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Chris Tolomeo, Senior VP & Head of Banking Services

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Khem Balkaran, CIO

Church's Chicken

Louis J. Profumo, CFO & EVP

Automating Pharmacovigilance Operations for Efficiency and Scale

Read | May 17, 2024

AUTHOR(s)

A WNS Perspective

Key Points

  • A prominent biotechnology firm struggled with manual, labor-intensive pharmacovigilance processes across its product portfolio, leading to errors, hindered scalability and delays in adverse event reporting.
  • WNS conducted a thorough process discovery exercise to identify pain points and proposed a tailored Software-as-a-Service solution that leveraged data ingestion automation, modular design, a micro-services architecture, advanced technologies, pre-validated compliance systems and duplication safeguarding.
  • Integrating the Software-as-a-Service solution enabled our client to intelligently automate adverse event handling, reducing processing times and error rates while augmenting compliance, scalability and operational efficiency.

This is our story of streamlining and scaling up pharmacovigilance case processing for a biotechnology major by implementing a tailored SaaS solution for accurate, expedited and cost-effective compliance.

As we know…

In the wake of ever-evolving regulations and accelerated product development, the pharmaceutical industry is pressured to manage patient safety more efficiently. Companies must ensure compliance with nuanced, country-specific safety regulations and the timely submission of safety events. Navigating these mandates can be overwhelming, marked by substantial resource demands and a challenging alignment with value-creation objectives.

The manual orchestration of these tasks is cumbersome and error-prone, particularly accentuated in the context of multi-product triaging. As the volume of safety events surges across various product categories, organizations are increasingly turning to automation in pharmacovigilance to deploy scalable solutions. Such systems can efficiently process cases from both structured and unstructured data sources, enhancing productivity, accuracy and compliance while reducing costs.

The pharmacovigilance challenge for our client, a prominent biotechnology firm, was…

Multi-faceted: In maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements across its vast product portfolio, there was reliance on manual, labor-intensive processes.

These antiquated methods were prone to high error rates and severely compromised scalability. While fluctuations in case volumes exacerbated the operational strain, the prospect of augmenting the workforce during peak periods was improbable. This led to unavoidable delays in reporting adverse events to regulatory authorities.

The dependence on outdated tools such as Excel sheets – for critical tasks such as managing search criteria, downloading schedules, performing manual case reviews and ensuring audit readiness – added to the workflow complexity.

Stepping in as a digital transformation partner…

WNS undertook a thorough process discovery exercise to gain insights into the client's workflows and technology ecosystem, laying the foundation for pharmacovigilance process optimization. Our team of experts closely collaborated with stakeholders from the pharmacovigilance and compliance departments to identify pain points and devise a tailored solution.

Leveraging our expertise in process optimization and digitalization, we proposed implementing a cutting-edge, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to support pharmacovigilance process optimization by automating the end-to-end handling of adverse events while adhering to regulatory standards and boosting operational performance.

Key elements of the solution included:

By automating case processing, WNS’ SaaS solution…

Enabled the holistic digital transformation of the client’s pharmacovigilance operations. Through automation in pharmacovigilance, this significantly reduced processing timelines, enhanced data accuracy, fortified regulatory compliance and freed the client (from operational quagmires) to focus on value-added activities.

Tangible outcomes included

~

 

percent

cost savings owing to process automation

More than

 

percent

reduction in case-handling time

A scaled-up system capable of handling

 

million+

cases daily

 

percent+

data accuracy

FAQs

1. How can automation improve efficiency in pharmacovigilance operations?

Automation helps life sciences organizations streamline adverse event processing, reduce manual effort and improve case handling accuracy across pharmacovigilance workflows. By integrating AI, intelligent automation and analytics, organizations can accelerate safety data processing while maintaining regulatory compliance. WNS enables pharmaceutical companies to modernize pharmacovigilance operations with scalable, automation-led solutions that improve operational efficiency and responsiveness.

2. Why is scalable pharmacovigilance becoming critical for pharmaceutical companies?

The growing volume of safety data, evolving regulatory requirements and increasing complexity of global drug portfolios are creating significant operational pressure for pharmacovigilance teams. Scalable pharmacovigilance models help organizations improve signal detection, maintain compliance and manage growing workloads efficiently. WNS combines life sciences expertise with AI-driven automation frameworks to help enterprises scale drug safety operations without compromising quality.

3. What operational challenges can AI-driven pharmacovigilance automation solve?

AI-driven automation can address challenges such as high manual case intake volumes, inconsistent data extraction, delayed reporting timelines and fragmented safety workflows. Intelligent automation also improves data accuracy, enhances workflow visibility and supports faster regulatory submissions. WNS helps pharmaceutical organizations optimize end-to-end pharmacovigilance processes through digitally enabled safety operations.

4. How can pharmaceutical companies ensure compliance while automating pharmacovigilance operations?

Successful pharmacovigilance automation requires strong governance frameworks, transparent AI models, validated workflows and continuous quality monitoring to align with global regulatory standards. Organizations must balance efficiency gains with patient safety, auditability and regulatory readiness. WNS supports pharmaceutical companies through compliant and scalable automation strategies that strengthen both operational performance and regulatory confidence.

5. Why should life sciences organizations partner with WNS for pharmacovigilance transformation initiatives?

WNS combines deep life sciences and pharmacovigilance expertise with advanced AI, automation and analytics capabilities to help organizations modernize drug safety operations at scale. From intelligent case processing and safety data management to workflow orchestration and compliance enablement, WNS helps pharmaceutical companies improve agility, operational efficiency and patient safety outcomes through digitally transformed pharmacovigilance ecosystems.