Drug Approval with Zoho CRM for Pharma: A Marriage of Drug Approval Tracking with APIs
Overview
Drug approval workflows must be efficient in this high-speed pharmaceutical industry. The blog goes on to show developers how to build a robust drug approval tracking system with Zoho CRM and its API so that the pharma team remains compliant, organized, and audit-ready.
Why Zoho CRM for Pharma?
Pharmaceutical companies witness more complex approval cycles, involving various regulatory bodies, internal reviews, and checkpoints for clinical trials. Zoho CRM could stand as the central hub whereby companies can
Track drug application phases: preclinical, clinical, NDA, and post-marketing,
Automate approval follow-ups with reminders and email alerts,
Keep a single source of truth for all the documents submitted and reviewer comments. System Analysis
Modules Involved:
Drug Applications
Customised module incorporating fields such as Drug Name, Phase, Submission Date, Status and Assigned Reviewer.
Stakeholders
CRM users and contacts linked by Lookup fields.
API Integrations
External systems (clinical trials platforms, FDA update feeds, etc.) push data into CRM through REST APIs. Integration Strategy
1. Creating the Custom Module
Using Zoho CRM’s Developer Console: Module: Drug_Applications
Fields:
– Drug_Name (Text)
– Approval_Phase (Picklist)
– Submission_Date (Date)
– Approval_Status (Picklist)
– Regulatory_Comments (Multi-line) 2. API to Insert/Update Drug Records
Use the Zoho CRM API: POST /crm/v2/Drug_Applications
Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken xyz…
{
“data”: [
{
“Drug_Name”: “ABX-101”,
“Approval_Phase”: “Phase II”,
“Submission_Date”: “2025-06-25”,
“Approval_Status”: “Pending”
}
]
} 3. Automated Workflows
Set up workflows to:
· Trigger email alerts when a drug moves to a new phase.
· Create tasks for regulatory team follow-ups.
4. FDA Status Sync (Example with Webhook/API)
External FDA portal sends status updates: POST /update-drug-status
{
“drug_id”: “ABX-101”,
“new_status”: “Approved”,
“comments”: “Approved after Phase III trial.”
}
Advanced Use Case: Timeline View with Client Scripts
With Client Script and Widgets, one can create an interactive timeline within the drug application record that shows progress, documents uploaded, and approval decisions.
Benefits Delivered
Provides real-time status of drug portfolio.
Reduced manual tracking and compliance errors.
Smoother collaboration across R&D, Legal, and Regulatory Teams.
Conclusion
Zoho CRM is much more than an ordinary sales tool — it is an efficient platform for bespoke pharmaceutical workflows. By way of drug approval tracking integrated with APIs, the developers bring structure, automation, and intelligence to critical processes in the pharma industry.
