EU Summit 2024 Summary: Elevating Quality Beyond Compliance

Over 1,200 European life sciences leaders joined the Veeva R&D and Quality Summit on 4-5 June 2024 in Madrid. In the Quality and Manufacturing Zone, the content-rich agenda centered on elevating quality beyond compliance – a crucial shift from simply meeting regulatory requirements to striving for efficiency and speed across the product lifecycle. Overall, the engagement was high with a lively exchange of ideas between industry leaders, peers, and our Veeva quality experts. Here’s a quick roundup of the two-day Summit, including a summary of key customer sessions, and industry leaders’ perspectives on the evolution of AI and Quality Management.

Leaders delved into aligning QA & QC, collaboration tactics, and digital quality solutions

Customer speakers explained how they are modernizing their approach to quality management across three key themes:

1. Unifying QA & QC for operational excellence and efficiency. Unified and connected quality systems result in simpler processes and efficiency gains while meeting regulatory requirements. During the opening keynote, Sanofi highlighted its quality transformation program rooted in a simplified quality management system supported by state-of-the-art technologies. Chief Quality Officer, Maite Durrenbach showcased how Sanofi’s QA and QC processes are now aligned with industry best practices and implemented with high discipline. Watch the quality zone keynote on Veeva Connect to learn more about Sanofi’s quality transformation program.
2. Collaboration across the value chain. Today’s development and supply chain operations consist of an extensive ecosystem of partners. Modern quality systems must facilitate seamless collaboration across this network, particularly when sharing business critical data and content. Boehringer Ingelheim shared how it improved the quality oversight of Medicine suppliers by reducing the number of data sources and connecting processes and systems into one platform.
3. Digitalize quality across the product lifecycle. The continued path to paperless is a core element of any digital transformation strategy, eliminating data integrity issues and inefficiencies while providing more reportable data for better decision-making. During the Transforming Validation Processes with Vault session, Tieme Stoutjesdijk, director of Vault Validation Management Europe, highlighted the benefits of digital solutions. He explained how automation can eliminate paper usage and reduce validation management time by up to 80%. Furthermore, digital solutions enhance the traceability of requirements, saving numerous hours per project and providing easy access to centralized data.

Chief Quality Officer, Maite Durrenbach (Sanofi) presenting the Quality Zone keynote June 2024

Leaders shared perspectives on the evolution of AI and Quality Management

This year’s Summit saw significant interest in AI, which has dominated industry discussions. While there is considerable hype, there are also many potential use cases where AI can add value, including quality. Veeva continues to integrate AI capabilities into apps based on specific needs. Additionally, we are developing a partner program and a new API for high-speed data extraction to support your AI strategies and create a seamless, trusted ecosystem.

“Veeva’s recent transparency about their AI partnerships and automation plans has been incredibly helpful. It gives us a clear roadmap for how to integrate Veeva with our existing systems and future partner solutions.” Kasper Ingmann Bille Fynbo, Head of QMS at Ascendis Pharma

The well-attended quality closing keynote delivered valuable insights into the current state and future of pharmaceutical quality management. Moderator Mike Jovanis, VP of Quality & Manufacturing at Veeva, kicked off the discussion by noting the significant growth of the European quality community, with over 250 quality professionals in attendance at Summit. He was joined by Diane Black, SVP, Global Quality at Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Kasper Ingmann Bille Fynbo, Head of QMS at Ascendis Pharma; and Susanne Deyhle, Director, Quality Systems Operations at CSL Behring. The panel underscored the critical role of collaboration in sharing best practices, maintaining compliance, and achieving scalability.

Panelists also emphasized the transformative role of technology in streamlining processes, improving data analysis, and even leveraging AI for tasks like identifying repeat deviations. Diane pointed out the necessity of having robust systems to “do more with less,” while Kasper highlighted the balance needed between meeting user needs, quality control requirements, and leveraging advanced functionalities for improved outcomes.

Panelists Mike Jovanis, VP of Quality & Manufacturing at Veeva, Diane Black, SVP, Global Quality at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Kasper Ingmann Bille Fynbo, Head of QMS at Ascendis Pharma, and Susanne Deyhle, Director, Quality Systems Operations at CSL Behring at Quality Closing Keynote

“The last couple of days have reconfirmed to me that most pharma companies have the same challenges. Veeva really is becoming the system of choice, and the advantage of that is that it allows for immense learning from each other.” Diane Black, SVP, Global Quality at Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Watch now on Veeva Connect recordings of Quality Zone customer, roadmap, and innovation theater sessions to learn how to elevate quality beyond compliance.