Fast, error-free reviews and optimized workflows

Manual checks couldn’t keep up with growing workload

Novo Nordisk is a world leader in diabetes care, with a portfolio including obesity and hemophilia care, growth hormone therapy, and more. In the early 2000s, proofreaders at Novo Nordisk realized they could no longer keep pace with the growing project volume.

Multi-step manual proofreading became unsustainable

The team was responsible for new and updated labeling and packaging for products sold in 170+ countries. This meant reviewing content in all major European languages, plus Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Russian, Thai and more.

At the time, the entire process was done manually. Team members printed out artwork and compared it to the original manuscript. This cycle had to be repeated after every error, making it hard to manage the growing volume of work.

Searching for a long-term automated content verification partner

To prevent recalls and improve the team’s efficiency, Novo Nordisk began looking for a reliable solution that could adapt to future internal changes.

After defining their requirements and evaluating tools available on the market, Novo Nordisk began using TVT in 2005.

Faster, error-free reviews and optimized processes

The Novo Nordisk team started using TVT for labeling and packaging materials and added new types of documentation later.

Immediate impact on review quality

The team quickly saw improvements in the review quality and overall productivity.

For example, TVT discovered a serious deviation in the artwork that had already been sent to print. In another project, it helped find a color reference that was no longer correct. 

Torben Hangler, Translation Coordinator for Novo Nordisk, explains: “The tablet colour of one product had been changed from blue to green. The image was green, but we picked up a legacy reference in the text to the word ‘blue’. This error had been overlooked.”

In addition to higher accuracy, the proofreading team was also able to handle significantly higher volumes of content checks.

“The return on investment was achieved within a few months,” says Peter Egvang, Senior Regulatory Intelligence Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Novo Nordisk, “since TVT not only dramatically reduced the high amount of manual proofreading work, but also accelerated and simplified the approval process of our packaging material.“

Expanding TVT usage beyond artwork checks

Initially, TVT had been used to proofread Word, PDF, and Adobe Illustrator files for product labeling and packaging.

Graphic designers relied on TVT annotations to communicate the intended changes. TVT reports are still used to make sure that every change goes through TVT.

TVT is also used to verify final text in approved submissions for changes, across both Word documents and in PDFs received from European health authorities. In one case, an authority had not been using track changes, but notified the company that 3 sections had been removed. With TVT, Novo Nordisk was able to find those changes.

Training users globally and shaping new features

Over time, Novo Nordisk has expanded TVT usage to affiliates in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. The company also became a true partner in developing new TVT capabilities.

Super users for company-specific user support

Torben Hangler, who had been working together with Schlafender Hase from the earliest days of implementation, became Novo Nordisk’s first TVT super user, after receiving an extensive in-person training.

He went on to support the graphics and RA teams, helping them quickly apply TVT in typical projects. For global companies with large teams, having super users alongside e-learning trainings is essential for quick rollout and adoption.

Today, Novo Nordisk has several super users to answer questions related to TVT. When needed, the Schlafender Hase team provides additional support.

Over the years, the companies have built a relationship that goes beyond tech support. Torben Hangler also became one of beta testers for new TVT releases, helping shape new features for all TVT users.

Novo Nordisk feedback helps build a stronger product for all customers

Schlafender Hase has also been working with the Novo Nordisk team on solving their internal challenges that later informed new features.

One example is the picture overlay feature that was built to help the team transfer packaging and leaflet template files from QuarkXPress to Adobe InDesign.

Schlafender Hase and Novo Nordisk worked closely together on making it possible to automatically check every template for deviations. This functionality became a part of the TVT 8.0 release.

“Our working relationship has been excellent,” says Hangler. “Schlafender Hase listens and understands our needs, building the results of our work together into future versions. A true partnership has developed over the years, with knowledge and experience flowing both ways – we’re often asked our views on possible new features during the development of future versions.“