Welcome to the Veeva R&D and Quality Summit. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Rylan Collins, VP and Head of North America R&D Business Consulting at Veeva. Rylan will share insights on how Veeva’s business consulting services are transforming the clinical trial technology landscape, enhancing collaboration, and accelerating the development of new therapies.
Moe Alsumidaie: Rylan, could you explain the R&D business consulting practice at Veeva?
Rylan Collins: We help organizations maximize their investment in Veeva technology by transforming their operating models, including their processes and ways of working. This transformation is crucial for ensuring that our clients can fully leverage the capabilities of Veeva’s technology to improve efficiency and outcomes in their clinical trials.
Our consulting services are designed to guide organizations through the complexities of adopting new clinical trial technology and processes. By providing expert advice and support, we help our clients navigate change management challenges, ensuring they can achieve their goals more effectively. This holistic approach sets Veeva Business Consulting apart and enables us to deliver significant value to our clients.
Moe Alsumidaie: How can consulting services improve collaboration between study sites and sponsors, and how does this accelerate the initiation of clinical trials?
Rylan Collins: Business consulting’s primary objective is to help our customers maximize their investment in Veeva by transforming their operating models, including their processes and ways of working. For example, Veeva Site Connect facilitates document exchange and payments, making it easier for sponsors to manage their interactions with sites. Business consulting helps sponsors evolve their processes to capture these applications’ benefits fully, ensuring a smoother and faster initiation of clinical trials.
This transformation enables sponsors to activate sites more quickly, get more patients into studies faster, and ultimately accelerate the delivery of new therapies to patients. By streamlining communication and collaboration between sponsors and sites, we can significantly reduce the time it takes to initiate study sites. This not only benefits the sponsors but also has a positive impact on patient care by bringing new treatments to market more rapidly.
Moe Alsumidaie: How does Veeva’s business consulting guide clients in implementing clinical trial technology flexibility, and how does it impact patient care?
Rylan Collins: With the latest development in Site Connect, sites no longer need specific clinical trial technology to use it. They can drop files directly into the sponsor’s clinical Vault. Business consulting helps sponsors adapt their operating models to this new way, fostering better communication with sites. This flexibility allows sites to use their preferred clinical trial technology while ensuring seamless data sharing with sponsors. As a result, sponsors can communicate more effectively with sites, speeding up trial activation and getting more patients into studies faster.
We help sponsors build stronger relationships with their research sites by enabling a more site-centric approach. This improved collaboration leads to more efficient trial processes and better patient outcomes. The ability to quickly and easily share data between sites and sponsors is a game-changer in the clinical trial landscape, and our consulting services are key to making this a reality.
Moe Alsumidaie: How does Veeva Business Consulting assist mid-sized biopharmaceutical enterprises in deciding whether to outsource or insource clinical trials?
Rylan Collins: Advanced technologies like clinical trial management systems (CTMS) enable better oversight, which can change how companies approach outsourcing. For example, CTMS provides real-time data transfer, allowing sponsors better visibility into their clinical trials. Business consulting helps companies evaluate the strategic importance of various activities, determining which should be outsourced, insourced, or offshored. This evaluation involves assessing the impact of CTMS oversight capabilities on the company’s operations. By making informed decisions about outsourcing and insourcing, companies can revamp their operating models for next-gen ways of working, enhancing speed and efficiency in bringing new therapies to market.
Our consulting services provide the expertise needed to navigate these complex decisions. We work closely with our clients to understand their unique needs and challenges, helping them develop strategies that align with their goals. This tailored approach ensures that our clients can use their resources best and achieve optimal results in their clinical trials.
Moe Alsumidaie: What are some of the biggest challenges that mid-sized pharma companies face, based on your experience and discussions with them?
Rylan Collins: A significant challenge is the lack of transparency and dependency on CROs, often resulting in delayed feedback. For example, emerging biotechs may rely heavily on CROs for day-to-day operations, receiving updates only weekly or monthly. This can create a “black box” effect, where sponsors are unsure of the current status of their trials. CTMS oversight and real-time data transfer can help mid-sized companies better understand day-to-day study activities, enabling more strategic and timely actions. This transparency allows sponsors to make informed decisions and address issues promptly, improving the overall efficiency of their clinical trials.
By providing real-time insights into trial activities, we help our clients gain greater control over their studies. This increased visibility enables them to identify and address potential issues more quickly, reducing delays and improving overall trial performance. Our consulting services are designed to help mid-sized pharma companies overcome these challenges and achieve their clinical trial objectives more effectively.
Moe Alsumidaie: How does Veeva Business Consulting help organizations build and leverage connected technology ecosystems, and what benefits have you observed?
Rylan Collins: Veeva’s theme of autonomy and alignment ensures that functional domains control their technology while aligning for cross-functional processes. For example, connecting safety systems with EDC and medical systems reduces manual interference, speeds up turnaround times, and enhances patient safety. Business consulting helps revamp cross-functional processes and governance, ensuring efficient and error-free operations. By reducing manual tasks and improving data flow between systems, companies can act faster on safety issues, ultimately benefiting both the pharma company and the patients.
Our consulting services are crucial in helping organizations build and leverage these connected ecosystems. We provide the expertise needed to design and implement integrated technology solutions that enhance workflow efficiency and patient safety. By fostering a more collaborative and connected environment; we help our clients achieve better outcomes and drive innovation in the clinical trial landscape.
Moe Alsumidaie: Can you share some examples of how Veeva Business Consulting is helping clients apply automation to enhance clinical trial processes and speed up the delivery of new therapies?
Rylan Collins: Automation in safety processes, such as real-time SAE data transfer, significantly improves efficiency. For example, connecting safety systems with EDC allows for the automatic transfer of serious adverse event data, reducing manual entry and the risk of errors. Advanced analytics, like site selection using proprietary claims data, also play a crucial role. Veeva’s data products, such as Compass and Link, help identify the best sites for clinical trials by analyzing patient data and linking it to potential sites and principal investigators. While Veeva’s focus is on automation, we facilitate the use of AI by helping clients rethink their operating models and processes to integrate new clinical trial technology effectively.
Our consulting services are designed to help clients make the most of these automation capabilities. By providing expert guidance and support, we help organizations streamline their clinical trial processes and improve overall efficiency. This not only speeds up the delivery of new therapies but also enhances the quality and reliability of clinical trial data, ultimately benefiting patients and advancing medical research.
Moe Alsumidaie: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Rylan Collins: Veeva Business Consulting aims to help the industry transform operating models, ensuring our customers get the most out of their investment in Veeva and realize the innovative potential of our products. Our goal is to support the industry in adopting new clinical trial technology and processes that enhance efficiency, improve patient care, and accelerate the development of new therapies. By working closely with our clients, we help them navigate the complexities of change and achieve their clinical trial objectives more effectively.
Moe Alsumidaie is Chief Editor of The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Moe holds decades of experience in the clinical trials industry. Moe also serves as Head of Research at CliniBiz and Chief Data Scientist at Annex Clinical Corporation.
