Automating literature monitoring: How pharmaceutical companies can improve efficiency and ensure compliance

A key issue facing pharmaceutical companies is how to effectively monitor publications involving their products and their potential impact on the public. The volume of these publications is huge and requires careful review of documents from multiple sources. This work is not only time-sensitive, but also requires strict reporting requirements.

For example, in China, the literature search process is also strictly regulated and requires regular searches. The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and related regulatory agencies conduct literature searches regularly to ensure drug safety and avoid duplication. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies also need to deal with different requirements for drug information monitoring in various provinces and regions. However, in local-level monitoring, many pharmaceutical companies find it difficult to keep up due to the large number of publications across languages and frequencies.

The existing review process is not only time-consuming, but also leads to the risk of non-compliance with best pharmacovigilance practices, which can lead to huge financial penalties and even the withdrawal of the product from the market. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine translation (MT) technologies can help pharmaceutical companies address these challenges by automating tedious and complex processes.

Here are five benefits of automated literature monitoring:

1.  speed – Automating the search and review process can reduce manual work time by up to 85%, saving the team approximately 2 hours per week.

2.  flexibility – Workflows can be customized to the needs of local markets, ensuring all publications are crawled in any language, at a local or international level. This enables accurate capture of safety information at all levels, improving data quality and patient feedback.

3.  Scalability – This process supports all document types and can be easily extended to multiple countries. Whether dealing with infrequently published documents or multilingual requirements, implementing a flexible literature search process can effectively cope with different reporting requirements.

4.  Translation efficiency – By using AI/MT, teams can eliminate additional translation and formatting costs. AI/MT also provides up to 80% translation accuracy, reducing the workload of post-editing.

5.  Security – When handling sensitive security information, ensure that a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant system is used, with full audit trail capabilities that help teams monitor all document activity from identification to reporting to ensure security compliance.

Implementing an automated literature search process is key for pharmaceutical companies to efficiently manage product information. With an end-to-end multilingual case processing system combined with AI and translation technology, the efficiency, accuracy, security and speed of reporting can be greatly improved.

Select a Literature Monitoring Partner

An effective literature monitoring workflow begins with a partnership with an experienced vendor who understands compliance requirements and strict reporting deadlines. The ideal vendor will work with your team to identify keywords, terms, and search criteria to optimize search results and ensure accuracy. Additionally, integrating literature monitoring into your existing pharmacovigilance system centralizes the entire process and ensures consistent and accurate reporting.

Arrow Translation Life Sciences offers automated local literature search and notification services to improve team efficiency and ensure compliance with good pharmacovigilance practices. Our technology centralizes literature review, identifies required actions, and seamlessly integrates with back-end systems for translation management, content submission, and delivery.

If you would like to learn more about how we can support literature monitoring, please contact us!

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