3 PUBLISHER Lisa Banket EDITOR Taren Grom CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marah Walsh DIRECTOR OF SALES Darlene Kwiatkowski CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Virginia Kirk Denise Myshko Elisabeth Pena Kim Ribbink Deborah Ruriani Lynda Sears Copyright 2002 by PharmaLinx LLC, Titusville, NJ Printed in the U.S.A. Volume Two, Number Four PharmaVOICE is published eight times per year by PharmaLinx LLC, P.O.Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Postmaster: Send address changes to PharmaVoice, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. PharmaVOICECoverage and Distribution: Domestic subscriptions are available at $106 for one year (8 issues). Foreign subscriptions: 8 issues US$220. Contact PharmaVoice at P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your order to 609.730.0197. Contributions: PharmaVOICE is not responsible for unsolicited contributions of any type. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, PharmaVOICE retains all rights on material published in PharmaVOICE for a period of six months after publication and reprint rights after that period expires. Email: [email protected]. Change of address:Please allow six weeks for achange of address. Send your new address along with your sub scription label to PharmaVOICE, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your change to 609.730.0197. Email: [email protected]. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The post office will not forward copies of this magazine. PharmaVOICE is not respon sible for replacing undelivered copies due to lack of or late notification of address change. Advertising in PharmaVOICE: To advertise in Pharma VOICEplease contact our Advertising Department at P.O.Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560, or telephone us at 609.730.0196. Email: [email protected]. www.pharmalinx.com THE FORUM FOR THE INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE Volume 2 . Number 4 Send your letters to feedback@pharma linx.com. Please include your name, title, company, and business phone number. Let ters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity. All submissions become the property of PharmaLinx LLC.
The CRO industry is a maturing marketplace. Pharmaceutical companies and the larger biotech companies, as buyers, are more sophisticated. These companies need strategic approaches to their outsourcing needs. And, as a group, CROs have become more sophisticat ed sellers, offering strategic answers, in addition to tactical approaches, to meet sponsors’ needs. Together, each group must work efficiently to develop partnerships, services, and a business mix in the right framework of pricing and timing. Despite the maturation of the companies serving the pharmaceutical industry, to deliver cost efficient and timely responses to the drug development process, the industry must continue to become even more efficient at developing drugs in the future. Genomic selection, proteomics, and price controls will hamper the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to maintain the profitability expect ed by Wall Street and shareholders unless it increases the pipeline and begins to imple ment process improvements. One hallmark of a maturing market is a governing body whose purpose is to over see the development of the industry as a whole. In April of this year, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) was formed to foster continued advance ment of medicalproduct development. Five organizations that provide interna tional clinical research have joined togeth er to form the ACRO to represent the views of the drugdevelopment industry before legislative and regulatory groups in the U.S. and other countries. The mission of the ACRO is to participate in health policy debates concerning drug develop ment and maintain an active interest in patientsafety issues that evolve with con tinued advances in pharmaceutical and biologic research. The founding member companies of ACRO are Covance Inc., Kendle Interna tional Inc., Parexel International Corp., PPD Development, and Quintiles Trans national Corp. Dennis Gillings, chairman of Quintiles Transnational was elected to serve as the association’s first chairman. Fred Eshel man, CEO of PPD Inc., has been named treasurer and is chairmanelect for 2003. “In forming this association, we believe that CROs will be even more effective in advancing the needs of patients, our cus tomers, and our industry,” Mr. Gillings says. “We will work to provide a height ened awareness of the role that CROs play in expediting the introduction of impor tant new medicines that improve health and save lives. ACRO also will be active in the development of regulations, legisla tion, or initiatives that may affect our industry, as we continue to serve our cus tomers and provide protections for clinical trials patients.” Member companies of ACRO provide a wide range of research and development services that help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies bring medicines to patients quickly and safely. The five founding companies employ more than 36,000 people worldwide, conduct research in 60 countries, and represent a more than $6 billion industry. In this month’s Industry Forum more than 15 executives from the CRO, phar maceutical, site management, technology, and analyst sectors discuss the challenges of working toward streamlining business and clinical processes to eliminate unnecessary time delays, ways to develop best operating practices, and the importance of moving toward a new paradigm in sponsor partner ships. Taren Grom Editor T Wewill work to provide aheightened awareness of the role that CROs play in expediting the introduction of important newmedicines that improve health and save lives. Dennis Gillings