A global pharma company accelerates drug discovery

Modus Create partnered with a global pharma company and leader in neurological research to develop a platform that makes it easier for scientists to access and analyze complex biomedical data. Researchers can explore curated reports, visualize raw data, and collaborate more effectively, all while ensuring secure access within the company’s regulated environment. Built on AWS, the tool simplifies data analysis and helps accelerate drug discovery.

Our work involved

• Custom platform dev. for research data aggregation
• UX/UI design for intuitive data visualization
• Secure AWS infrastructure implementation
• Role-based access controls for compliance

Impact

Pharmaceutical companies generate massive amounts of research, but turning their data into actionable insights remains a major challenge. Scientists need to pull information from different sources, follow strict regulations, and share findings with teams who may not have a science background. If they can’t easily find and use the right data, important discoveries take longer, slowing down the development of life-saving therapies.

Neurological research is especially complex. Diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s involve many genetic and biological factors. The faster researchers can connect the dots, the sooner they can develop new treatments.

One global pharma company needed a better way to aggregate, analyze, and share its research data. Off-the-shelf tools weren’t flexible enough, so they turned to Modus Create to build a custom platform that helps their teams find insights faster and work together more effectively.

Challenge: Simplifying data access for breakthrough neurological research

The pharma company’s R&D divisions struggled with data fragmentation. Researchers were faced with scattered datasets from multiple sources, making it difficult to quickly access the information most relevant to them, and derive meaningful insights.

In addition, there was a huge communication gap between different stakeholders in the company. Findings needed to be presented intuitively, especially to those without a science or biology research background.

Finally, teams had to operate within a highly regulated pharmaceutical environment, requiring strict controls over data access and security. Navigating regulatory constraints while innovating was incredibly challenging.

To alleviate these challenges, the pharma company partnered with Modus Create, based on our successful collaboration with another customer in life sciences. Our expertise in custom software development, UX design, and data visualization ensured a tailor-made approach for the company’s teams.

Solution: Building a centralized platform for data-driven discovery

Working with the pharma company, we designed and developed a centralized digital platform for storing, synthesizing, and visualizing research data. Key features include:

• Curated reports: Subject matter experts generate curated reports organized into 40+ notebooks, each focused on a specific gene.
• Advanced visualizations: Raw data is translated into interactive visualizations tailored for decision-makers and non-specialist stakeholders, making it easier to gather insights.
• Integrated data sources: The system synthesizes insights from internal and external data sources, covering genetic insights, security assessments, and research findings.
• Secure, role-based access: Researchers, analysts, and decision-makers collaborate seamlessly within the company’s regulated IT environment with strict access controls.

AWS-powered reliability & scalability

To ensure a scalable and secure infrastructure, the platform was built with AWS, using:

• Infrastructure as code (IaC): AWS CloudFormation automates infrastructure deployment, ensuring consistency and reducing manual effort.
• Scalability with Kubernetes (EKS): The platform uses Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to efficiently manage and scale workloads as research needs grow.
• Robust access management: Microsoft Entra ID ensures strict governance over data access.
• Continuous monitoring: Amazon CloudWatch provides real-time monitoring and alerting, ensuring platform stability and performance.
• Automated data updates: Cron jobs periodically refresh datasets, ensuring researchers always have access to the latest insights.

Development & collaboration: An agile approach to innovation

The pharma company’s researchers and IT teams collaborated closely with Modus Create over a two-year period to build the platform, focusing on the following areas:

• Iterative prototyping:The development process involved continuous feedback loops, allowing the company’s scientists to refine UI/UX and ensure the platform met their specific needs.
• Custom visualization tools: The system included SQL-based data retrieval, markdown-based reporting, and automated updates to keep research teams informed of new discoveries. Custom visualizations range from custom bar and scatter charts to highly customized interactive organ graphics.
• Regulatory compliance: Modus Create worked within the company’s stringent IT policies, deploying solutions that aligned with industry regulations and security protocols.

Impact: Advancing drug discovery with data-driven insights

The platform has transformed how the pharma company approaches drug discovery. It has accelerated research workflows, and scientists can now access a single source of truth for all gene-related data, reducing time spent on aggregation.

It has also enhanced collaboration between teams and stakeholders. The platform bridges the gap between researchers and decision-makers, improving communication and alignment on drug development strategies. With its structured role-based access, teams can contribute findings and discuss research before publishing insights.

The AWS-powered foundation ensures the pharma company can continue expanding its research capabilities without performance bottlenecks, providing a scalable infrastructure for future innovation.

The collaboration between the pharma company and Modus Create continues to evolve, with ongoing enhancements to ensure the platform adapts to new research needs. With a secure digital infrastructure and a user-friendly interface, the company’s researchers are now better equipped to accelerate the discovery of groundbreaking therapies for neurological diseases.

Looking to accelerate innovation in life sciences? Contact us to see how we help pharmaceutical organizations turn complex data into scalable, compliant digital platforms.