A Case Study: Expertise in Advanced Literature Search Strategies Using Bioactivity Databases
Our highly skilled Scientific Communications team of healthcare professionals leveraged their collected knowledge to meet our client’s unique standard response and literature database needs.
Read our case study below for more information.
Advanced Literature Search Strategies Using Bioactivity Databases
A global biotech client needed support from Med Communications to add a curated database of public bioactivity data to a new standard response document.
Background
Client: During the development of a standard response document, a global biopharmaceutical client requested inclusion of a table listing bioactivity data for a multitude of drugs with different receptor binding affinities.
A specialized team of highly skilled medical writers with expertise in preclinical research, advanced medical literature search strategies, and development of standard response documents was selected for this project. Med Communications was able to deliver a high-quality document that met the client’s specifications by expanding the literature search strategy to include curated public bioactivity databases.
Challenge
Content used in the development of standard response documents is often sourced from bibliographic databases such as Embase and PubMed that focus on clinical trial data and post-approval studies. However, bioactivity data are typically found in preclinical research. Furthermore, published data often refers to the same molecule with various identifiers (chemical names, acronyms, code names, etc.), which can differ across manuscripts as the common drug name is not assigned until much later in the clinical research phase. While it is possible to obtain this information through a standard literature search, it is often a time-consuming process due to the myriad of potential search terms and extensive review required to identify relevant manuscripts. This complexity can hinder the quality of scientific content deliverables and jeopardize project timelines.
Solution
Med Communications’ strategic inclusion of medical writers with preclinical research experience allowed for the broadening of the literature search to encompass bioactivity databases. Curated by experts, these databases compile bioactivity data of published molecules, assigning each one a unique identifier that links to any future designations. The database retrieves all related publications with a search of single designations, such as chemical structure or formula, and allows for sorting and filtering by target, organism, and activity type. This strategy resulted in a more comprehensive search that addressed the full scope of the client’s inclusion criteria. Our team was able to deliver a high-quality standard response document that included the client’s unique request.
Business Impact
For over 25 years, Med Communications has cultivated a versatile scientific communications development team capable of addressing uncommon requests from our Medical Affairs partners with creativity and efficiency. The diversity of talent and expertise in our teams not only enhances our ability to produce high quality scientific content deliverables, but also solidifies Med Communications’ position as an invaluable Medical Affairs partner.