Contract Pharma 2009 - The Pharma Outsourcing Event Recap

The TraceLink team just returned from this year's Contract Pharma conference and we all agree that it was a stellar event. Interesting and diverse sessions on a range of issues from globalization, pharmaceutical outsourcing and clinical manufacturing were combined with an enthusiastic audience and smooth logistics. This was the second time we have attended and in my opinion, the bang-up job that Gil Roth's Contract Pharma team continues to do is one reason for the great crowd this year.

While I really cannot do the speakers justice in representing their sessions, a few comments did jump out at me:

• Mac Lynch (VP, Contract Manufacturing, Pfizer Global Manufacturing) highlighted several expected benefits of outsourcing that revolved around the general theme of agility in the face of uncertainty. This has been a recurring theme in many of our customer discussions. Namely, as therapies get more targeted and markets get more diversified, it becomes even more imperative to create network flexibility, manage demand volatility and address new product uncertainty in a capital-efficient manner.
• Rachael Zuckerman (Research Analyst, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development) talked about the explosion of contract clinical services. The number of companies actively managing clinical projects more than doubled in recent years to over 2,300 in 2008 according to Rachael's research. Combined with the growing globalization of clinical trials (32% of all CTs in 2007), this has been putting pressure on sponsors to find ways to effectively manage these far-flung operations. Rachael's research also highlighted how a focus on accountability can improve the contracting process. Driving visibility into operations and creating insight through knowledge management promotes the ability to optimize new contracts and reduce the number of contract changes.
• Deirdre Ogorzalek (Celgene Corp.) discussed how important it is to understand the team culture and process working style of your contract partner. While the going-in position of a sponsor may be to outline a specific working model for its partner, the reality is that the day-to-day working style and communication methods will greatly impact how a project is ultimately executed. So, creating bi-directionally open communications between the project teams on both sides is crucial in delivering a project that meet outlined KPIs and SLA metrics.

ContractPhama makes the presentations delivered at the event available to anybody via a simple registration process. This is a refreshing approach compared to the fees that other events will change for event proceedings. I urge anyone who wants to gain a 360-degree view of the current environment to check them out!

Subscribe

Have our blog sent to your inbox!

Delivered by FeedBurner