News
Livelink Streamlines Genzyme's Business Processes and Supports FDA Compliance
Open Text's Livelink: A Genzyme Standard Since 1995
Chicago, IL - 2002-11-13 - Open Text™ Corporation (Nasdaq: OTEX, TSX: OTC), provider of Livelink®, the leading collaboration and knowledge management software for the global enterprise, today announced that Genzyme Corporation, one of the largest and most well-established biotechnology companies in the world, relies on Livelink as its designated knowledge management, electronic records and collaboration standard.
"Livelink is becoming a fundamental part of the way we work at Genzyme. Developing innovative treatments directly affects the quality of people's lives, so time to market is always foremost in our minds in the pharmaceutical industry," said Fran Ross, Contract Associate, Genzyme. "Having key information immediately accessible via Livelink improves our efficiency and productivity, enabling us to fulfill the commitment we've made to patients that much sooner."
Genzyme's Regulatory Affairs began using Livelink in 1995 and has since expanded its roll out by request to various departments. In 2000, the Biomedical and Regulatory Affairs (BMRA) group at Genzyme formed a Knowledge Management team mandated with implementing and further expanding Livelink's usage.
Leveraging Livelink's high scalability, the company has doubled its users in order to manage the rapid increase in both employees and the number of research projects underway. Within BMRA, there are more than 20 separate project teams operating simultaneously, each focused on a different investigational or marketed drug or device. Livelink project areas provide the ideal online environment for these teams to post meeting minutes, project documents, templates, and forms, preventing reinvention of the wheel to improve efficiency and speed time to market.
Superior security features enable Genzyme to use Livelink as its central electronic library. With appropriate permissions, Genzyme employees around the world may access:
Genzyme is currently developing Livelink workflows to automate and standardize business processes across the organization. Plans are also being considered for implementing Livelink eSign to improve efficiency and speed approval processes. Meeting the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 rules, Livelink eSign gives regulated organizations an electronic process for managing legally binding e-signatures across a large enterprise.
"Livelink is becoming a fundamental part of the way we work at Genzyme. Developing innovative treatments directly affects the quality of people's lives, so time to market is always foremost in our minds in the pharmaceutical industry," said Fran Ross, Contract Associate, Genzyme. "Having key information immediately accessible via Livelink improves our efficiency and productivity, enabling us to fulfill the commitment we've made to patients that much sooner."
Genzyme's Regulatory Affairs began using Livelink in 1995 and has since expanded its roll out by request to various departments. In 2000, the Biomedical and Regulatory Affairs (BMRA) group at Genzyme formed a Knowledge Management team mandated with implementing and further expanding Livelink's usage.
Leveraging Livelink's high scalability, the company has doubled its users in order to manage the rapid increase in both employees and the number of research projects underway. Within BMRA, there are more than 20 separate project teams operating simultaneously, each focused on a different investigational or marketed drug or device. Livelink project areas provide the ideal online environment for these teams to post meeting minutes, project documents, templates, and forms, preventing reinvention of the wheel to improve efficiency and speed time to market.
Superior security features enable Genzyme to use Livelink as its central electronic library. With appropriate permissions, Genzyme employees around the world may access:
- Regulatory submissions, correspondence and filings – Livelink's document management capabilities support Genzyme's compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) mandate for electronic records requirements.
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and manufacturing documentation – promotes quality processes across the organization.
- Global development plans – engineering and project related documents for the construction of new factories are made accessible to project participants.
Genzyme is currently developing Livelink workflows to automate and standardize business processes across the organization. Plans are also being considered for implementing Livelink eSign to improve efficiency and speed approval processes. Meeting the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 rules, Livelink eSign gives regulated organizations an electronic process for managing legally binding e-signatures across a large enterprise.
About Livelink
Livelink is the leader in collaboration and knowledge management for the global enterprise. Its richly-featured enterprise services include virtual team collaboration, business process automation, enterprise group scheduling and information retrieval services, all tightly integrated into a solution that is easily customized and extended. Livelink is essential to the effective management and development of communities of interest that span organizations and industries. For everything from the creation of complex e-community relationships to the automation of simple e-business processes, Livelink delivers true dynamic collaboration between individuals, organizations and large trading communities. Livelink servers are fully Web-based and open-architected to ensure rapid deployment and easy access to its full functionality through a standard Web browser. For more information, visit www.opentext.com/livelink/.
About Genzyme
Founded in 1981, Genzyme today is one of the largest and most well established biotechnology companies in the world. With more than 25 major products and services marketed in over 60 countries, Genzyme is a global leader in the effort to develop and apply the most advanced capabilities in biotechnology to address a range of unmet medical needs.
With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Genzyme has approximately 5,500 employees working in 40 countries and annual revenues of more than $1 billion. Under the umbrella of Genzyme Corporation, the company is divided into three divisions, Genzyme Biosurgery (Nasdaq: GZBX), Genzyme General (Nasdaq: GENZ), and Genzyme Molecular Oncology (Nasdaq: GZMO).
About Open Text
Since 1991, Open Text Corporation has delivered innovative software that brings people together to share knowledge, achieve excellence, deliver innovation, and enhance processes. Its legacy of innovation began with the successful deployment of the world’s first search engine technology for the Internet. Today, as the leading global supplier of collaboration and knowledge management software for the enterprise, Open Text supports six million seats across 4,500 corporations in 31 countries and 12 languages throughout the world. As a publicly traded company, Open Text manages and maximizes its resources and relationships to ensure the success of great minds working together. For more information, visit www.opentext.com.
Trademark
Copyright © 2002 by Open Text Corporation. LIVELINK, LIVELINK MEETINGZONE, and OPEN TEXT are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Text Corporation in the United States of America, Canada, the European Union and/or other countries. This list of trademarks is not exhaustive. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names, company names, brands and service names mentioned herein are property of Open Text Corporation or other respective owners.
Release Disclaimer
This news release may contain forward-looking statements relating to the deployment of Livelink and Livelink MeetingZone by customers, and future performance of Open Text Corporation. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks involved in the completion and integration of acquisitions, the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with deployments, the continuous commitment of the Company's customers and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the final prospectus for the Company's initial public offering of common stock in January 1996, Form 10-K for the years ended June 30, 1998, June 30, 1999, June 30, 2000, and June 30, 2001, and Form 10-Q for the quarters ended September 30, 2001, December 31, 2001 and March 31, 2002. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and opinions at the time the statements are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligations to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's beliefs or opinions change.
For more information, please contact
Margaret E. Dobbin
Director, Industry Analyst Relations
Open Text Corporation
+1-519-888-7111 ext.2410
mdobbin@opentext.com
Director, Industry Analyst Relations
Open Text Corporation
+1-519-888-7111 ext.2410
mdobbin@opentext.com

