A Trusted Partner: How KeyOps Navigates the Procurement Process

At KeyOps, we know selecting a new partner for life science market research can be a long and arduous process. In the early stages, you invest time identifying your data needs, researching vendors, conducting interviews, and evaluating all the available options. Then, after you’ve made your final decision, there’s still one major step in the process: Procurement.

KeyOps has developed deep expertise when it comes to successfully navigating the procurement process. Specifially:

• Data security and privacy
• Pharmacovigilance  
• Back office (e.g. insurance requirements)
• Regulatory compliance

It's no secret that internal procurement processes can be difficult to navigate in the life sciences industry – and for good reason. Complex and highly regulated businesses need to ensure they’re taking the necessary precautions to manage risk, especially when working with new third-party vendors or suppliers. But the process itself can take weeks – or even months – to manage. Not only does this delay your life science market research project, but if a vendor doesn’t pass all the necessary checks, you may have no choice but to start the whole process over again with another company.

KeyOps makes it frictionless. When you work with KeyOps for life science market research, you can rest assured knowing our team is prepared to quickly and successfully navigate the procurement, compliance, and purchasing processes on your behalf.

We Know the Life Sciences Industry

One of our biggest strengths lies in our in-depth knowledge of the life sciences industry. Members of the KeyOps team have experience working for some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies – which has helped us develop a proactive approach to delivering the information our clients need when creating a master service agreement (MSA).  

As a result, KeyOps has successfully passed the due diligence checks for every MSA we’ve been invited to participate in. And because we’re comfortable working directly with procurement departments, commercial teams can get their life science market research projects up and running faster, with minimal effort required.

KeyOps Policies and Processes

When navigating the procurement process, any life science market research company needs to prove they have the right policies and processes in place to effectively manage risk. Below is a quick overview of how KeyOps protects our clients – and their market research data:

Data Security and Privacy

The use of innovative digital tools and technologies are essential to the way KeyOps offers on-demand access to physician insights. In light of our unique approach to life science market research, we’ve developed – and adhere to – detailed policies related to data security and privacy. These policies include guidance and protocols on:

• Personally identifiable information (PII)
• Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)
• Encryption and authentication
• Data collection and storage
• Data handling

• Password management
• Incident response – including outage and security incidents
• Employee training

Maintaining data integrity is at the core of our business. So we take every precaution necessary to ensure your information is protected. In our experience, procurement teams have been pleased to know that we not only follow industry best practices – but that those practices are driven by detailed policies.

Pharmacovigilance

When conducting life science market research, pharmacovigilance is a serious concern. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada have strict, detailed guidelines in place for reporting both adverse events and product complaints. If a third-party vendor allows an adverse event or product complaint to go unreported, the resulting violations can have serious business implications.

At KeyOps, we understand the importance of pharmacovigilance protocols. That’s why we take extensive measures to keep your company compliant. Our internal training ensures every KeyOps employee that has access to physician data knows how to recognize and report adverse events and product complaints. Additionally, we require all physician response data to be reviewed by at least two people on our team – an intentional redundancy designed to minimize the risk of reporting oversights or errors.

In addition to completing our own internal training, we can also complete any specific pharmacovigilance training required by your organization. In short, KeyOps is fully pharmacovigilance trained and compliant, so you don’t have to worry about adverse events or product complaints going unreported.

Insurance

Every master service agreement has a level of insurance that’s required for third-party vendors. At KeyOps, we have the right coverage in place to protect your business – whether you operate out of the United States or Canada. Our insurance policies include protection for:

• General liability
• Errors and omissions
• Cyber security and liability
• Directors and officers liability

While we always take extensive precautions to ensure your business is protected, our insurance coverage provides an added layer of protection.

Regulatory Compliance

In addition to pharmacovigilance, procurement teams want to know that a life science market research provider understands – and complies with – the industry’s broader regulatory environment.

For example, the U.S. Sunshine Act requires that payments of $10 or more made to physicians on behalf of life science companies must be reported to the federal government. To keep our clients compliant with this regulation, we ensure physicians are only compensated for market research – which is explicitly exempt from reporting under the Sunshine Act. As an organization, we also enforce a comprehensive anti-bribery and corruption policy that governs the legal and ethical operation of our business.

A Trusted Partner for Life Science Market Research

With KeyOps, your company can take a new, innovative approach to life science market research – without sacrificing internal risk management standards. Our deep industry knowledge and thorough approach to gathering physician insights is one reason why we’re trusted by leading pharmaceutical and life science companies across North America. To learn how we can transform your approach to physician engagement, visit www.keyops.io.