{"id":84001,"date":"2025-05-06T16:58:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/?post_type=resources&p=84001"},"modified":"2026-07-07T02:37:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:37:43","slug":"building-the-future-of-mlr-with-ai-fastest-path-to-approved-content","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.veeva.com\/eu\/resources\/building-the-future-of-mlr-with-ai-fastest-path-to-approved-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the Future of MLR with AI: Fastest Path to Approved Content"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biopharmas are creating record-high volumes of material to engage healthcare professionals (HCPs) in relevant ways across channels: Production rose 7% globally and 29% in the U.S. in 2023 over the prior year \u2014 and the pace isn\u2019t slowing (Figure 1). Meanwhile, field teams rarely or never use 77% of approved content. Participants across the content supply chain are challenged to develop only those assets worth the cost while driving meaningful customer experiences.<\/p>\n

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1<\/sup> Healthgrades 2024 Outlook: Pharma Marketing Trends to Watch<\/a>
\n 2<\/sup> Veeva Content Benchmark data for U.S., 2023<\/a>
\n 3<\/sup> Veeva PromoMats<\/a>
\n 4<\/sup> Veeva Pulse Content Metrics, 2025<\/a>
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Content teams rely on highly skilled medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) experts to create relevant and compliant material. However, they tap into reviewers\u2019 expertise late in the cycle. This process, coupled with stagnant or reduced reviewer headcounts, strains capacity. Without a more proactive role or visibility into content creation, reviewers are perceived as a bottleneck, working through redundant reviews as content volume rises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want your content to get out quickly and efficiently, companies need to view MLR as a business issue and be invested in trying to solve that,\u201d says Dr. Samin Saeed, vice president of Early Assets Medical at GSK. <\/p>\n

More and faster product launches and evolving HCP content preferences create the need to revolutionize the MLR role. AI promises to help accelerate content, but it is one lever. Having aided in improving quality and reducing the workload for MLR teams, its value is now crystallizing as part of a larger opportunity to reimagine end-to-end content operations. <\/p>\n

Along with AI, the process innovations supporting transformation in the MLR role include: <\/p>\n

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  1. Claims management and harvesting<\/a>: Digital tools auto-link approved claims to references in a centralized claims library, removing 90% of the work versus manual. Claims harvesting creates claims from link annotations on steady-state documents, making library maintenance easier.<\/li>\n
  2. Content reuse<\/a>: Once approved, content modules are ready for use in various assets and multiple channels, creating more personalized customer experiences.<\/li>\n
  3. Tier-based reviews<\/a>: Business rules move a large percentage of content through streamlined tiers compliantly and efficiently, freeing resources to focus on high-value, high-risk material.\n<\/li>\n
  4. Content similarity<\/a>: Comparing derivative content with scoring helps reviewers prioritize where to spend time during review and approval.\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These advances \u2014 coupled with AI products capable of evolving with a company\u2019s unique roadmap \u2014 deliver the best return on investment by speeding the full content creation, review, and approval cycle to help
    \ntransform the MLR role.<\/p>\n

    \n\u201cAll of the critical pillars that own pieces of the content workflow and lifecycle must be aligned. However, roles needn\u2019t remain static, especially as AI takes effect.\u201d
    \nContent strategy director at a top biopharma<\/span>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The value of transforming the MLR role<\/h2>\n

    Because MLR teams receive content in the last mile of production, they communicate back and forth with marketing operations, brand teams, agency partners, and other stakeholders. Rising content volume hasn\u2019t affected MLR review cycle times: The global average for content approval is consistent. But, pre-review processes add time \u2014 ranging from five to 150 days for each asset. Reinforcing AI and automation with process improvement, especially during MLR review, is the best way to meet HCPs\u2019 growing content needs. <\/p>\n

    \u201cAll of the critical pillars that own pieces of the content workflow and lifecycle must be aligned. However, roles needn\u2019t remain static, especially as AI takes effect,\u201d says the director of content strategy at a top global biopharma. Bringing reviewers, brand teams and\/or agency partners, and marketing operations together early in the content lifecycle is a significant shift. It empowers teams to co-create higher-quality content initially and reduce rework later.\n<\/p>\n

    Collaborative, tech-supported teams can produce relevant content faster despite new challenges, such as expedited launches for more indications. New approaches and technology enhance the experience for reviewers and all who touch medical and marketing content.\n<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s critical to focus our resources to manage the MLR review process efficiently for all stakeholders while ensuring we support the business in all our initiatives compliantly,\u201d says Jamie Moccia, manager of MRC and medical operations at Argenx.\n<\/p>\n

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    \u201cEnsuring compliance with FDA requirements remains a key responsibility of our MLR teams, which AI alone cannot handle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Andrea Ward<\/h6>\n

    Executive Director of Global Ethics and Compliance, Astellas<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    AI and the evolution of MLR teams<\/h2>\n

    For years, commercial teams relied on manual, paper-based systems that were slow and error-prone. In response, content teams shifted to digital technologies<\/a> to streamline workflows, improve collaboration, and spark new ways to develop promotional material. The industry entered a digital renaissance when organizations learned to use digital content investments effectively.\n<\/p>\n

    The next transformation is underway as companies test AI to improve efficiency, speed, quality control, and reviewer satisfaction. More than 80% of large life sciences companies are exploring its use for content creation and review processes, tagging, and quality checks, according to Veeva data.\n<\/p>\n

    Early reports indicate an opportunity for life sciences companies to derive $5-7 billion<\/a> in value from AI use, with 25-35% of that total coming from commercial use alone. There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all solution, and the results of AI use in MLR review are still taking shape. But markers of success are emerging (Figure 2).\n<\/p>\n

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    Industry confidence in AI\u2019s ability to help transform MLR review is growing, with the caveat that reviewers must maintain the final say. Andrea Ward, executive director of global ethics and compliance at Astellas, says that compliance with the FDA and other regulatory bodies mandates human intervention, especially for processes like audit trails and documented proof of compliance: \u201cEnsuring compliance with FDA requirements remains a key responsibility of our MLR teams, which AI alone cannot handle.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

    Sabine Post, global content operations lead for go-to-market capabilities at Sanofi, agrees. \u201cWhile automation aids in approaches like tier-based reviews, human oversight is crucial to maintain accuracy and compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Marketers\u2019 skill sets and comfort with AI tools outside review \u2014 for content creation and hygiene, for example \u2014 are still growing. In addition, biopharmas haven\u2019t experienced scalability in using AI for these purposes, but this will change rapidly.\n<\/p>\n

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    \u201cIn our day-to-day, we are not seeing the impact we were promised GenAI would have in the industry. The area where GenAI has the most potential is MLR and it’s exciting to see Veeva embrace that with Vault AI in PromoMats.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Dr. Samin Saeed<\/h6>\n

    Vice President, Early Assets Medical, GSK<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    The future of reviews<\/h2>\n

    Adopting AI capable of delivering pre-reviewed content that\u2019s \u201890% of the way there\u2019 is a proactive step in reimagining the content supply chain. A new AI application for Veeva PromoMats<\/a> will soon be available in response to this need. Vault AI in PromoMats prioritizes quality, speed, and trust by focusing first on MLR pre-review efficiency. Future applications will empower marketers to be greater contributors to a sustainable content lifecycle.\n<\/p>\n

    Vault AI in PromoMats uses a customer-hosted or Veeva-supplied large language model and embeds AI in the content lifecycle. Content Agent provides a whole new way to use Veeva PromoMats with agentic AI in a context-aware, conversational interface. Quick Check Agent performs quality checks before MLR review and approval, checking for adherence to the following:\n<\/p>\n