Building Digital Capabilities for a Biotech Leader
CLIENT
Global RNA Leader
(Client name withheld for confidentiality).
CAPABILITIES
Digital Transformation Strategy, Omnichannel Stakeholder Engagement, Launch Readiness & Go-to-Market Enablement, Clinical Trial Recruitment, Change Management.
The impact
5x
Return on digital investment.
35%
Reduction in launch marketing costs.
40%
Faster time-to-market.
An established RNA-targeted therapeutics company had pioneered decades of scientific innovation. As its clinical pipeline matured, the digital capabilities required for commercialization could not keep pace with organizational growth. COVID-19 further accelerated the need for digital engagement across patients, healthcare professionals, investigators, advocates, and investors. Leadership engaged me to build the enterprise digital foundation required for commercial readiness and future launches at scale.
Over an 18-month engagement, I designed digital capabilities around three strategic priorities:
- Built a scalable digital operating model to support enterprise growth and future launches.
- Established omnichannel engagement capabilities across priority stakeholder audiences.
- Expanded clinical-trial recruitment through a purpose-built digital platform.
Scalable digital foundation
As the RNA pipeline matured, the organization needed to build a scalable digital foundation to support multiple launches, audiences, and development stages. A secure cloud-based foundation consolidated digital properties, accelerated deployment, reduced infrastructure costs, and strengthened GxP and HIPAA compliance, as well as enterprise security controls.
The company’s first Digital Center of Excellence established shared services, governance, and decision rights within consistent regulatory and technical guardrails.
Building on this foundation, a digital-first brand and modular content architecture enabled teams to distribute pre-approved, personalized communications across stakeholder touchpoints.
Reusable launch infrastructure connected CRM, marketing technology, and data pipelines to accelerate product-launch programs while reducing duplicated development and compliance risk.
Omnichannel stakeholder engagement
As stakeholder expectations evolved, the organization needed an omnichannel engagement model that could support clinical development, build pipeline visibility, and prepare priority audiences for future launches.
Audience-specific journeys connected healthcare professionals, investigators, patients, caregivers, advocacy communities, and investors with relevant scientific, disease, and corporate information across coordinated touchpoints.
When the pandemic disrupted in-person access, the model enabled a rapid transition to coordinated digital engagement, reducing reliance on face-to-face activity and sustaining stakeholder engagement across pipeline programs.
Clinical Trial Recruitment Platform
As pipeline programs advanced, conventional site-based recruitment could not reliably identify and reach geographically dispersed patients with rare diseases.
A digital clinical trial recruitment platform combined patient-centered digital journeys, disease education, advocacy and community partnerships, and clinician-referral pathways.
These capabilities extended trial awareness beyond established site networks and helped connect prospective participants with appropriate study sites.
Reaching nine million users, the platform enabled patient identification, education, and referral across Phase II–IV studies. It established a repeatable patient-finding capability that could be deployed across multiple rare-disease programs.
