--- title: Transforming drug discovery with next-gen search description: Discover how Datavid helped AbbVie extend MarkLogic with custom search and reusable Excel exports - delivering faster insights, reduced maintenance, and a sustainable research platform. image: https://datavid.com/hubfs/abbvie.png --- # Transforming drug discovery with next-gen search ![AbbVie](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AbbVie.png?width=776&height=773&name=AbbVie.png) Industry Life Sciences Challenge AbbVie’s research teams faced limitations with standard search and CSV exports - struggling to query nested JSON, generate rich Excel outputs, avoid over-engineering, and build a sustainable, extensible framework for future scientific needs. Solution and Results Datavid enhanced AbbVie’s research platform by extending MarkLogic with a custom search API, triple-based property queries, and a lightweight XLSX export library. The result was a flexible, scientist-friendly system that accelerated insights, reduced maintenance from days to minutes, delivered reusable components across projects, and ensured long-term sustainability at lower cost. Technology used Microsoft.NET, Progress MarkLogic Server 11, mlcp, Gradle + ml-gradle , XQuery and Server-Side JavaScript (SJS) [ www.abbvie.com ](https://www.abbvie.com/) enabled property-spec. search reusable Xlsx export Library lower Dev&Maintenance Cost in mins Updates (vs in days) ## “Datavid is reliable partner with deep expertise in MarkLogic.” Principle Program Manager, Life Science Company ![tall-office-towers-commercial-real-estate-blue-sky-2025-02-21-21-43-40-utc](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/tall-office-towers-commercial-real-estate-blue-sky-2025-02-21-21-43-40-utc.jpg?width=5825&height=3883&name=tall-office-towers-commercial-real-estate-blue-sky-2025-02-21-21-43-40-utc.jpg) ## About AbbVie AbbVie is a global biopharmaceutical leader dedicated to solving serious health challenges through advanced science. With a strong legacy in immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care, AbbVie consistently ranks among the world’s top pharmaceutical companies for its innovation and impact on patients’ lives. ## Setting the Scene Drug discovery is one of the most data-intensive and complex processes in the life sciences industry. Researchers must navigate decades of experimental results, ongoing studies, and past campaigns to inform the next breakthrough. In this environment, the ability to **search, connect, and interpret vast datasets quickly** is not just convenient, it is critical to accelerating innovation, reducing costs, and maintaining competitive advantage.  AbbVie’s internal drug discovery, TCPR2, platform plays a central role in this mission, serving as a single place where scientists and researchers can access past and current drug projects, test results, campaigns, and related data.  To stay effective, the platform needed to evolve beyond fast, relevance-based search and enable **granular property-specific queries** (such as identifying projects by molecule or target). At the same time, researchers required a seamless way to export results into Excel (XLSX) with multiple worksheets and rich formatting for deeper analysis and reporting.  ## The Challenges ![A](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/A.png?width=800&height=450&name=A.png) AbbVie needed to go beyond standard search features to enable property-specific queries across deeply nested JSON data. Meeting this requirement meant extending MarkLogic’s powerful foundation with a custom approach tailored for scientific discovery.  Another challenge lay in the **export requirements**. Researchers requested the ability to export results into Excel (XLSX) with multiple worksheets and custom layouts. The existing CSV outputs were too limited for scientific analysis and reporting, and AbbVie needed a richer solution that would meet the expectations of its research teams.  At the same time, the team was keen on **avoiding over-engineering**. While new features were essential, it was equally important to deliver them without introducing unnecessary external services or complexity, which could create additional points of failure and inflate maintenance costs.  Finally, **sustainability** was a critical priority. AbbVie required a design that was extensible and reusable so that future enhancements could be delivered quickly and cost-effectively. Instead of facing repeated cycles of rework, the company wanted a framework that would continue to evolve with its scientific needs. Is your discovery slowed by rigid systems?  *You too can unlock faster insights and build for the future. ** [![ENABLE DISCOVERY](https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/9471259/a5a9ebf2-ce97-49d0-958d-d81ffa05da4d.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/9471259/a5a9ebf2-ce97-49d0-958d-d81ffa05da4d) * ## The Solution Building on the strong MarkLogic Foundation, Datavid implemented a custom extensible search API and XLSX export capability to meet AbbVie’s needs for flexibility and scientific precision.  > - **Triplefication for Property Search**  > JSON documents were transformed into **RDF triples** capturing both values and their position in the hierarchy. This allowed AbbVie to translate “dotted path” queries (e.g., project.target.molecule = glucose) into **SPARQL queries**, extending MarkLogic’s standard search capabilities.  > > - **Programmatic TDE Generation**  > TDE templates were programmatically generated from JSON schemas, enabling seamless updates to entities and reducing manual maintenance.  > > - **Custom Search API**  > A flexible API combined standard MarkLogic search with the new triple-based property search, allowing scientists to query across complex structures without constant index or schema rework.  > > - **XLSX Export Library**  > A lightweight **XQuery library** (based on the Open XML standard) was developed to generate multi-sheet, styled Excel outputs, avoiding reliance on external services.  > > - **Minimal Integration Impact**  > Data continued to flow into MarkLogic via custom REST extensions, ensuring that no downstream systems were disrupted.  ## The Outcomes The modernization delivered both **technical flexibility and business value**. ![abbvie-tcRP2-outcomes](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/abbvie-tcRP2-outcomes.png?width=800&height=450&name=abbvie-tcRP2-outcomes.png) AbbVie researchers can now run **property-specific queries** across complex datasets, cutting down the time and effort required to generate insights. Enhancements that once demanded structural changes are now supported natively, improving speed and agility.  The **XLSX export capability** quickly proved its value, and along with the custom search API, was **reused across other AbbVie projects**, including OMICS CDM. This extended the return on investment well beyond the original platform.  With **programmatic TDEs and a flexible search layer**, updates that once took days can now be completed in minutes, significantly **reducing maintenance overhead** and freeing IT teams for more strategic work. Researchers also reported **high satisfaction**, and project leaders recommended applying the approach to additional platforms across R&D.  Finally, the modernization delivered **tangible cost savings** by minimizing rework and avoiding external tools. AbbVie not only reduced development and testing costs but also positioned its research platform for **long-term sustainability and scalability**. ## Curious what’s possible in your environment? [![REQUEST A FREE POC ASSESSMENT](https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/9471259/b9c7305d-a39c-4c12-976e-3c97cdf94560.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/9471259/b9c7305d-a39c-4c12-976e-3c97cdf94560) ## Related case studies [![](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Roche.png?width=854&height=854&name=Roche.png) Life Sciences ### Transforming policy assistance in pharma: Scalable, searchable, self-service ](https://datavid.com/case-studies/roche-policy-assistance) [![](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/case%20studies%20image-1.png?width=621&height=621&name=case%20studies%20image-1.png) Life Sciences ### Unifying biobank research at scale with a metadata knowledge graph & RAG automation ](https://datavid.com/case-studies/unifying-biobank) [![](https://datavid.com/hs-fs/hubfs/SN.png?width=621&height=621&name=SN.png) Life Sciences ### Revolutionising post-market analytics for performance at scale ](https://datavid.com/case-studies/smithnephew-pmpa)