The Sitemorse quarterly web benchmarks of the global life science sector are always a good indicator of the companies leading the field, because any organisation’s digital communications speak volumes about the way it is managed.

The digital landscape these days involves not just websites but also mobile and social technologies, and a good online experience is essential to make sure users find what they need and want to return. Our testing is a key indicator that a site is error-free and working well across a number of vital areas.

Our Q1 2014 Global Life Science INDEX ranks US-based Idenix Pharmaceuticals as the most efficient site in the sector. With a total score of 8.3 of a possible 10 marks overall, Idenix maintains the scoring that has kept it at the top of this INDEX now for the third quarter in a row.

Idenix is involved in the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of human viral and other life-threatening infectious diseases, so helping lead the fight against Hepatitis. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, its clinical development operations and drug discovery operations are conducted both in the USA and the company’s European laboratories in Montpellier, France.

In second position in the ranking is a new site from German pharma company Cytogen, which produces testing kits for a variety of diseases. Cytogen’s site scored an impressive 8.2/10 in our tests.

And in third place, dropping one position from our Q4 INDEX of 2013 is the site of ProStrakan Group PLC, which is owned by Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd (KHK) of Japan and is one of Europe’s fastest growing specialty pharmaceutical companies, producing among other products drugs for managing pain and nausea. The site scored a whisker under 8/10.

Ensuring stakeholders can get the information they need and at the same time keeping the highest standards and exceeding compliance has to be the target for anyone taking the web seriously, so to score eight or above in the Sitemorse website INDEX rating really demonstrates that a company is leading the field. Sitemorse has been benchmarking and rating the websites of businesses and organisations in a number of sectors for more than a decade, using its automated software that reads and reviews the first 125 pages of each site and places them in a ranked table based on User Experience (UX), Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Search Capability (SEO).

• The best-known names in global life sciences do not always have the most efficient sites according to our testing. But over the last few quarters we have noted improvements in the websites of a number of the larger companies. Merck and Co.UK has risen 90 places in the table to 96th overall, while Novartis UK is up 125 to overall 33rd position. Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi UK and Astrazeneca’s UK sites also improved.

Top overall risers this time are Japan's Chugai – Pharma, which rises 132 to 42nd overall, US-based Endo Pharmaceuticals, up 138 to 111th, Japan's Mochida rises 146 to 67th place and top climber Advaxis, which rises 167 places in the INDEX to 17th overall. Advaxis, based in Princeton, New Jersey USA, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases.

Fast-loading web pages are important, so we test the average response time for each site. A response time above 0.75 seconds can have a negative effect on user experience. Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Europe, Merz UK and Perrigo UK are top performers, with average response times in Otsuka’s case just 0.01 seconds on average for a tested page to load.

• Accessibility, backed by law, remains a key criterion for any website. Highest scorers in this sector are Canadian R&D company Apotex, and Eisai of Japan, who have both maintained a score of 8/10 for the last two quarters. Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Europe scored 7/10.

About the INDEX

The quarterly INDEX Website Review, powered by the Sitemorse software platform, is an important independent benchmark that clearly shows how websites are performing, meeting compliance levels and satisfying their users. It’s also a key indicator for website managers who, while always wanting to be at the top of their game, could be hampered by poor-performing suppliers, non-compliant legacy content or content management systems that often fail to spot errors affecting user experience.

Sitemorse services such as Governisation and the Web Management Toolkit immediately find the issues that affect web users the most on any website, help demonstrate real improvement and ensure you have control and confidence in your web presence.

They will help you minimise unnecessary risk, issues covering everything from compliance with web standards to helping you deal with malware, protect your brand across even a large web presence, and enhance search engine optimisation to help more potential customers find you. They can help spotlight content that may need updating, issues with staff training and support, and focus supplier management. We offer a confidential internal 'company wide' website testing and benchmarking service - allowing you to review the position of all the sites in your organisation. Contact us to request further details and / or an example.

More information

• More information about our surveys and what they test can be found on our website http://www.sitemorse.com/index/