Mastering compliance and copyright in healthcare and MedComms

In a recent webinar, Marc McArdle, CLA Customer Success Manager, was joined by Jackie Marchington, Head of Compliance and Ethics at IPG Health Medical Communications, to discuss topics relating to the role of licensing, the implications of generative AI, and how the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence can streamline operations and support copyright compliance.

The CLA Pharmaceutical Licence: A vital resource for compliance

The CLA Pharmaceutical Licence is designed to facilitate the reuse of content from a wide range of published material while ensuring that organisations stay compliant with copyright laws. In the webinar, Marc McArdle, CLA Customer Success Manager, provides valuable insights into how the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence can help streamline operations and reduce copyright infringement:

“The Pharmaceutical Licence offers a huge array of benefits, most notably providing legal coverage for the reuse of a considerable amount of print, digital and web-based content. The permissions granted by the licence allow organisations to encourage their own employees to explore ideas and share creative solutions with each other.”

 

The CLA Licence offers broad coverage for many STM journals, enabling pharmaceutical and medcomms companies to reuse published articles and research in their work without the need to negotiate individual permissions each time. This convenience is particularly helpful for internal use, where documents are needed for research, education, or medical communications.

In an era when time and resources are of the essence, the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence provides a much-needed framework for efficiently reusing and sharing research materials while keeping the organisation compliant with copyright laws.

Collaboration and knowledge sharing

One of the key benefits of the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence is its ability to facilitate seamless collaboration across organisations and departments. The licence allows teams to easily share resources, such as research data and academic articles while ensuring compliance with copyright laws.

Jackie Marchington also noted the efficiency it brings: “The Collaboration Licence is absolutely essential, because you just couldn’t provide your supporting references and the veeva markups without it.”

 

By providing permissions to reuse licensed content, the CLA Licence enables agile collaboration both within organisations and with external partners, all while respecting copyright. It supports the exchange of knowledge in a compliant, efficient, and innovative way.

“This Collaboration Licence is actually available to all CLA Pharmaceutical Licence holders for no additional cost. External sharing for medical information, legal proceedings, regulatory submissions, and patent applications is also a massively important permission within the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence.” Marc added.

 

The role of training and education

Licensing and compliance are critical components of any pharmaceutical or medcomms company operations. One of the most effective ways to ensure proper use of licenced content is through ongoing training and education. Jackie Marchington stressed the importance of embedding compliance practices throughout an organisation.

“We have mandatory induction training. So, all new hires go through what we call Copyright 101, which does the kind of the basics of what copyright is, what it’s for, a little bit about the history, the fact that it’s different in every country, minor inconvenience, and then we go through the CLA Licence” Jackie shared.

 

By embedding a culture of compliance within the organisation, companies can reduce the risk of inadvertently infringing copyright. The CLA Pharmaceutical Licence plays a crucial role in this effort, providing a clear structure for how content can be reused legally.

“I push copyright training out quite widely, quite frequently, because it’s something I do thoroughly enjoy talking about” Jackie explained.

 

With the CLA Pharmaceutical Licence in place, pharmaceutical companies can significantly reduce the complexities involved in using published material. Coupled with comprehensive training, it ensures that everyone, from researchers to communicators, remains informed about the rules governing content use.

Striking a balance between AI and licensing compliance

As the use of AI tools continues to grow in the pharmaceutical sector, there is an increasing need for companies to balance the potential of these technologies with the importance of licensing and compliance. Jackie Marchington emphasised that this balance is essential to ensure both innovation and legal adherence.

Leveraging the CLA Licence for innovation and compliance

The CLA Pharmaceutical Licence has proven to be a crucial asset for companies navigating the complexities of intellectual property and copyright in the pharmaceutical and medcomms sector. It offers substantial benefits, including simplifying access to published research, ensuring compliance, and supporting internal knowledge-sharing.

The CLA Pharmaceutical Licence is not only a safeguard against legal challenges but also a tool that enables pharmaceutical and medcomms organisations to focus on their core missions—delivering impactful research and communications—without the burden of worrying about copyright infringement. By combining the benefits of the CLA Licence with thoughtful, responsible use of generative AI, the pharmaceutical sector can move forward confidently into the future while fostering innovation and respecting copyright law.