BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 26, 2010) - Growing pressure within the research-based drug
industry to bring new products to market faster and more efficiently is
transforming clinical trial capacity planning and forecasting from an
important area of concern to a critical success factor, according to a
panel of pharmaceutical and biotech industry leaders recently convened by
the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.
While blockbuster drug sales previously did much to assure overall company
success, financial health today depends on companies getting more products
to market under tighter budgets, the group noted.
Kenneth I Kaitin, director of Tufts CSDD, said, "Most drug companies
historically decentralized their approach to capacity forecasting, which
made it difficult to coordinate scarce resources. Going forward, companies
recognize the need to transform capacity planning into a core competence
based on an accurate understanding of resource costs."
He explained that because each company's approach to determining costs has
been driven by its own experiences, and because costs often could be
recouped through new product revenues, there has been little incentive to
develop consistent cost measures across the drug development industry.
Over the last decade clinical trial protocol design has become more complex
and trials take longer to complete. For example, according to a recent
Tufts CSDD study, total time from protocol design readiness to data lock
rose 70%, from 460 to 780 days, between the early and mid 2000s.
The pharmaceutical and biotech executives, who convene several times a year
at the Tufts CSDD Executive Forum Roundtable Series, also agreed that:
-- Capacity planning needs to become a core competence for developers,
regardless of how much development work they outsource to contract research
organizations.
-- Their success will depend, as much as possible, on accurate capacity
forecasts from the start of each project, to minimize delays, cost
overruns, and disruptions.
SCHEDULED TUFTS CSDD EXECUTIVE FORUM ROUNDTABLES
Upcoming Tufts CSDD Executive Forum Roundtable meetings will focus on the
following:
Feb. 25, 2010 - Improving ROI and Late Stage Clinical Success Rates
May 13, 2010 - Strategies for Managing Drug Development Risk: Maintaining
Portfolio Diversity
Sept. 16, 2010 - Outsourcing Strategies Across the Value Chain
Nov. 4, 2010 - Strategies for Optimizing the Drug Development Process
To learn more, call 617-636-2170.
ABOUT THE TUFTS CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DRUG DEVELOPMENT
The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (
http://csdd.tufts.edu)
at Tufts University provides strategic information to help drug developers,
regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of
pharmaceutical development, review, and utilization. Tufts CSDD, based in
Boston, conducts a wide range of in-depth analyses on pharmaceutical issues
and hosts symposia, workshops, and public forums, and publishes Tufts CSDD
Impact Reports, a bi-monthly newsletter providing analysis and insight into
critical drug development issues.
Contact Information: Contact:
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Peg Hewitt
617-636-2185