CASE STUDY How a pharmaceutical company optimized confidential data flow

As pointed out by Copadata, productivity of pharmaceutical companies can be increased by, among others, protection of data integrity and compliance, reduction of paper and simplification of operational workflow, as well as by maximizing efficiency and flexibility.

It can be claimed that maintaining competitiveness in a dynamically developing life science market largely depends on how long and how well companies can protect intellectual property created in the research process and how well they can communicate with other entitiesInnovations help complete all of these goals in a variety of ways. FORDATA’s client – one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Poland – decided to use Virtual Data Room system to secure and optimize their key processes. How did our cooperation go on and what was achieved?

Decades of the client’s company development is the history of nurturing innovation and focusing on research and development. It is also a conscious introduction of new solutions for the protection of sensitive pharmaceutical data and patents. Pioneering in terms of the production of innovative drugs on the Polish market, the R&D department of the client’s company wanted to increase security of intellectual property and the efficiency of information exchange when sharing strategic data with domestic and foreign research centers, laboratories, business partners and other entities.

We offered a tailor-made solution that allowed the client to collect confidential documentation in one central place, with 24/7 on-line access. The system makes it possible to differentiate access to files for individual users (internal and external), including the option of blocking the editing of documents, saving them on disk or printing (so-called “read only” mode). But how was the FORDATA VDR system used to optimize the company’s operation?

Our client regularly sends data that contain company secrets. Documents of strategic importance must be properly protected. Data is transferred between departments and made available to external partners (e.g. in the process of drug registration on foreign markets, product licensing or communication with patent offices). The company carries out many processes at the same time. It is also subject to regular audits by external entities.

The company needed a solution that would organize the flow of information, and on the other hand, enable the IT department to control who has access to what information and to what extent. It was also important to increase the security of documents provided in these processes.

The client was looking for a system that can be launched immediately, without the need for time-consuming and costly implementation, which will additionally relieve the IT department in providing technical support for people with access to data. An important aspect was to ensure that the system complies with the legal and administrative regulations in force in the EU.

FORDATA Virtual Data Room solution allowed the client to create a secure repository of confidential documents, centrally managed by the IT department. Access to the repository is granted only to authorized persons and only to the extent granted to them by the administrator. To improve the internal flow of information, the system allows the administrator to create several levels of authorizations so that employees of individual departments have access only to the functions necessary to perform their tasks.

On the other hand, in order to protect intellectual property, the Administrator has the option of securing shared documents in such a way that external users cannot edit them, save them on disk or print them. The system also blocks screenshots and applies watermarks on documents to prevent information leakage by taking a picture of the computer screen. The administrator also has full insight into user activity – he can see who has viewed what documents, which documents have not yet been opened, etc.

From the perspective of external users, the system enables comfortable work from the office, at any time of the day or night, from anywhere in the world. In case of new document upload, everyone is automatically informed about it. Users can search the repository both by file names and by words contained inside documents (full text search). In case of technical questions, users can count on the immediate support of the FORDATA team, with a guaranteed response time of 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Organizing the management of confidential documentation
• Increasing the protection of intellectual property created in the organization
• Providing the IT department with central control over the flow of information (inside and outside)
• Improving the course of audits, licensing and drug registration processes
• Relieving the IT team by handing over Responsibility for FORDATA for the maintenance of the system for data sharing and technical service of users on demand

• Maintenance of the Virtual Data Room system on its own IT infrastructure, with 24/7 access for any number of users
• Providing support to the client, e.g. uploading files to the VDR, managing the system on his behalf
• Conducting training in system management for administrators

Find out more about what possibilities Virtual Data Room gives to companies from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries on our page on Life Science.