Healthcare, Product Site

The challenges

Medical products are governed by different rules. Some require a prescription. Others can be sold over the counter. 

There was no dedicated product website. Information was either missing, scattered across broader platforms or forced into generic templates that weren’t suited to product-specific needs. It was difficult to present clear and accurate content. 

Updates took more time than necessary, especially when different audiences such as patients and healthcare professionals required separate messaging. Without a proper structure, teams struggled with consistency, control and timely delivery.

Regulatory frameworks such as FDA 21 CFR Part 11, the EU Pharmacovigilance Directive, and the ABPI Code of Practice set clear expectations for how content is reviewed. Promotional content may reach the wrong audience. Outdated claims may remain live. Audit logs can become harder to interpret when tracking multiple products or regions through a single system.

Enterprise CMS platforms can technically support multiple products, but complexity increases quickly. As the number of products, markets, and teams grows, so does the friction.

The approach

The team identified the need for dedicated product websites that could house product-specific content and operate independently from the broader portfolio. A dedicated microsite was planned to separate workflows by product and market, aligning more closely with how medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) processes operate.

The structure was mapped to support market-specific approvals and audience-level controls. Routing logic was designed to keep patient and healthcare professional content separated.

To reduce duplication and manual effort, a component-based design system was planned from the outset. Approved elements could be reused across pages while maintaining consistency and control.

Editorial, legal, and regulatory teams were assigned scoped roles tied to specific responsibilities. This setup gave each team clarity on what they could review or manage, minimising overlap during the approval process.

The overall approach focused on aligning publishing structure with internal regulatory workflows while giving each product its own controlled space within a broader system.

The solution

All product websites were brought onto a single platform. This cut down costs, made feature development more efficient and improved consistency across brands. A shared codebase and unified infrastructure meant less duplication, better governance and easier maintenance. Microsites were used to keep each product separate where it mattered, without losing the benefits of a centralised system.

1. Review cycles scoped to the product

Medical, legal, and regulatory teams work in focused review tracks. Microsites help prevent overlapping cycles by isolating reviews to a single product and limiting dependencies across teams.

2. Market- and audience-specific access

Content is routed by geography, language, and user type. Healthcare professional material remains gated. Country-specific versions can be managed independently.

3. Version control and audit trails

Each product site maintains its record of changes, approvals, and published content. Regulatory teams can review history without filtering through unrelated material.

4. Scoped permissions

User roles are assigned at the product level. Each market team has access only to what it needs to manage, review, or approve. This reduces the risk of error and shortens review times.

The outcome

The publishing system affects launch timing, regulatory response, review capacity, and cost. When product lines expand, the gaps in shared platforms become harder to manage. Teams wait for each other. Review cycles overlap. Visibility into what’s live and approved becomes harder to maintain.

From our experience building microsites for regulated content, assigning each product its own space allows it to move on its own track without waiting for others. Review and publishing cycles become more predictable across regions.

Wherever a product is launched, the structure stays consistent. The site meets local market and regulatory expectations from day one and can be updated without affecting unrelated teams.

Microsites work across product types and regulatory environments. They support country-specific claims, parallel campaign launches, product-level audit logs, pharmacovigilance (PV) updates, and versioned releases tied to local approvals.

They don’t operate in isolation. Microsites connect to existing systems such as:

• CRM tools for customer and HCP engagement
• Analytics and tag managers for monitoring usage

This gives product teams the control they need to publish accurately and on time, while central teams retain oversight where required.

Microsites also support local market ownership. Country teams manage their version of a product site. Rollouts can be staggered based on local approval timelines without blocking other launches.

Shared enterprise CMS platforms still have a place. They support asset libraries and central access. But for regulated publishing, microsites provide the structure needed to reduce delays, meet compliance requirements, and support cross-market delivery.