Healthcare & Pharma: Trusted data to innovate and stay compliant

In France, advertising for medicines is subject to prior authorisation from the ANSM (the French medicines regulator) via a specific approval (“visa”): a GP visa for the general public and a PM visa for healthcare professionals. Only certain non-prescription medicines may be advertised to the public, and only under strict conditions.

Each promotional message must be consistent with the marketing authorisation (AMM), factual and unambiguous. This framework is designed to ensure information is reliable, tightly regulated and aligned with public health priorities.

Access to health information has grown significantly online. Patients and consumers now have many sources—specialist websites, institutional platforms and social media—which can foster greater autonomy, but also create risks: unverified information, misinformation, and confusion between scientific communication and promotional messaging.

In this context, manufacturers must guarantee the reliability, consistency and compliance of the information they publish. Rigorous product information management is essential to maintain patient and consumer trust and to meet the regulatory requirements of each country where products are marketed.

In France, online sales of medicines remain limited: only 838 pharmacies are currently authorised to do so, within a highly regulated framework (over-the-counter medicines only, via a website linked to a registered community pharmacy, with strict restrictions on promotion and advertising). By contrast, countries such as Germany and the Netherlands operate under more flexible rules for online supply, which has supported the growth of online pharmacies.

However, the digitalisation of the healthcare sector goes beyond medicines: skincare and personal care products, parapharmacy items, medical devices, food supplements, and more. These categories are not subject to the same restrictions and represent a major growth lever for industry players. To meet regulatory requirements, ensure consistent omnichannel delivery and speed up time-to-market for these products, robust data structuring and governance become critical priorities.

Nearly 50% of the French pharmaceutical industry’s turnover is generated through exports, reflecting its global reach. This international dimension brings stringent requirements: adapting to local regulations, ensuring customs compliance, and managing multilingual patient information leaflets, packaging and product information.

Whether you are launching medicines, medical devices, food supplements or parapharmacy products, bringing products to market in the healthcare and pharma sector follows strict processes that differ by category. Medicines and medical devices must go through demanding regulatory pathways (clinical trials, benefit–risk assessment, submission of dossiers to the ANSM, the EMA or the FDA, obtaining marketing authorisation (AMM) or CE marking, etc.).

For other products—skincare, cosmetics and health nutrition—specific requirements also apply, including labelling rules, tightly regulated claims, traceability obligations and compliance with relevant frameworks (MDR, INCI, DPP, etc.).

In all cases, the quality, completeness and traceability of regulatory data are essential to ensure compliance, secure product launches and meet the expectations of both authorities and consumers.