Life sciences and biopharma companies are racing to respond in the wake of COVID-19.
And that’s on top of an already challenging decade for the industry, adapting to everything from increasing consumer expectations and regulatory changes to precision medicine. What can enable rapid business transformation and evolution of operations in life sciences? Intelligent automation.
Medical Supplies Order Processing
Ensure on-time order and delivery of medical supplies, even during increased demand
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
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Distributor Sends fax or sales rep emails Excel spreadsheet
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IQ Bot/ocr scans fax or bot reads email in inbox and extracts information from Excel file
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Bot Parses Data and the 5 key fields to complete the order and logs into SAP
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SAP Processes the order and bot sends status update to sales agent
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BOT Sends confirmation email to distributors
Spikes in demand for medical supplies, diagnostic tests, and healthcare equipment can expose inventory and supply chain gaps. Eliminate supply interruptions with intelligent automation. A medical device and supplies company was able to support a 5x increase of orders from one country without interruption to their business by leveraging Automation Anywhere’s AI-powered RPA platform.
What can Intelligent Automation do?
- Scan and process FAX and PDF orders from around the world
- Use IQ Bot and/or OCR to scan and read orders sent via fax or email as PDF
- Pull information from multiple sources, systems, and types of documents
- Handle 5x order volume, 24/7, with 100% accuracy
- Process orders through multiple systems to enable management of inventory at velocity
Fast-Track Drug Discovery
Shorten the New Drug Application (NDA) process by months
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
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NDA Documentation process started by researcher or CRO
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Bot Navigates & Extracts information from other Word documents and an Excel spreadsheet
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Bot Pulls data from lab tests and research centers
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Bot Compiles information and enters info into form
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Bot Checks format and font to finalize document
Reducing time and delays in submitting new drug applications (NDA) and completing extensive regulatory documentation (FDA) to get approval to bring new medicines to market can save lives, especially during global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Intelligent automation can help reduce submission process time—one major pharmaceutical company shortened the NDA process by 4 months—and help accelerate steps along the way; a Clinical Research Organization (CRO) reduced time to complete quality check for regulatory documentation by 33%.
What can Intelligent Automation do?
- Create documentation required for regulatory agencies
- Regulatory forms for preclinical and clinical development
- Pull information from multiple sources and systems
- Track response from a regulatory agency and route to correct person
- Scan for format, font, and completeness of all data
Manage Global Adverse Events and Complaints
Save time and costs by automating adverse events reporting, pharmacovigilance cases, and complaint handling processes
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
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Distributor Sends fax or sales rep emails Excel spreadsheet
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IQ Bot/ocr scans fax or bot reads email in inbox and extracts information from Excel file
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Bot Parses Data and the 5 key fields to complete the order and logs into SAP
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SAP Processes the order and bot sends status update to sales agent
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BOT Sends confirmation email to distributors
Streamline the complex and highly regulated processes for pharmaceutical and medical device companies to report and process all product issues, adverse events, and complaints by applying intelligent automation. For example, AstraZeneca automated reporting for 100,000 adverse events worldwide, thereby saving millions of dollars and freeing time for higher value work. Another large pharmaceutical company automated tens of thousands of pharmacovigilance (PV) cases each month, reducing cycle time by 40%.
What can Intelligent Automation do?
- Automate the AE event reporting process
- Monitor email or scans documents
- Pull information from multiple sources, systems, and types of documents
- Check and complete forms
- Follow up communications and implement workflow
Respond to Increased Inquiry Volumes
Global health events like COVID-19 demand rapid communications, responses to inquiries, and information sharing
Automated
Attended Automation
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HCP* asks rep a question
Rep logs question in CRM
Inquiry submitted via phone/video
HCP submits a request via web site
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Inquiry/case is generated
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Case enters queue to be assigned
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Analyst opens and reviews case
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Is there enough information?
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YES
NO
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Review for AE, on/off label, and insights
Analyst opens doc system screen
Analyst sends a request for more information or a new case to be created
Rep for HCP provides more information
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Analyst searches and selects standard documents for response
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If no standard documents are found, IQ Bot searches database and selected sites to create a new document
If document was updated or new document created, submit for and receive approval
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Analyst creates response document in document system using selected docs and cover letter template
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Response letter is submitted to HCP via fax, email, or direct mail
Public health crises highlight the growing need for communications and inquiry response processes for life sciences and pharmaceutical organizations. Today, analysts review cases, and create and send out response letters. Intelligent automation can move their role from author to reviewer, decreasing time to respond and freeing time for other critical work.
What can Intelligent Automation do?
- Open and review new cases
- Identify missing information and ask for input from analyst or submitter (attended automation)
- Search databases and select standard documents for response
- Gather new information to create documentation where none exists, and submit for review and approval
- Create response document and letter
- Provide review-ready inquiry responses to analysts for approval
