Vectura uses E-WorkBook to boost its efficiency

BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY, VECTURA GROUP LIMITED, INCREASES ITS PRODUCTIVITY AND STREAMLINES COMPLIANCE BY DEPLOYING IDBS SOLUTION

Summary

Vectura Fertin Pharma has committed to digital transformation of its data management and has seen a 25-30% increase in efficiency.

Having faced several challenges while using a paper-based system in the past, the Company chose a cloud-based solution to take advantage of frequent updates. Now, validation during updates is a collaborative process with IDBS.

As a pharma company, compliance is vital for Vectura. A digital system ensures compliance with minimal effort.

The challenge

Vectura Fertin Pharma , based in Chippenham, UK,  is a contract services organization working on lung diseases and delivery of compounds via the airways, from feasibility studies through to clinical release. When it came to data and data management, Vectura was facing several challenges and was ready for something more streamlined.

Vectura had been using a paper system for years. It was also using several disparate systems to get the reported data it needed from the huge breadth of tests it undertakes, both for decisions and for audit and compliance requirements. As a pharma company, compliance is important in every step of what it does.

“The biggest issue we were facing was transcription. All that [data] has to be moved and copied and second-person verified afterward. So, that’s quite a tiresome, cumbersome process,” said Andy Firth, Analytical Director at Vectura.

Holly Adair, a scientist at Vectura, said: “We had to store all of our data in folders, which would be stored in the Archive Rooms. So, there was a lot of manual toing and froing with the records.”

Using paper notebooks, Vectura felt that there was a lot more room for error, either from writing the results by hand or transcribing the results, there were a lot of manual checks that had to take place.

The solution

Vectura decided to digitize its labs. It was looking for a solution that would be updated frequently.

Vectura chose IDBS because, out of all the solutions in the running, IDBS’ solution was mature.

“It was very clear that the Cloud-based systems, the SaaS-based systems were kept updated more frequently,” said Andy.

The update procedure is a collaboration between Vectura and IDBS. Vectura wants to ensure that the lab downtime is at a minimum and IDBS offers that flexibility.

“IDBS doing part of the validation and then us taking over allows us to spend less resource on it and to speed up the process,” said David Thomas, Project Lead at Vectura.

As a pharma company, compliance is vital for Vectura. A digital system ensures compliance with minimal effort. E-WorkBook enables the Company not only to ensure compliance but also to monitor it by recording audit trails and time stamps. The times of relying on a scientist’s memory – when and where they wrote something down – are gone.

Instead, scientists can simply use the digital scanner to scan the barcodes and labels of the equipment they use and then automatically pull in the information. The platform is able to tell a scientist immediately if a piece of equipment is ready for use or flag if it is out of calibration to prevent use.

Moreover, it can pull all the information from the system to form a report – automatically and in seconds.

“There’s no loss of data or transcription, anywhere.”

The results

E-WorkBook’s compliance capabilities increased Vectura’s efficiency by 25-30%. The templated system produces the information required without the need for intervention or second-person verification.

Vectura was also able to standardize its procedures and roll them out consistently. Processes are more streamlined and there’s evidence of everyone’s training in one easy location.

Now, Vectura is able to prove what it’s doing and when – always ready for internal or customer audits. Andy said, “Whether they are client audits, customer audits, regulated bodies, they’re all wanting to actually understand what it is that you are doing, and to prove and demonstrate what you’re doing. Having a system where you can literally use one laptop to explain everything is so different to where I’ve been in the past, where you’ve had lab books piled high. It’s just a new world.”

About the customer

Vectura Group Limited is a British pharmaceuticals company based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, which develops inhaled medicines and makes inhaler devices. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Philip Morris International in September 2021.