Pharma is a Highly Regulated Industry

AstraZeneca (AZ), one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, operating in more than 70 countries, explains why the protection and security of its online assets with CSC is of great importance.

“The challenge of an online presence, depending on which market we operate in, is that we need to be very careful. Pharma is a highly regulated industry, and to ensure we adhere to in-market regulations, and to what we are allowed to say is key to ensuring we don’t get into trouble,” says Oladimeji Okewole, Director, Privacy Service Centre & Global Digital Governance.

“One of our core founding principles is—we serve the patients first. This goes beyond simply creating products. On one end of the spectrum, this relates to providing access to products and the ongoing management of updating the information about those products. But on the other end of the spectrum, we must focus on mitigating risk and protecting patients,” continues Okewole. “That comes through handling activities such as phishing attempts, shutting down inappropriate sale of our products, inappropriate use of our IP, and the takedown of our counterfeit sites. We must do that at all cost because it helps us to protect our patients.”

“The advent of COVID-19 has shaken up the world and it has definitely complicated all our lives,” Okewole said. “From a digital perspective, we have had to greatly increase our vigilance over our IP. It is not a secret that AZ is a leader in the drive to creating a vaccine. But this comes with the price and the added burden of ensuring that unscrupulous parties do not defraud AZ, do not provide incorrect and harmful information to the public, and of course, do not mimic our sites. It isn’t just me or my global team responsible for this work. It is through long, strong, lasting engagements with partners such as CSC that we are able to drive forward.”

“I need to work with a vendor who has an opinion. Turn them from a vendor into a partner. One that can help guide, one that can provide solutions along with my team and myself. One that can provide input—tell me that this particular path might not be the way to go. And CSC is definitively a partner in that field. “

“I would definitively recommend CSC. They help to drive us to be in the truly best place we can be from an enterprise, domains, and digital perspective. “

Take a look at how CSC has helped AstraZeneca and others. >>

Thank you Oladimeji Okewole and AstraZeneca for taking the time to produce this video as well as provide wonderful feedback.