and compliance. Because of all these high value components, we know this is an important topic for many organizations.

2022 seemed to have gone by especially fast with the relaxing of covid restrictions, more in-person interactions, and even a flight or two for some. For the G&A Team, we’ve had our most research-intense year yet.

Managing regulatory intelligence information and delivering the broad variety of services expected of regulatory intelligence departments continues to be a challenge for the biopharmaceutical industry. The Gens & Associates 2022 Regulatory Intelligence Industry Survey (n = 42) identified the degree of technology support for ten specific use cases. The survey also explored the level of automation being applied to core activities carried out in regulatory intelligence programs.

Almost exactly a year ago, EMA announced a U-turn on its IDMP/SPOR implementation plans: they set aside the expected requirement to prepare FHIR messages to accompany eCTD submissions in favor of a plan to collect structured data using the planned DADI web-based electronic application forms.

In recent months, the concept of a Regulatory Center of Excellence (CoE) keeps popping up in conversations with our clients and research community. It’s happened often enough for our core team to wonder if Regulatory CoEs develop into a leading organizational strategy as a way to better support regulatory organizations as they continue to evolve. And if so, how does it develop and what could it accomplish?

As the Gens & Associates Research Team has pointed out in the latest World Class RIM Survey, we are nearing the end of the latest RIM Transformation Wave. There is no doubt that this investment wave over the last decade has consumed a significant amount of the total dollars available to invest in Regulatory technology, with another significant portion being spent on the ever-evolving IDMP requirements including several false dawns.