When Claire Riches joined Norstella in February 2024, she brought with her more than three decades of experience in clinical operations and development across pharma, biotech, and CROs. Today, as vice president of clinical solutions and GTM strategy, she oversees solution consulting teams across Citeline, guiding them in creating bespoke and off-the-shelf clinical solutions that meet the diverse needs of customers.
“When our customers and sales team need support, we’re able to do that,” she says. “The creation potential is limitless.”
Her role is as much about shaping product strategy as it is about enabling internal teams.
“When the product team has something coming down the pipeline, we make sure the voice of the customer is infused in the product and in how we market it,” she says.
Increasingly, her work also involves delivering custom services for clients who don’t necessarily want to purchase a product but need tailored solutions.
Getting Her Start
Claire’s journey into pharma began in 1994, fresh out of Newcastle University with a biomedical science degree. Pfizer had just discovered the now-legendary side effects of a drug in development—leading to Viagra—and was hiring graduates to help launch rapid clinical trials.
“I ended up having a really cool year at Pfizer, understanding the whole clinical trial process, and then stayed to support some of their cardiovascular programs,” she recalls. “I was totally ready to go into pharma, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Big Data
Her move to Norstella was driven by a growing recognition of the power of data and AI in drug development.
“It was the advent of big data moving to insights and outcome prediction,” she says. “I knew the writing on the wall was all about data and AI finally in the industry…I’m all in. You’ve got how much data? I want in on that.”
That data-driven focus is central to her day-to-day. Claire remains closely engaged with clients to “keep my ear to the ground, my finger on the pulse of what the industry’s doing”, while staying ahead of trends such as the recent overhaul of ICH GCP guidelines. She sees these updates—centered on risk assessment and proportionality—as a major step forward.
“With the amount of data we have, we can craft highly powerful solutions to help our customers avoid those big pitfalls when the study is up and running,” she explains.
Recent projects include the February 2025 upgrade of Trialtrove and Sitetrove Plus, long-standing industry staples.
“Customers love that it’s built on this trusted core, but now we’re infusing proprietary performance and real-world data… making two different worlds really collide,” she says.
Another standout is Norstella’s Patient Match offering, designed to connect highly specific patient populations with the right trials at the right time—crucial in an era when “almost every study these days has such a unique patient population that recruitment needs to be tackled as if it is a rare disease study.”
Her biggest professional lesson at Norstella? Transparency.
“We thought customers would just know these products were amazing,” she says. “But they want to see under the hood. It’s like a math test—72 might be the right answer, but you need to show your work.”
The Power Of People
Claire’s career highlights include leading a post-merger integration at INC Research, which grew from 3,000 to 22,000 employees and ultimately secured a $400 million-per-year strategic partnership with GSK.
“It showed me the power of people,” she says. “People work with people and people buy from people, trust and delivery are essential.”
Looking ahead, Claire sees Norstella positioned to become the life science intelligence partner of choice.
“No one’s got more breadth and depth of data than us. No one’s using it in such innovative ways as us,” she says. “There’s not a pharma problem we can’t solve under the Norstella roof.”
She attributes much of the company’s strength to its culture.
“We’re big enough to get stuff done, but small enough to be super agile,” she says. “Our mantra in the solution consulting team is ‘just say yes’… we might not have a product ready now, but we can figure it out.”
Par For The Course
Outside of work, Claire is an avid golfer—a passion she picked up less than two years ago when her husband gifted her lessons for her 50th birthday. “That was it. I got the bug,” she laughs. Now, most weekends are spent on the course, often with two of her four dogs in tow. Recently, she celebrated her first competition win.
From her first steps into the industry during the launch of Viagra to her current role helping Norstella and its clients harness data for smarter, faster, and more effective drug development, Claire’s career has been defined by adaptability, insight, and a relentless focus on partnering and solving problems.
As she puts it: “Maintaining strong bonds internally and externally is huge in this industry. That’s core for me—and for Norstella’s future.”