Case Study: Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. achieves sub-24-hour drug delivery and 3–4-hour approvals with Bonterra CyberGrants

Drug Delivery in Less Than 24 Hours: Accelerating Access During a Pandemic

Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. faced a sudden, massive surge in managed access requests during the COVID-19 pandemic as physicians sought urgent treatments for patients who had exhausted other options. To handle hundreds of incoming requests and ensure rapid delivery of potentially repurposed compounds, Novartis relied on an end-to-end managed access platform provided by Bonterra CyberGrants (the CyberGrants platform) accessed via a familiar web portal.

Bonterra CyberGrants delivered an agile workflow solution that Novartis configured with a COVID‑19–specific process, enabling micro-adjustments, streamlined contracting, and essential safety/outcomes data capture. The platform helped cut review and approval times from days to roughly 3–4 hours (reported reductions from five days to under five hours), with drugs shipping within 12–24 hours — supporting over 1,000 individual requests and helping an estimated 2,500+ patients access Novartis medicines in the first months of the crisis.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Paul Aliu

Head Global Governance Office, Chief Medical Office (CMO) at Novartis