Revolution Medicines Provides External Collaborators with Fast, Easy Access to Data

"Access control is crucial when working with multiple external partners. We can make sure a CRO can manage their own files and have access to the files they need to perform their tasks—and nothing more."

Wally Reiher

Chief Information Officer • Revolution Medicines

At Revolution Medicines, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, collaboration is key. As a medium-sized biotech organization whose internal workflows are augmented by a large virtual support system, they rely on a host of external partners to keep highly time-sensitive workflows running smoothly. If Revolution Medicines and their partners in both research and development are unable to communicate and share data effectively, operations can grind to a halt in a flash.

“With nearly 250 employees at the end of 2022, we are considered a medium-sized business” notes Wally Reiher, Chief Information Officer at Revolution Medicines. “Like many businesses our size in our space, our business model relies heavily on outsourcing. Collaboration is central to being able to do that effectively.”

Armed with Egnyte’s powerful content management system, Reiher and his team have accelerated and streamlined their collaboration both internally and externally, paving the way for smoother and faster workflows.

Challenge: Facilitate Collaboration Among a Complex Network

Revolution Medicines’ roster of external partners is broad in both number and variety. The company works closely with organizations specializing in critical functions across all aspects of research and development, including synthesis and screening, pre-clinical studies, and manufacturing.

“Orchestration of these many partnerships depends on efficient collaboration tools so our scientists can focus on their projects without distraction,” explains Reiher.

To facilitate this level of collaboration, Revolution Medicines needed a system that could:

• Store and organize copious amounts of data produced from a large-scale multifaceted collaborative platform
• Empower internal and external stakeholders to easily access data and collaborate in real time
• Ensure security by controlling access to the data at a highly granular level

“In a previous company, I implemented another solution for file storage and access,” says Reiher. “But my team ran into limitations with permissions management. To achieve the level of collaboration that we practice at Revolution Medicines, we would need something much more flexible.”

Solution: A Cloud File System That Breaks Down Collaboration Barriers

At the time Reiher joined Revolution Medicines, the company had just completed a meticulous vendor evaluation process leading to their selection of Egnyte for file management and sharing. Reiher oversaw the implementation process and was immediately impressed with how quickly the team was able to build an environment within Egnyte for their collaboration materials supporting a variety of research workflows, both internal and external, such as research plans, protocols, and reports. As the company matured, Egnyte was also used for a variety of other external collaboration workflows, including business development; supporting advisory boards; and academic collaborations.

“We entered partnerships with large companies where the alliance required a place to store all the files we’d be working on together, and it was agreed that we would do the hosting because we could implement the collaboration space more rapidly,” says Reiher. “Using Egnyte, we were able to build the necessary file infrastructure within a day. Dozens of individuals collaborating on an enormous volume of materials with controlled access rights – all set up in a matter of hours.”

Once setup was complete, these teams were able to manage their operations within Egnyte easily, efficiently, and securely. Highlights included:

• Permissions controls: Egnyte has provided the team with the ability to provision access to files based on user role and to control whether a user can modify a file, delete a file, or be limited to read-only access. “Access control is crucial when working with multiple external partners,” Reiher notes. “We can make sure a CRO can manage their own files and have access to the files they need to perform their tasks—and nothing more.”
• Simple and fast data migration: It was easy to import data from other systems into Egnyte and ensure data quality in transit. “Egnyte makes it really easy to import files from another repository such as an eTMF with fidelity,” says Reiher.
• File co-editing: Various stakeholders were able to collaborate on the same file simultaneously, with their edits registering in real time. “There was a lot of demand from our user base for concurrent editing,” says Reiher. “They absolutely had to have it.”

Benefits: Faster and Easier Workflows That Streamline Operations

Since their initial implementation, Revolution Medicines has significantly expanded their use of Egnyte, making the platform a fundamental vehicle for collaboration internally and with myriad partners. “We have over 200 controlled folders in Egnyte permissioned specifically for external collaborators and can govern access rights with the click of a button,” explains Reiher. “This has allowed us to provide needed access while maintaining the required control over our content. The end result is that everyone, both internally and externally, can collaborate effectively and securely.”

The team has also enjoyed downstream benefits from their rapid setup, easy data migration, and real-time collaboration. These time savers have put them in a strong position to maintain aggressive timelines while keeping collaboration secure and data quality high.

Throughout their experience, the team has been impressed with Egnyte’s customer support. “With a lot of companies, you’ll open a support ticket or send in a feature request, and never hear back about it, but we’ve always been able to count on Egnyte to quickly resolve any support needs we may have,” says Reiher. “I also appreciate that Egnyte continues to enhance their products.”

“It was a natural fit for us to go with Egnyte,” he adds “Folks have been really happy with this platform. We look forward to continuing this partnership.”