Building visibility for a future pharma-tech leader

Communication + Life Sciences PR

How we built a decentralized newsroom for a young life sciences software company that later became part of Bertelsmann’s pharma-tech group.

Initial Situation

A young life sciences software company had emerged from a management buy-out within a larger European technology group.

Its solutions helped pharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities create, review, validate, and manage the extensive documentation required for the approval of medicinal products and crop protection products.

The business was entering the market at a pivotal moment: Pharmaceutical approvals were gradually moving from paper-based submissions to standardized electronic dossiers known as eCTDs.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) selected its review software to support the processing of electronic drug applications across Europe. The solution was subsequently also made available to pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to validate their dossiers before submitting them to the authorities.

Challenge

The company operated at the intersection of software development, pharmaceutical regulation, and public administration. Its products addressed highly specialized requirements and were difficult to explain to audiences outside the immediate regulatory community.

The young company therefore needed more than occasional press releases. It required the capabilities of a of a professional international press office that could:

translate complex technology into relevant business stories,
establish credibility among specialist journalists,
communicate consistently in German and English,
provide professional editorial and visual material, and
respond flexibly to new contracts, products, and regulatory developments.

Solution

viadoo established a decentralized Corporate Newsroom and assumed the role of the company’s external press office.

We first created the foundations for systematic media relations, including a press distribution list covering German and international pharmaceutical, life sciences, healthcare IT, and business media.

We then generated bilingual press releases and expert articles, provided an archive, corporate information, media contacts, and professional press images (IPTC standard).

Together with a specialized photographer, we developed a visual language that made the company’s otherwise abstract software solutions tangible.

Rather than describing software features alone, we communicated faster approval processes for new medicinal products.

Results

This way, management could communicate important milestones consistently across markets, while journalists received ready-to-use texts, images, background information, and expert contacts from one coordinated source.

The communications work helped position the business as a specialist contributing to the digitization and harmonization of pharmaceutical regulation.

The company grew into a leading provider of Regulatory Information Management solutions, serving around 1,000 customers in more than 65 countries, including over 35 regulatory authorities.

In 2025, the company became part of Bertelsmann’s newly established cormeo pharma-tech group, which combines specialist solutions for creating, managing, and distributing regulated life sciences information.

As we naturally take the confidentiality of our clients seriously, we anonymize our success stories. However, the cases are real.