Mad Money

Veeva Systems sees product usage increase tenfold as biotech companies race to find COVID-19 cure

Key Points
  • Veeva Systems is playing a key role to help players in the life sciences industry develop testing, treatment and vaccinations for the fast-spreading coronavirus, CEO Peter Gassner told CNBC.
  • "We're enabling them to [work] virtually" on the research and commercial fronts. "It's a really exciting and busy time for Veeva and our industry," he said in a "Mad Money" interview.
  • One of its products, Veeva Engage, has been made available for free of charge to new clients. The program uses Zoom Video to help connect doctors with health-care professionals remotely, he said.
Veeva CEO says 'it's a really exciting and busy time for Veeva and our industry'
VIDEO3:1703:17
Veeva CEO says 'it's a really exciting and busy time for Veeva and our industry'

Veeva Systems can be found at many stages in the fight to quell the coronavirus epidemic, according to founder and CEO Peter Gassner.

In a world limited by social distancing and travel limitations, the cloud-computing company is assisting life sciences industry players in the research and development of new testing devices, treatments and vaccinations for COVID-19, the disease caused by the fast-spreading virus.

"We're enabling them to [work] virtually" on the research and commercial fronts, Gassner told CNBC's Jim Cramer in a "Mad Money" interview Thursday. "It's a really exciting and busy time for Veeva and our industry."

One of the products involved in the process is Veeva Engage, a customer relationship management platform tailored to life sciences companies. The system offers online video conferencing and content sharing applications. Health-care professionals are using the program to connect with doctors remotely to deliver care to patients, Gassner explained.

The video conferencing tools for Veeva Engage is supplied by Zoom Video Communications, which Gassner is a board member of. Some of Veeva's clients include Biogen, Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences, three of many biotech companies in the race to develop a COVID-19 treatment. 

"We're offering that free to the whole industry until September. So we have more than 100,000 licenses provisioned, and the usage of that product is up 10x in just two weeks," he said. "The energy of the life sciences industry, there's never been a better time."

As for Veeva stock, it's trying to return to better days along with the rest of Wall Street.

Shares are down nearly $18 from their Feb. 20 close of $164.97. The stock has attempted to climb through a volatile market since placing a bottom near $118 on March 17, according to Factset.

In the past five years, however, equity in Veeva has grown 480%.

Veeva Systems CEO talks assissting life sciences industry in the race to find a COVID cure
VIDEO8:2508:25
Veeva Systems CEO on assisting life sciences industry on COVID cure

Questions for Cramer?
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up!
Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram

Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com