Why do pharmaceutical companies need so much video?

Pharma has more video use cases than almost any other industry. HCP (healthcare professional) education. Patient awareness campaigns. Sales rep training on new drug launches. Compliance and pharmacovigilance training. Medical science liaison content. Conference presentations. Internal leadership communications across global offices.

The challenge isn't demand for video - it's producing it fast enough within regulatory constraints. Every piece of content needs medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) review before it goes live. Traditional agency production takes 6-8 weeks per video. Add 2-4 weeks for compliance review. That's 10-12 weeks from brief to published video. By then, the conference is over or the launch window has passed.

What types of video do pharma companies produce?

HCP education and medical education

Short educational videos explaining mechanisms of action, clinical trial results, or treatment protocols. These are shared at conferences, through medical affairs teams, and on HCP-facing platforms. They need to be scientifically accurate and cleared by medical review.

Sales rep training and product launches

When a new drug launches, hundreds or thousands of reps need to understand the product, the clinical data, the competitive positioning, and the approved messaging. Video-based training modules deliver this consistently across every rep, regardless of region or timezone.

Compliance and pharmacovigilance training

Mandatory training on adverse event reporting, promotional guidelines, anti-bribery, and data privacy. These need to be documented, tracked, and updated when regulations change. Scenario-based compliance training videos get better retention than slide decks.

Patient stories and disease awareness

Real patient testimonials and disease awareness campaigns that humanize the condition and the treatment. These are sensitive productions - they require patient consent processes, careful scripting to stay within approved claims, and often MLR review.

Internal communications

CEO updates, R&D pipeline briefings, town halls, and change management communications. These are produced frequently (weekly or monthly) and need fast turnaround. A video maker built for internal comms handles this well.

How do you handle compliance review in video production?

The MLR review process is the bottleneck in pharma video production. Every claim, every visual, every subtitle needs to be reviewed and approved before publication.

The way to speed this up without cutting corners is to build compliance into the workflow:

Pre-approved templates. Your brand kit includes approved intros, disclaimers, fair balance statements, and ISI (Important Safety Information) formatting. These are locked into every edit so editors can't accidentally omit them.

Review and approval workflows. The production platform routes finished videos to your MLR team for review before publication. Reviewers comment directly on the video timeline. Editors make changes and resubmit. The approval trail is documented.

Version control. When a label update requires changing a safety statement, you update that specific section without re-producing the entire video. The platform retains all versions for audit purposes.

How does Shootsta work for pharma?

Shootsta works with pharmaceutical companies including CSL, Bayer, Mundipharma, Genentech, Abbott, and Elanco. The subscription model handles the volume that pharma needs - 10-50 videos per month across training, HCP education, internal comms, and conference content.

Your medical affairs and marketing teams film on their devices using guided prompts. Our editors deliver branded, compliant-ready video within 48 hours. Your MLR team reviews and approves through the platform before anything goes live.

Explore video for regulated industries, or see how our training video production handles compliance content at scale.