Clinical and commercial data integration in pharma

How a next-gen CRM can remove data silos to improve patient outcomes and enhance pharma operations

When the FDA approved IBRANCE for male breast cancer patients, it wasn’t a new clinical trial that sealed the deal—it was data. Real-world evidence from electronic health records (EHRs) and datasets across insurance, cancer research, and pharmaceutical sources was used to expand the drug’s use to include both men and women.

IBRANCE is a powerful example of how data sharing between commercial and clinical stakeholders can have a life-changing impact on people. Unfortunately, it’s still the exception, not the norm.

In the traditional pharma value chain, data remains siloed across R&D, clinical, manufacturing, sales, and marketing functions, blocking vital insights from flowing between functions. Industry leaders cite this fragmentation as the single biggest hurdle to scaling digital and analytics initiatives, with nearly half of industry executives saying that data silos undermine cross-functional efficiency.

To overcome these challenges, organizations must embrace a truly integrated data journey, using clinical insights to inform commercial operations and vice versa. A next-gen CRM platform, capable of integrating data from across the value chain, is central to this vision.

In this post, we explore how pharma companies can build a CRM strategy that doesn’t just capture insights from interactions, but connects them, linking clinical, commercial, and patient engagement data to accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs, and enhance patient-centric care.

Leveraging clinical trial data in the commercial stage

The expanded use of IBRANCE is an example of how commercial data has a role to play in clinical operations. However, the reverse is also true. Clinical data, often underutilized in functions like sales and marketing, can be used to drive personalized engagement strategies, inform market access decisions, and support more effective field force execution.

For example, clinical data from connected health platforms—like adherence and outcomes tracking—can inform tailored messaging for HCPs and marketing teams, aligning product positioning with real-world clinical needs and arming teams with evidence-based insights on efficacy and safety.

Likewise, the role of key opinion leaders (KOLs), typically engaged at the clinical stage, can be expanded to help disseminate this information through scientific publications, speaking engagements, and peer-to-peer interactions, reinforcing the effectiveness of treatments and their benefits to patients.

By fostering collaborative relationships with HCPs from the outset through a next-gen CRM, organizations can create a feedback loop that not only accelerates prescriber adoption but also ensures that educational initiatives and messaging remain aligned with real-world clinical needs.

Using commercial data to accelerate clinical research

On the other side of the value chain, commercial data sources—such as EHRs, insurance claims, and RWE—can influence and refine clinical operations, support market access, inform payer discussions, accelerate go-to-market strategies, strengthen regulatory alignment and define post-launch differentiation.

With the advent of advanced technologies, researchers may even be able to accelerate the trial process by simulating testing. For example, in a study for a rare cancer drug, researchers used EHR data to build a synthetic control group of patients with similar cancer types and stages who received standard care. This allowed the team to compare survival outcomes with patients receiving the new experimental drug without needing a placebo group.

Commercial insights can also help pinpoint high-performing sites and geographies with strong market potential. This can enable more strategic trial design and site selection, accelerating and strengthening this critical part of clinical operations.

8 key areas to leverage commercial data in clinical operations

A next-gen CRM platform: Unifying data to drive outcomes across the pharma value chain

Removing silos within the organization isn’t just about integrating systems—it’s about unifying data and connecting insights to enhance outcomes across the entire pharma lifecycle via a next-gen CRM. This ensures that clinical trial data, patient-reported outcomes, and safety data are consistently aligned with commercial messaging and value propositions, strengthening both regulatory submissions and market positioning.

While many pharma platforms offer clinical, commercial, and patient capabilities, they still operate in silos. Organizations must take steps to unify these elements via an advanced CRM strategy that enables secure data sharing, real-world evidence usage, and seamless collaboration across the value chain. By centralizing information flows and creating a foundation for data integration, a modern CRM supports compliance and engagement, while also driving broader business transformation.

AI and automation play a pivotal role in making data accessible between functional teams, as well as in automating interactions, handoffs and communications between them. For example, if an HCP has recently downloaded clinical trial data or attended a scientific webinar, an agentic AI assistant within the CRM may use that information to recommend when a sales rep should time outreach campaigns or PAC support. Conversely, if a patient flags a side effect in a connected health app, AI can automatically alert the corresponding HCP team in the next-gen CRM and trigger a follow-up action, improving pharmacovigilance and strengthening care continuity.

Taking the first step towards a next-gen CRM with Capgemini

The implementation of an integrated data strategy via a next-gen CRM delivers substantial benefits across the pharmaceutical value chain. Organizations can expect faster prescriber adoption, higher engagement rates among healthcare professionals, and a significant boost in field force efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, this approach drives improved marketing ROI and accelerates launch trajectories, while also reducing patient recruitment costs and shortening overall time-to-market.

By bringing together input from both clinical and commercial stakeholders, organizations can further amplify these benefits—crafting value propositions that are not only grounded in scientific rigor, but also resonate powerfully in the marketplace. This integrated approach ensures that strategies are compelling to payers, providers, and patients alike, laying the foundation for sustained success across the entire pharmaceutical landscape.

At the beginning of this post, we used IBRANCE as an example of what’s possible when commercial data is shared with clinical researchers. With an integrated data platform powered by AI and automation, that rare success story can become standard practice.

Does your company want to connect clinical and commercial data to drive faster approvals, deeper engagement, and better outcomes for all? Capgemini can help.

Contact our authors to learn how our team has helped pharma companies define next-gen CRM and AI strategies that enable effective data from clinical to commercial and back again.