Call it the United Nations of Veeva OpenData

The biggest number we’ve seen yet for a global database of healthcare providers (HCPs)—over 19 million—is now available for clients of Veeva’s OpenData service, according to the company. The list, which starts with Armenia and ends with Uzbekistan, includes essentially all of North America (Mexico will come online this year), western Europe, Japan, China and leading markets in the rest of the world. There are other global data providers—at last count, the IMS Health OneKey service was over 14 million HCPs, and that was before IMS purchased Cegedim Relationship Management, originator of OneKey, in 2015. Both IMS and Veeva have been investing in new capabilities in customer master-data management. And there are many such providers, in the US and elsewhere, for national databases.

Veeva is touting better commercial terms for OpenData as well. “For too long, sales and marketing have been forced to purchase the same data multiple times across teams and departments,” said Jim Cushman, SVP and GM of Veeva OpenData, in a statement. “It’s our aim to put an end to these exploitative practices. Companies purchase Veeva OpenData just once and get comprehensive customer data, with consistent quality, to use how and where they need it, without restrictions.”

Customer MDM databases have risen in importance as transparency rules (such as the US’ Physicians Sunshine Act) have been imposed in much of the developed world, requiring pharma companies to report expenditures by them on individual physicians; of equal if not more value is the evolving capability of tracking physicians by their business and professional affiliations and their online content-consumption habits.