Life sciences translation, or translating any life sciences text for that matter, is nothing like translating a literary work or an operating manual for a dishwasher. Unlike these examples, this highly technical type of translation must pass through an extremely rigorous process in order to ensure accuracy and quality. As pharma companies that have expanded into international markets well know, the need for pharma translation can arise at any stage: R&D, clinical trials, regulatory submission, manufacturing, or even sales and marketing. Let’s take a look at the important role that translation services play at each stage.
Life Sciences | Pharma Translation and Developing New Drugs
The need for pharmaceutical translation services is evident in every stage of drug creation. During the Research and Development stage, it’s often necessary to read and understand relevant documents including patents, reports, and scientific publications. These documents often require translation as they are most frequently in German and Japanese.
For these types of texts, translators must have a solid background in the specific field they are translating for, as well as knowledge of the terminology of both the target and source languages. Despite the fact that automated translation is relatively quick and yields a basic understanding of the material, it usually doesn’t produce accurate results. This is because machine translation often misses the subtle cultural and linguistic differences that exist between different populations that speak a different or even the same language – something that can be disastrous or a hindrance to market in many instances of drug research. This brings us to the next stage of drug development for which accurate pharma translation is absolutely essential.
Life Sciences | Outsourcing Pharma
At any given time, more than 300 clinical trials are taking place, often in multiple countries. Therefore it is not surprising that clinical research translation is highly demanded. Case Report Forms (CRFs), Informed Consent Forms (ICFs), Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), and various other regulatory documents must be translated between multiple languages. Inaccuracies in translating these documents may not only cause delays in the commencement of clinical research projects, but can compromise patients participating in the study. Full linguistic validation, a rigorous multistage process, is also necessary when translating patient questionnaires and other such documents. It is important to work with a translation company that relies on well-structured methodologies.
Companies that seek approval for their products in global markets must submit dossiers, labeling, and other relevant clinical trial documents to the appropriate regulatory authorities. In addition to the countries of the European Union (encompassing 24 official languages), emerging countries such as Brazil (requiring Brazilian Portuguese translation), Russia (Russian translation), India (translation for over 12 official languages on the national level alone), and China (Simplified Chinese translation), have become increasingly important markets, thereby increasing the demand for pharma translation regarding regulatory documents into these languages. It is important to note that because there is no unified system, translators must have a knowledge of each country’s requirements.
Companies that manufacture products overseas must translate health and safety manuals, as well as manufacturing standard operating procedures (SOPs), into the local language(s), depending on where their facilities are located. Translated manuals must conform to local labor laws, safety regulations, customs, and cultural sensitivities. During on-site inspections, the presence of a language interpreter may be helpful in preventing misunderstandings given that many employees may not be fluent in a language other than their own. Clarity when communicating can be difficult without a cross-cultural ambassador. Problems with production, meeting deadlines and other issues need to be addressed in such a way that the linguistic and cultural gaps are overcome successfully. This brings us to the final stage of drug development: expansion into global markets.
Life Sciences | Succeeding in Global Markets
To effectively market bio-pharmaceuticals overseas, companies must also localize products. Product websites, brochures, and promotional materials must be translated and localized with an awareness of cultural sensitivities and health issues, as well as of local dialects. Let’s take Spanish as an example: not only is the Spanish spoken in Spain different from Mexican Spanish, but Mexican Spanish also differs from the Spanish spoken in Argentina. In fact, regional variations of spoken Spanish exist throughout Latin America, and even within each country, there are unique influences from dominant indigenous languages. Although these differences should be taken into consideration during all stages of drug development, when it comes to marketing, promotional materials can either be highly effective or negatively impact sales within the target population they would best serve.
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
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