Global biosimilars company selected IDBS Polar to manage laboratory data more efficiently and effectively across multiple development and analytical functions and hundreds of workflows
The challenge
To support its long‑term digital strategy, this global BioPharma company wanted to manage laboratory data more efficiently and effectively throughout the BioPharma lifecycle in support of its mission of accelerating access to high-quality, clinically proven, and cost-effective biosimilar medicines.
Prior to digitization, many of its researchers spent tens of hours per person per year printing and archiving lab records—non‑value‑add work that also increased paper consumption and storage needs. Manual recording and re‑keying of data from the scientists’ experimental work contributed to manual record transcription errors and subsequently, wasted time for rework and revalidation.
The selected solution was required to address the following key business requirements:
- Accelerate research and innovation
- Maximize return on investment through standardization and automation
- Ensure quality in R&D processes with robust data integrity and traceability
The solution
The IDBS Polar GxP-compliant SaaS informatics platform was chosen for its ability to meet the company’s business needs. Key benefits noted were Polar’s dynamic data handling, real-time highlighting of data errors at the point of capture and audit-by-exception capabilities, plus the unrivaled IDBS’ validation services support for IQ, OQ and automated PQ. All of these proved a strong ability to aid compliance with regulatory standards and helped Polar stand out from other solutions considered.
The rollout spanned >400 users across multiple sites and development and analytical functions. The team digitized >250 workflows with standardized workflow patterns, structured catalog‑mapped data and embedded calculations for improved consistency and reviewability. The program also established 350+ integration points, including ≈62 orchestrations across 358 instruments/systems, using IDBS integration points, open REST APIs and a validated connector‑based integration layer (Table 1).
Table 1: Instrument classes connected
| 358 instruments and systems across these classes feed Polar-orchestrated workflows: |
| Balances, pH & conductivity meters, osmometers, blood gas analyzers |
| Bio-layer interferometry |
| Bioreactors and associated process equipment |
| Capillary electrophoresis |
| Cell counter and cell culture analyzers |
| Chromatography data systems |
| Dynamic light scattering (DLS) |
| Endotoxin testing systems |
| Flow cytometers |
| Gel imagers |
| Liquid particle counters and micro-flow imaging |
| Microplate readers and plate imaging |
| Multi-angle light scattering (MALS) |
| PCR/qPCR systems |
| Surface plasmon resonance |
| Tangential-flow filtration (TFF) systems |
| UV-VIS protein quantification and protein characterization |
| Viscometers |
The outcome
Structured, guided digital execution in Polar was implemented to target the burden of manual data recording and correcting transcription errors. The Polar Insight app provided real‑time access to contextualized data—enabling trend analysis across experiments and assays and faster turnaround from capture to decision.
Key outcomes include:
- ~50% fewer incidents from manual record/transcription errors
- Time returned to science & positive sustainability impact: removing printing/archiving from daily execution eliminated tens of hours per researcher per year of non‑value‑added effort and reduced paper consumption
- Broad & rapid rollout: >400 licensed users across multiple development and analytical disciplines; with the internal team configuring >250 Polar workflows themselves in ~14 months, accelerating time‑to‑value
- Integrated lab data flow: 358 systems and instruments were integrated to feed contextualized data into Polar‑orchestrated workflows, supporting faster review, analytics and decision‑making
The IDBS difference
IDBS closely partnered with the customer on:
- Co‑development & knowledge transfer: training on workflow authoring, and the pairing of domain and platform experts with the customer’s builders accelerated design and validation and helped build long‑term self‑sufficiency
- Hands‑on enablement: on‑site workshops and bootcamps, systematic training, SSO setup, label printing configuration and environment migrations (DEV→QA→PROD) underpinned a rapid ramp with defined milestones and go‑live support
- Structured governance: joint working sessions, feedback cycles and pre‑go‑live betas ensured the platform supported day‑to‑day scientific practice from day one
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