Stock Trading Management System For a Clinical-Stage Biopharmaceutical Firm

Background

This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is actively advancing treatments through the drug development pipeline. As the company grew and its shares became accessible to employees, it faced a critical need to manage stock trading activity in full compliance with federal securities regulations. Employees are subject to strict trading restrictions, including designated blackout periods, that prohibit trading at certain times to prevent insider trading violations. The company's legal team identified a gap: there was no structured, trackable system for employees to formally request trading permission, and no reliable way to document approvals or objections for regulatory purposes.

The Challenge

• Employees had no formal mechanism to request permission to trade company stock during designated open trading windows.
• The legal team lacked visibility into who had submitted requests, who had been notified, and what the outcome of each request was.
• Blackout period enforcement was manual, creating compliance risk and potential for inadvertent violations of securities law.
• Approvals and objections were not being automatically recorded in official legal documentation, leaving an incomplete audit trail.
• Communications around trading permissions were inconsistent, with no automated notification system in place to keep relevant parties informed in a timely manner.

The Solution

Custom Stock Trading Request Portal

InfoPathways designed and built a purpose-built request portal using software the client was already licensed for, eliminating the need for additional procurement. The portal allows employees to submit formal requests to trade company stock during open trading windows. Critically, the system can be toggled on and off by the legal team to enforce blackout periods. When the window is closed, employees are unable to submit requests, ensuring compliance is built directly into the workflow rather than relying on employee awareness alone.

Approval Tracking & Status Management

A centralized tracking system was implemented to give the legal team a complete, real-time view of all trading requests. The system captures the full lifecycle of each request and records whether each request was approved or objected to. This provides the legal and compliance teams with clear visibility and control, replacing a previously fragmented and manual process.

Automated Notifications & Stakeholder Alerts

InfoPathways built automated notification workflows to keep all relevant parties informed throughout the request process. Employees receive timely updates on the status of their requests, while legal and compliance staff are alerted when action is required. These automations reduce response delays and ensure that no request falls through the cracks during sensitive trading windows.

Automated Legal Documentation

To address the audit trail gap, InfoPathways integrated automatic documentation into the workflow. Each request, along with its approval or objection status and all associated communications, is automatically recorded in the company's legal documents. This ensures a complete, defensible record is maintained without requiring manual data entry by the legal team, significantly reducing administrative burden while strengthening regulatory compliance..

The Results

• A fully compliant, self-enforcing stock trading request system was deployed using the client's existing software licensing with no additional tools or vendors required.
• The legal team gained complete visibility into all trading requests, including status, approvals, and objections, through a centralized tracking dashboard.
• Blackout period enforcement became automatic, eliminating the compliance risk associated with manual processes and employee error.
• Official legal documentation is now generated automatically for every request, creating a reliable and complete audit trail ready for regulatory review.
• Automated notifications reduced administrative overhead and improved response times, keeping employees and legal staff aligned throughout each trading window.

What's Next?

With a compliant and scalable stock trading request system now in place, InfoPathways and the company are exploring opportunities to extend the automation framework to other legal and compliance workflows. As the organization progresses through its clinical pipeline and prepares for potential public market milestones, maintaining rigorous, well-documented compliance processes will become increasingly important. InfoPathways is positioned to continue supporting the company's growth by ensuring its internal systems evolve in step with its regulatory obligations and operational scale