Semantic Search
Why Keyword Search Fails in Clinical Research
Keyword search has been the default information retrieval tool in clinical research for thirty years. It is also systematically misaligned with how clinical knowledge is actually structured — producing missed evidence, redundant literature reviews, and dangerously incomplete adverse event searches.
Semantic Search
Building a Semantic Search Layer Over Your Document Repository
Most pharmaceutical document repositories — SharePoint, Documentum, Veeva — provide basic keyword search as their only discovery mechanism. Adding an ontology-driven semantic search layer on top of existing infrastructure, without replacing it, is achievable in months and delivers immediate discoverability improvements.
Semantic Search
Vector Embeddings vs. Ontology-Driven Search: A Comparative Analysis
Dense vector embeddings from transformer models and ontology-driven concept expansion are both marketed as 'semantic search'. They have fundamentally different strengths, failure modes, and suitability for regulated applications. The best production systems combine both.
Semantic Search
Federated Semantic Search Across Distributed Clinical Databases
Clinical research consortia, multi-site pharmacovigilance networks, and cross-company data sharing agreements all require search that operates across databases that cannot be centralised. Federated semantic search achieves this without moving data — using shared ontologies as the common query language.
Semantic Search
How Semantic Search Reduces Literature Review Time in Drug Development
Systematic literature reviews for drug development programmes typically take six to eighteen months and consume significant expert time. Ontology-driven search substantially compresses the initial evidence retrieval phase — not by cutting corners, but by ensuring that the first search is comprehensive enough that repeated re-runs become unnecessary.
Semantic Search
Faceted Ontology-Driven Search for Regulatory Documents
Regulatory affairs teams spend considerable time locating precedent in prior submissions, guidance documents, and agency correspondence. Faceted search — combining ontological concept filtering with metadata facets such as therapeutic area, submission type, and jurisdiction — dramatically reduces document discovery time.