Author: Christian Velten

‘Agility’, is without doubt a key enabler for digital transformation. Most organizations request their teams applying agile approaches to business . You might now that the agility idea originates from a revolution in IT software & tools development, where lean, flexible and iterative project management methods replaced the old way of doing projects with a huge gap of months if not years between specifying requirements and delivering/testing. One key principle of agile approaches is to fail quick, learn, and improve in an iterative way. Repeatedly, in short cycles. Flexibly and step-wise approaching the ideal solution starting from a minimum viable…

Digital Pharma is a hot topic those days. There currently is a virtual Tsunami of articles, blog posts, guidance, opinions, etc. on how to make our business more digital. But with all the things you will read and hear, there is an obvious question. Where to start, which measures to take first? Here I am going to share with your the 5 immediate actions I would take. 1. Push coordination (some call it “governance”) Today, in most life science companies I have seen so far, there seems to be a scattered rag rug of digital customer engagement activities. There will…

💡 Legal and compliance issues often arise late in project development.
💼 Teams in pharma or medtech face delays due to last-minute legal and compliance rejections.
⏰ Timelines and milestones are at risk, causing frustration and pressure on project teams.
🚫 Initial rejection leads to disappointment and anger towards legal and compliance.
🔄 An alternative approach involves early involvement of legal and compliance.
🤝 Engaging them from the start ensures proactive guidance and a collaborative environment.
🌟 Shifting from asking “is this compliant?” to “how can we make this compliant?” empowers legal and compliance as facilitators rather than blockers.
😊 This approach improves cooperation, potentially leading to happier legal and compliance teams and smoother project execution.

Already before the latest data privacy regulations had been released, an effective opt-in has always been key for any customer communication if not engagement campaign. GDPR now forces us to take it even more seriously. Actually, opt-ins are the bottleneck for any multi- or omni-channel campaign. Without having adequate customers’ opt-ins in place your digital or non-digital campaign is born to fail. So, do you know the quantity and quality of your opt-ins? What is your opt-in rate? What exactly did your customers actually opt-in for? Does your opt-ins management comply with GDPR regulations? It might be vital having answers…

As the lead of the strategic initiative, I provided Actelion Pharmaceuticals with a digital customer & patient engagement strategy for commercial & medical functions (digital transformation of business). Together with a specialized agency, provision of a global digital strategy for Actelion business, including an omnichannel strategy for disease-specific promotional and medical communication. Establishment of a cross-functional and cross-departmental internal network linking internal digital activities, projects and expertises. Alignment with and of global/regional/local layers, IT, R&D, compliance/legal, and digital strategies at Janssen, the new ‘mother’ of Actelion. CLIENT:Actelion Commercial Excellence(as an Actelion employee)PROJECT TIME FRAME: July 2018 – February 2019

Yes, pharma is behind most other industries in terms of digital transformation, e.g. of customer engagement and solutions. As a permanent repetition of the evident, multiple studies (example), journal articles and blog posts are frequently reporting about pharma’s digital retardation. But that is not a fair comparison. Also being part of the truth, markets for treatments, medical devices and health services are actually no free markets similar to other industries. They are highly regulated. I am not complaining, there are good reasons for having limitations in place. It is just a general circumstance which needs to be considered with the…

Limiting digital customer engagement in pharma to commercial and medical communication would be like asserting that the violins are the most important part of a symphony orchestra. If you ask a violinist, he certainly will confirm. But dare asking the trumpeter. Across any pharmaceutical organization there is typically a variety of digital ‘music’ played for physicians and patients … Obviously, different projects, initiatives, tools and solutions are touching similar customers if not the same, depending on the disease area. For example in rare disease, the likeliness to interact with exactly the same individuals in parallel (patients & physicians) is quite…

Earlier this year, I was visiting a presentation by the Basel business development agency on the challenges of Medical Device Regulations (MDR) for the providers of health apps. There had been around 30-40 IT guys locally supporting pharma with the development of health-related digital solutions, some from agencies, some freelancers. What they all had in common were shocked faces at the end of the presentation. I was not really surprised. During many years I have now been involved in the development and realization of various digital tools and solutions in pharma, I got used to digital agencies’ naivety if not…

I was leading a global biomarker+genetic testing program aiming to  identify hidden patients with Niemann-Pick type C, an ultra-rare and severe neuro-metabolic disease (prevalence 1:89’000, ~1’000 patients on treatment worldwide). The project included 44 countries, mostly in Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa. We used a highly specific and sensitive biomarker, Lyso-SM-509, provided by the Centogene AG lab, who was also performing the analyses. We were able to identify >200 additional patients, achieving surprisingly high hit rate of 5 in 100, corresponding to 4 patients per month on average. Investment per patient identified was in the range of 5.2% of yearly…

Jun 2018 – Oct 2019 / ACTELION PHARMACEUTICALS (JANSSEN J&J) Led the global digital customer & patient engagement strategy for commercial & medical functions (digital transformation of business). • Established a cross-functional and cross-departmental internal network linking internal digital activities, expertise and passion. • Aligned global/regional/local layers, IT, R&D, compliance/legal, and with overarching Janssen (J&J) digital strategies. Achievements Business integration of Actelion digital customer engagement has reached a key milestone Achievements Business Digital Pharma October 30, 2019 Digital customer & patient engagement strategy delivered Achievements Business Digital Pharma February 20, 2019 Browse CV Full CV Timeline