Daiichi moves TMFs, other R&D documents onto Veeva cloud platform

Daiichi Sankyo has struck a deal to use Veeva Systems’ ($VEEV) cloud platform to store its R&D files. The agreement sees Daiichi use Veeva Vault to manage electronic trial master files (eTMFs), quality compliance documents and the submission assembly process.

In using Veeva Vault to store and access these documents, Daiichi gains a single, unified platform for the management of its assorted R&D content. And, with Veeva Vault giving Daiichi the option to add staff at its CROs to the list of people with access to the system, the whole of the Japanese drugmaker’s internal and external R&D operation could potentially reap the benefits. Such harmonization is one of the cornerstones of Veeva’s pitch for its growing portfolio of R&D software tools.

Daiichi joins Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), inVentiv Health, Ipsen and others on the list of users of the Vault R&D packages. Like many of the companies that struck deals with Veeva before it, Daiichi is looking to the software to free up resources and drive down its costs.

“Veeva Vault was superior to every solution we evaluated in the market. With Veeva conducting installation qualification and operational qualification processes, we expect to save resources and costs not having to upgrade projects every several years,” Daiichi VP Yasuhiro Ikeda said in a statement.

Whether Veeva Vault lives up to Ikeda’s expectations in practice remains to be seen, but his initial assessment of the capabilities is based on more than a demo. Ikeda and his colleagues have had the opportunity to give Vault a proper assessment, a process it reportedly came through with flying colors.

“Veeva provided a sandbox environment during our selection phase for users to test technical and business capabilities,” Ikeda said. “The high satisfaction among our users was one of the deciding factors in selecting Veeva.”

For Veeva, the deal further burnishes its track record of snagging deals with Japanese drugmakers. Notably, while the deals Veeva struck with Astellas, Eisai and Takeda involved the European or North American wings of the Japanese companies, the Daiichi relationship involves the headquarters from day one.

“Veeva Vault makes it easier for pharmaceutical companies based in Japan to accelerate their global efforts,” Takashi Okamura, general manager of Veeva Japan, said.

- read the release

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