Yet, despite the rise of digital channels in life sciences, providing the right information to HCPs quickly and effectively remains a challenge. HCPs want information from life sciences companies available digitally at their fingertips, but they do not have the time or inclination to wade through multiple websites and portals. Adding to the complexity, most life sciences companies maintain rigorous registration processes for access to branded sites and portals. This means a physician may need a dozen different registration identifiers with a single pharmaceutical company. Multiply this across numerous pharmaceutical companies, and the problem grows from a minor inconvenience to a significant burden for HCPs.

To address this growing challenge, the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have come together to form an industry-standards group called Align Biopharma. Founding members include Allergan, AstraZeneca, Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and Pfizer. The group’s goal is to make it faster and easier for HCPs to connect with life sciences companies by implementing universal technology standards that will simplify access to information.

Align Biopharma will define standards that are open and global to streamline digital interactions with HCPs. Initially, the group will focus on two new standards to facilitate seamless digital engagement and simplify the HCP experience: identity management, as well as consent and communication preferences.

To start, Align Biopharma recently finalized and introduced an identification and authentication standard to enable single sign-on for HCPs to access online content through many different channels across companies. This standard will allow biopharma and technology companies to align around a common way to provide HCPs with easy access, and validate that the relevant licensed provider is getting what he or she needs quickly. It will replace dozens of passwords with only one.

As digital transformation charges forward in life sciences, companies will find new and innovative ways to continue to collaborate and improve engagement with HCPs. Face-to-face interaction will remain important, but the transition to digital is happening fast – and common standards will be key to enabling a transformation for all life sciences companies.