But what exactly makes LINK Medical, a full-service CRO focusing on the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, unique in the ever-expanding market? If you ask Lena Lindeberg, the Vice President of Commercial Operations at LINK Medical, or Claudia Wennberg, their Marketing and Brand Manager, they’d say it’s two aspects that make the difference: the people and the quality.
We sat down with a few members of the LINK Medical team, including Claudia and Lena, as well as Mario Baban, EDC Group Manager, and Björn Clauson, Senior Clinical Research Associate (CRA) to talk about where LINK is going and how Viedoc is helping them get there.
- It's really a true full-service CRO with all services in-house—with our own personnel—from early clinical all the way to post-marketing. And even after post-marketing, we can still help them with regulatory support and pharmacovigilance.
LINK Medical has chosen to stay with Viedoc since its inception. As a tight-knit and collaborative team, they need a product that can align with their solutions—reducing the hassle of dealing with multiple vendors for a single study. Mario enjoys working within Viedoc and praises its functionality:
- It’s a user-friendly system and a flexible system that we have been using in many studies and it offers us good functionalities like the eTMF, Viedoc Logistics, Viedoc Me, and other types of features that the system offers. But it's also a cost-efficient solution for our customers.
Last year, in a collaboration together, LINK Medical’s data management team sat down with Viedoc for a testimonial on how they’re using Viedoc Reports, Viedoc Admin, and Viedoc Designer today. Lena remarked on their relationship with Viedoc and attested to the suite’s functionality and ease of use:
- From the very beginning, we have built processes around Viedoc for the most efficient processes around data management.
As EDC Group Manager, Mario requires a flexible system that offers good control. He’s able to access modules or parts of Viedoc without involving other teams, and he can easily access Viedoc Reports and other metrics. Moreover, data managers can set up customized reports directly in the Viedoc system, eliminating the need for other systems or software. A simple interface also ensures that sites and end-users are supported with minimal intervention needed. Mario continued:
- LINK Medical as a company is promising our customers that we will improve and accelerate their product development by using optimal solutions for the clinical trials. And we think Viedoc fits well in that strategy.
What makes Viedoc so streamlined and efficient isn’t just its interface and flexibility, it’s also the advantage of being able to reuse forms from other studies to reduce the need for new forms with every study. LINK Medical has even been able to compile a library with edit checks and forms, which is useful for both the company and its clients. Such solutions are also more cost-efficient.
As a CRA, Björn also benefits from Viedoc’s system. He uses Viedoc to get an overview of the sites and what is happening there day to day, as well as to get an overview of the clinical teams and the data they collect. Björn is able to escalate potential problems, understand how the study is progressing, and quantify the progress of the study as it’s happening all within the Viedoc system, ensuring efficiency and simplicity. Björn elaborated on two major benefits of the system:
- First of all, it's very intuitive to use. I think that it's very easy, even if you haven't used any EDC before or if you haven't used Viedoc before at all, to just sit down and understand “How can I enter the data? What kind of steps do I need to go through in order to find what I need?” And second, it makes our job a lot easier.
With Viedoc Reports and export tools, Björn can customize what he sees within the system easily and access what he needs to see, whether it’s a listing of the adverse events involved in a particular trial or potential deviations, the recruitment status of a study, and more.
Reflecting on their collaboration on one particular feature, the Viedoc TMF, Lena praises the way Viedoc listened and referred to the team at LINK Medical when they proposed the digital repository. The common goal was and is to digitize the documentation and archiving needed in clinical trials.
Viedoc and LINK Medical worked together on the proposal, with both parties contributing ideas to exactly how the eTMF should work and why. The developers were then able to take those ideas and turn them into specifications for the project, put it into production, and develop the eTMF, Claudia explained.
- It's a reflection of how Viedoc started off. It started with the industry—people that were working with paper files and wanted to find a solution. So, from the beginning, it's always been very tied to the user.
Working directly with clients allows Viedoc to understand their needs and what clinical trial research really requires. Since its inception, and as a former CRO, Viedoc has focused on providing solutions for clinical research professionals by clinical research professionals.
With the revolution in the way participants participate in clinical trials in the wake of the pandemic, it’s likely that people will be more open to participating in studies remotely. Lena predicts that the industry will become more digital, making it easier for long-distance studies or researching rare diseases.
Mario also believes that the new generation will create waves in the clinical trial business—with access to smartphones and better devices, the industry mindset is changing. New solutions like Viedoc Connect are being developed to help CROs reduce costs and streamline communication. Mario remarked:
- And I think everyone will benefit from that—both the customers and sponsors. But in the end, especially the patients. More devices will be connected to each other with higher speeds, allowing more data to be transferred. The possibilities are enormous. And more and more will become digitalized.
Claudia, too, is excited by the solutions that Viedoc is continuing to create and noted how the product, with an expanding range of add-ons, is becoming more sophisticated and catered to the users.
- Bringing back the users to the development is going to continue to contribute to the success of Viedoc.
Like LINK Medical, Viedoc aspires to expand, to support larger studies, and to stay relevant in a globalizing world. Positioning itself as a leading EDC system requires more than just adapting to the market. That’s why we spearhead the development of EDC technology—from the eTMF to Viedoc Logistics to Viedoc Me. Consider us the foundation for growth.
Listen to LINK Medical's team share their thoughts on their journey working with Viedoc over the years—watch the video below.
"What I like best about Viedoc is their approachable support and "can do" attitude. Their service has always been personal and reliable."