Decommissioning GxP Systems: Lessons Learned from Leo Pharma & Idorsia

GxP data has to be kept for decades, but the systems that create it don’t last that long. Applications are replaced, retired or become too costly to maintain, while the data inside them still has to remain trustworthy and accessible for audits and inspections. 

The system may have an end date. The data often doesn’t. 

These two case studies look at that problem from different sides. LEO Pharma shows the organisational view: how to give long-term data a central home so that legacy applications can be retired. Idorsia shows the practical view: how to retire a GxP system without compromising the data. Together, they cover both the strategy and the method. 

LEO Pharma: a central archive for long-term GxP data

LEO Pharma had to retain GxP data for decades but had no dedicated enterprise archive. Departments had developed their own approaches, so records were spread across systems and locations, some of them in environments not validated for GxP. Legacy applications also couldn’t be retired, because they still held data needed for inspection. 

LEO Pharma implemented Arkivum to establish a central, GxP-validated archive. Retiring two redundant clinical applications saved more than the archive cost to implement, delivering ROI in less than 12 months. 

Read the full LEO Pharma case study 

Idorsia: retiring GxP systems without losing data integrity 

At our ArkFest conference, Jean-Maxime Pommery from Idorsia described how his team treats system retirement as a structured project rather than a shutdown. The approach has three phases: planning, execution, and a retirement report that documents every action taken. 

It also distinguishes between static data, which is usually straightforward to export and archive, and dynamic data, which may need the original software environment to stay readable. 

Read the full Idorsia case study 

Why read both 

If you’re deciding how to manage long-term data across your organisation, the LEO Pharma case study covers how the investment was justified and the governance put in place to support the archive as it grows. If you’re preparing to retire a specific system, the Idorsia case study covers the process in more detail, including the lessons learned and what to ask vendors at the selection stage. Preserving data for the long-term needs both: a place for the data to live, and a reliable process for getting it there.