Veeva Archives - disrupting.healthcare

Eight years of lawsuits. Zero damages paid. And now, a partnership.

After nearly a decade of courtroom brawls, Veeva and IQVIA have finally ended their long-running legal dispute. On 18 August 2025, the rivals dismissed all claims with prejudice (read: permanently), and instead signed multi-year agreements to integrate their data and software platforms

From Courtroom Drama to Cooperation

2017: IQVIA sued Veeva for alleged trade secret theft and data misuse [IQVIA vs Veeva case filing].
Veeva countered, accusing IQVIA of antitrust abuses and blocking customer data access ([Veeva statement].
Years of litigation followed, with motions, sanctions, and counterclaims clogging US federal courts.

Fast forward to 2025: instead of exchanging damages, both firms agreed to exchange data. All lawsuits are dropped, no money changes hands (beyond Veeva’s $31m legal bill under outcome-based fees, and the rivalry shifts from courtroom to boardroom.

The Resolution: What’s in the Deal?

The truce is more than symbolic, it’s operational:

Third-Party Access (TPA): IQVIA’s data can now flow into Veeva platforms (Network, Nitro, AI), while Veeva’s data is unlocked for IQVIA.
Clinical Collaboration: IQVIA joins the Veeva Clinical Data Partner program, plugging into Veeva’s Clinical Suite (EDC, SiteVault, etc.) for faster trial builds and smoother data delivery.
AI & Tech Integration: IQVIA signs onto Veeva’s Technology, AI, and Services Partner Programs.

Translation: instead of duplicating systems and blocking interoperability, both firms now enable cross-platform data use exactly as biopharma customers (and regulators) have been demanding.

Why It Matters for Europe

European life sciences has long struggled with fragmented data flows across GDPR-guarded patient datasets, MDR/IVDR compliance, and DiGA-like digital health pathways.

This resolution is strategically significant because:

Interoperability accelerates adoption: Pharma won’t need to choose between data suppliers—systems finally talk to each other.
Clinical trials speed up: CROs and sponsors can cut timelines by integrating EDC and analytics directly.
Commercialisation gains efficiency: Omnichannel marketing becomes more data-driven when IQVIA real-world data meets Veeva’s CRM and AI.

Eight years of legal warfare ended not with a knockout, but a handshake. The life sciences sector gets what it wanted all along: a functioning data ecosystem where Veeva and IQVIA finally play on the same team.

And if you’re tracking commercialisation playbooks, revisit our piece on omnichannel pharma and medtech strategy; this deal just made the data plumbing a lot easier!

This content has been enhanced with GenAI.

Gartner Cool Vendors in Life Sciences report may be a good predictor of what will be a hot topic in pharma. But what Gartner Cool Vendors in Life Sciences 2014 really do? Is it really worth to jump the bandwagon right away?

Why Gartner Cool Vendors in Life Sciences and similar reports are important?

The mode of action is simple, consultants from Gartner and other agencies are basing on similar rankings with their sales pitches. As Richard Meyer points out, pharma marketing insiders are not the best breed.
If the sales pitch sounds good and has a supporting proof in an expensive research report, your average pharma marketer will swallow it like a hungry pelican. In the effect, any company mentioned by big consultancy has a chance to gain market and its product may be listed as a rising trend for the year to come. Regardless of the value generated for business. While you look into the Gartner Cool Vendors 2014 list, you may guess what it will be about this time.

Gartner Cool Vendors in Life Sciences 2014

Blueprint Clinical

Blueprint Clinical is an U.S.-based monitoring technology company founded in 2012. It’s team has a profound experience in healthcare, and especially in clinical trials. Courtney McBean, CEO of Blueprint Clinical, has over 15 years of experience in research and medical devices business.
The main product of Blueprint Clinical is web-based product called Blueprint Compass for risk-based statistical monitoring of the study performance. It provides real-time monitoring of site performance, focusing on metrics critical for the study and with possibility to assign targeted actions to relevant performance indicators.
R&D and Clinical Research is obviously the huge chunk of pharma spending, and risk-based monitoring as such is required by FDA. Does Blueprint Clinical answers the need for that well, it is hard to assess. So far the company provides its service together with consulting service, which means that it is rather customized offer than a mature, standard service.

Liquid Grids

This one is, to be honest, a very surprising choice. Liquid Grids, a Gartner Cool Vendor in Life Sciences 2014 is PaaS solution for social media monitoring and engagement (well, they call it a “precision marketing”). Started in 2010, Liquid Grids positions itself as dedicated to health care industry. It claims that it offers “direct to patient” marketing. The problem is that from the global perspective it means a clear no go.
Pharmaceutical marketing directly to consumer is allowed only in specific markets, specifically the United States and New Zealand. What is more, from European perspective any attempt to obtain personal data and target communication to the patient without direct consent is clearly illegal.
It may be a cool vendor for Gartner, but for any pharma marketer outside of U.S. working with Liquid Grids may end with a very cold shower from your legal team (or even worse from the regulatory agency). Let us be clear, for pharma digital marketers it is extremely hard to implement even social media monitoring for product related keywords, as there is a constant awareness of drug safety obligations.

Ontoforce

Ontoforce is one of the big data vendors. Founded in 2011 company from Belgium as its main product offers a semantic search engine disQover.
Clearly, making the tons of data we have gathered in pharma searchable in a contextual way that allows discovery of unknown connections is something that may change the paradigm of research. While we are sceptical about replacing scientific method with brute force statistics on big amounts of data, there is a potential there to find new insights. On the other hand, even if Ontoforce is really Cool Vendor, the competition in this field is very strong

Pitcher

Pitcher is another surprising choice. eDetailing is obviously a big trend, but Pitcher is not the only one in its field. We can easily name strong contenders (or even leaders) with similar feature set. Veeva, Agnitio, Showpad and Cegedim are all offering the same service as Pitcher. We love disruptive startup companies entering digital marketing space in healthcare, but Pitcher has yet to prove its coolness.

Scigilian Software

Scigilian is a cloud-based software platform for managing logistics of Pharma R&D. At K-message we are specialized in digital marketing, and we cannot assess this tool capability, but the sales pitch sounds very well. Normally we could build an ERP or LIMS system for such purpose, but the solution would never be ideal. ERPs are too complex and hardly customizable, and LIMS would not cope with the complexity. The solution is to build your own software, or… ask Scigilian. Being outside of the lab, we really like the idea.
As you may see not all of the Gartner Cool Vendors in Life Sciences 2014 are cool enough to make us excited. The trends are clear, however. In pharma marketing the focus is on e-detailing, CLM and Social Media Management. In R&D hot topics are big data, clinical research support and logistics for labs.
Be prepared, consultants are coming!