Outsourcing Through Seamless Integration - A New Standard in Pharmaceutical Development

Over recent years, most successful Life Science companies have embraced outsourcing.  Developments in outsourcing practice have led some vendors to attempt to seamlessly integrate their services.  In examining the possibilities that seamless integration might bring to client relationships it is as well to consider what the client wants and needs from a strategic partner.

1. Strong Service Culture

   This is something that is often claimed but very rarely delivered in vendor-client partnerships.

2. Speed of Response

   This does not simply relate to response to any initial enquiry, but to all stages during the process of supply. Performance must be monitored at all stages to ensure that the right levels of response are being achieved throughout the collaboration.

3. Quality

   To maintain the highest standards of quality, the organisation as a whole must not only keep up with, but also exceed recognised current standards.

4. Technology

   Broad relationships will thrive on a broad technology base.  Providers should look to be diverse in the technologies that they supply and focus on those which can have a strongly positive impact for the client.

5. Comprehensive and Comprehensible Access to Data

   One area where time is lost in outsourcing compared to normal in-house activities is that of data provision and review. If clients can be given real-time data access, substantial amounts of time can be saved.

6. No Need to Reinvent the Wheel

   In any relationship where technology transfers must take place (of which a large proportion relate to vendor-client relationships in the development arena) it is critical that such transfers are handled in the most robust and efficient manner possible.

7. "Down the Hall" Feel

   Time and distance must not be a barrier to communication and relationships cannot be undertaken at arms length. For partnerships to succeed, the vendor must be accepted as a part of the client's organisation. Similarly, the vendor must be prepared to act as part of the client's organisation.

8. Integrated Capability

   The vendor's processes and systems must be integrated internally in such a way that allows transparency and comparability to the client when dealing with different business units within the vendor's structure.

Historically, outsourcing partners have tended to focus on particular technology platforms whether they are related to chemistry, pre-clinical service or some other area of pharmaceutical development.  However, lateral integration of capabilities can generate an offering that reduces the time, cost and risk associated with drug development.

Pharmaceutical companies still have lateral integration within R&D and successful development comes from the resulting strong interactions between the different groupings.  The key is the ability to link capabilities efficiently and cost-effectively across different technology platforms underpinned by an enabling infrastructure based around data management and transfer, strong IT capabilities and with short, efficient links to the client base.  By achieving this, time can be taken out of the overall development timeline.

Integrated CROs should not try to be all things to all clients.  The reason that pharmaceutical companies outsource is a recognition that they cannot do everything themselves, so why should any CRO think that they can?  Better to focus on a range of world-class technology platforms that can have an impact on pharmaceutical development activities.  With a focus on speed in both a micro- and a macro-sense, it should be possible for the client to gain time through working with individual operating units and through working across a range of operating units in parallel.  This can only be achieved if the organisation is underpinned by a true integration of its business units.

Critically, the offering must be aligned to client requirements.  This is by no means trivial since these requirements change as the pharmaceutical development landscape evolves.  Similarly, different clients will have different requirements and it is important that the vendor organisation is flexible enough to meet those requirements in all of their various guises.

 
Author: Neil Murray

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