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Founded in 1978, Biogen, a leading biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, MA, develops therapies for complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Multiple Sclerosis.

When Biogen transitioned its clinical data management processes from a CRO to in-house in 2019, they needed to find more effective tools to manage study metadata. At the time they were heavily reliant on spreadsheets which made version control and content reuse difficult. By partnering with Formedix, now part of Pinnacle 21® by Certara, Biogen implemented a centralized clinical metadata repository solution, improving standardization and traceability. This transformation has allowed them to streamline study metadata management and keep up to date with regulatory standards.

Below, learn how Biogen transformed their study metadata management with Certara’s metadata repository.

The Challenge of Study Metadata Management

Prior to working with Certara, Biogen faced challenges in clinical trial metadata management:

  • Decentralized processes: Maintaining clinical data standards, such as CDASH, SDTM, and ADaM, in Excel spreadsheets was inefficient and labor-intensive.
  • Version control issues: Spreadsheets made it harder to track changes, manage legacy content, or enable effective content reuse.
  • Scalability limitations: Managing clinical trial metadata in spreadsheets meant that it was hard to scale as the number of studies grew.

The solution

To address these challenges, Biogen adopted the CRF Creator module (formerly known as Formedix ryze) within the Pinnacle 21 Enterprise (P21E) platform, together with a clinical metadata repository solution and standards governance solution.

Key Implementation Highlights:

  • Centralized Metadata Repository (MDR): P21E provided Biogen with a single source of truth for managing clinical trial metadata, enabling easy access, searchability, and reuse of content across studies.
  • Enhanced Traceability: The platform allowed Biogen to track changes in metadata across versions, ensuring robust audit trails and traceability of metadata for regulatory compliance.
  • Standards Management: Biogen developed strong controlled terminology, and CDASH metadata standards using the platform.
  • Efficient Content Reuse: Metadata from past studies could be visualized, repurposed, and refined for future use, reducing duplication of effort in creating forms.

"The user interface offered advantages and it was fun to work with. You can build the forms and create visualizations of what you've developed, to facilitate stakeholder reviews early on."

Todd Bazin, Head, Data Standards at Biogen

Results

By leveraging the Pinnacle 21 Enterprise platform, Biogen saw improvements across its study metadata management workflows.

Outcomes at a Glance:

  • Higher Reuse Rates: A vast repository of standardized metadata now allows for streamlined content reuse and visualizations of changes, driving efficiency across 100+ global studies built in Rave.
  • Improved Standards Compliance: Frequent updates to standards are now managed seamlessly, ensuring consistency with CDISC standards.
  • Optimized Workflows: The process of reviewing and upgrading ADaM content has improved, enabling Biogen to transition from ADaMIG v1.1 to v1.3 faster and more effectively than using spreadsheets.

“The platform is our authoritative source for metadata. We develop and maintain content so we can ensure that our global library accurately reflects our standards. We've had a lot of great support from Certara’s team,” shared Todd.

Conclusion

Biogen’s adoption of the Pinnacle 21 Enterprise platform has set a new standard for efficiency in their clinical metadata management. By transitioning from siloed and manual processes to an integrated metadata repository, Biogen has streamlined study builds, ensured regulatory compliance, and positioned itself for future scalability.

Are you ready to transform your clinical metadata management processes like Biogen?

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