For the first time, quality has overtaken cost as a priority in plans for automating adverse event (AE) reporting. These are the findings of brand-new research among 200 professionals in senior roles spanning PV, Drug Safety and Product Safety departments. Here, John Price, a long-standing life sciences industry consultant and advisor to Arriello, which commissioned this latest research, unpacks the findings.

Extract:

‘Quality Overtakes Cost as the Priority as Life Sciences Companies Move to Automate Pharmacovigilance Case Intake‘

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled progress with digital process transformation, many life sciences companies’ ambitions to apply smart solutions to rising pharmacovigilance workloads remain central to the investment agenda. These are the findings of Arriello’s second annual transatlantic survey into the industry’s PV automation intentions.

This year, quality overtook cost to become the primary criterion for automating PV workloads. Yet fear for human jobs, along with validation issues, persist as barriers to automation.

The context for the research is the shift in companies’ treatment of PV. A decade or so ago, as AE reporting workloads began to soar, companies across the pharmaceutical industry sought to reduce the cost of their operations – first by outsourcing and then by offshoring their activities. In more recent years, Pharma has begun to realise that any associated cost savings have come at the expense of quality. Now some are seeking to rebuild internal PV capabilities, despite higher costs and a talent shortage, by harnessing smart technology. But how far have companies come?

Unsurprisingly the pandemic has dominated decision-making over the last year which has been reflected in setbacks to automation initiatives. The proportion of respondents claiming to have PV automation solutions in place in 2021 was much the same as in 2020, despite around 40 per cent of last year’s respondents expecting to introduce automation within the coming year. Intentions remain strong, however. Only two per cent saw automation projects curtailed completely.

Click the download button below to read the complete version of ‘Quality Overtakes Cost as the Priority as Life Sciences Companies Move to Automate Pharmacovigilance Case Intake’ by John Price, a long-standing life sciences industry consultant and partner of Arriello