Boehringer Ingelheim has officially launched its innovative 'One Medicine Platform,' a unified cloud-based system designed to accelerate drug development and bring new therapies to patients faster. The platform, powered by Veeva Development Cloud and implemented with Cognizant as the prime system integrator, marks a significant advancement in pharmaceutical research and development infrastructure.
The comprehensive platform integrates previously siloed functions across clinical, regulatory, and quality departments, replacing more than 20 legacy systems that previously operated independently. This integration enables seamless data connectivity and streamlined workflows for over 15,000 users working in Clinical Development programs.
Strategic Collaboration Drives Innovation
The One Medicine initiative represents the culmination of a strategic partnership first announced in March 2022 between Boehringer Ingelheim and Veeva Systems, with Cognizant joining as implementation partner in 2023. Phase One of the implementation has now been successfully completed, with Phase Two already in planning to further enhance clinical operations and integrate additional regulatory modules.
Oliver Fink, Head of Learning, Processes & Digitalization, Global Quality Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim, highlighted the transformative impact of the platform: "For years, Boehringer Ingelheim used multiple vendor systems which lacked the ability to communicate with each other, which led to complex workflows. The launch of our One Medicine Platform revolutionizes our medicinal development processes and takes our operational efficiencies to the next level."
Enhancing Cross-Functional Collaboration
The new platform addresses critical challenges in pharmaceutical development by creating a connected ecosystem that enhances cross-functionality. By unifying data sources and standardizing processes, Boehringer Ingelheim aims to optimize trial efficiency, improve collaboration with research sites, and ultimately accelerate the delivery of new medicines for currently incurable diseases.
Cognizant's role as system integrator involved co-developing a program roadmap, implementing agile methodology, and creating implementation workflows. The company partnered with Syneos Health Consulting for business process engineering and with Veeva for configuration and system architecture design.
Streamlining the Drug Development Process
The pharmaceutical industry has long struggled with fragmented systems that create data silos and operational inefficiencies. Boehringer Ingelheim's One Medicine Platform represents a significant step toward resolving these challenges by creating a unified approach to drug development.
"We are pleased to achieve this program milestone in our collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim," said Gagan Syal, Head of Life Sciences, EMEA & APAC, at Cognizant. "With this new system, Boehringer Ingelheim is expected to resolve data challenges and latencies and speed up the go-to-market of its products. Thanks to the close collaboration across our teams, we have been able to execute this project in record-time."
Industry-Wide Implications
As one of the industry's top investors in Research and Development, Boehringer Ingelheim's adoption of this unified platform could signal a broader shift in how pharmaceutical companies approach their technology infrastructure. The One Medicine Platform demonstrates how cloud-based solutions can transform pharmaceutical operations by breaking down functional barriers and creating more efficient pathways from discovery to market.
The platform is expected to particularly benefit Boehringer Ingelheim's efforts in areas of high unmet medical need, aligning with the company's focus on developing innovative therapies. With over 53,500 employees serving more than 130 markets globally, the efficiency gains from this platform could have far-reaching impacts on the company's ability to deliver new treatments to patients worldwide.
As the collaboration moves into Phase Two, industry observers will be watching closely to see how this integrated approach affects development timelines and success rates for new therapies in Boehringer Ingelheim's pipeline.
