Veeva Commercial Summit: On AI, content, and MLR Review with Emma Hyland

This video provides an in-depth exploration of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming content strategy and the Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) review process within the life sciences industry, as discussed at the Veeva Commercial Summit 2025. Emma Hyland, Veeva's Vice President of Commercial Content Strategy for Europe, highlights the urgent need to revolutionize the MLR role due to accelerating product launches and evolving healthcare professional (HCP) content preferences. While AI promises to significantly accelerate content delivery, improve quality, and reduce MLR team workload, its true value is realized when integrated into a larger strategy to reimagine end-to-end content operations, allowing leading biopharma companies to deliver more tailored and customer-centric content while maintaining compliance.

Hyland details the industry's current adaptation to AI, noting that approximately 80% of Veeva's customers have engaged in pilot experimentation over the past 12-18 months, often with mixed results. Common reasons for pilot failures include difficulties in scaling solutions across multiple markets or brands due to complexity and subjectivity, poor user experience leading to low adoption, and a misdirected focus on simply weaving AI into existing processes rather than fundamentally rethinking productivity. Many initial attempts generated "noise" and extra work, counteracting the goal of faster, better content. Veeva's strategy, in contrast, emphasizes embedding generative AI into its Vault platform to build specific, user-friendly agents that simplify complex tasks.

The highest opportunity for AI in content, according to Hyland, lies within the MLR space, which she describes as "ripe for disruption" after years of minimal change. The shift is from viewing MLR as merely a "complaint avoidance tool" to a competitive differentiator that enables rapid delivery of accurate, scientifically correct, and patient-appropriate content. Veeva announced two MLR-focused agents for release in December 2025: a "quick check agent" to assess content quality before MLR submission, and a "promat assistant" offering a conversational interface for interrogation and questioning. Future innovations include a "claims agent" and persona-based agents tailored for medical, legal, and regulatory reviewers, providing specialized support for each role. Despite the technological advancements, insights from customer focus groups and the summit underscore that success hinges not just on technology, but critically on "people and process," as exemplified by Moderna, Veeva's first global AI customer. The long-term vision for MLR sees AI significantly increasing efficiency and managing rising content volumes driven by personalization, while human accountability for content sign-off remains paramount due to regulatory requirements and patient safety.

Key Takeaways:

• MLR Process is Ripe for AI Disruption: The Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) review process in life sciences is identified as the area with the highest opportunity for AI transformation, having seen little significant change in many years, making it ready for innovation.
• AI for Competitive Advantage in MLR: The industry is shifting its perception of MLR from a compliance gatekeeper (complaint avoidance) to a strategic tool that provides a competitive edge by enabling faster delivery of high-quality, accurate, and scientifically correct content to market.
• Challenges in Early AI Pilots: Many initial AI pilots in life sciences have failed due to difficulties in scaling solutions across enterprise organizations, high complexity and subjectivity, poor user experience leading to low adoption, and a misdirected focus on simply integrating AI into existing processes rather than reimagining productivity.
• Veeva's AI Strategy with Agents: Veeva's approach involves embedding generative AI into its Vault platform to create specialized "agents" designed to perform specific tasks. This aims to simplify AI utilization and integrate it seamlessly into daily workflows.
• Specific AI Agents for MLR: Veeva announced two key MLR-focused agents: a "quick check agent" for pre-submission content quality assessment and a "promat assistant" providing a conversational interface for content interrogation. These are designed to streamline and enhance the review process.
• Future AI Innovations: Beyond initial MLR agents, Veeva plans to introduce a "claims agent" to manage the complex area of claims, followed by "persona-based agents" tailored for specific medical, legal, and regulatory reviewers, providing targeted support for individual roles.
• Beyond Technology: People and Process are Key: While AI technology is exciting, the ultimate success of AI implementation in life sciences hinges on getting the "people and process" right. This foundational principle, often overlooked in the excitement of new tech, remains crucial for successful transformation.
• Human Accountability Remains Paramount: Despite AI's capabilities, human accountability for signing off every piece of content before it reaches patients and HCPs will remain in the near to mid-term future due to regulatory requirements and the critical importance of patient safety. AI will augment, not replace, human reviewers.
• AI to Manage Content Volume and Personalization: As content volumes continue to rise due to the demand for personalized content, AI will be essential for creating more efficient ways to manage this influx, enabling the industry to achieve its personalization goals without proportional increases in human resources.
• Partnership for Industry-Wide Solutions: Customer focus groups indicate a strong desire to partner with solution providers like Veeva to build industry-wide solutions, suggesting a collaborative approach is valued for developing scalable and impactful AI tools.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva CRM: A leading platform in the pharmaceutical industry, central to the discussion of commercial operations.
• Veeva Vault Platform: The foundational platform where Veeva is embedding generative AI to build specific agents.
• Quick Check Agent (Veeva AI): An AI agent designed to check content quality before submission into the MLR process.
• Promat Assistant (Veeva AI): A conversational AI interface for interrogating and asking questions about content.
• Claims Agent (Veeva AI): A planned future AI agent focused on managing claims.
• Persona Based Agents (Veeva AI): Planned future AI agents tailored for medical, legal, and regulatory reviewers.

Examples/Case Studies:

• Moderna: Cited as Veeva's first global AI customer, sharing their implementation experience and demonstrating the importance of integrating technology with people and process.