Why Emerging Biopharma Companies and CROs Need Each Other
www.clinipace.com
The Little Guys Stand Up:
Why Emerging Biopharma Companies and CROs Need Each
Other
Changing Times Require a New Look at Partnerships
Strategic relationships with CROs have typically been the exclusive domain of
large biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms with multi‐millions to spend on
clinical trials. But, as the face of the biopharma world is being altered by smaller
firms, these strategic relationships have taken a new form. Now, growing
companies are working with more synergistic and more specialized CROs for new
gains in efficiency and cost‐effectiveness.
Rather than being the small fish in a big pond, emerging
firms are actively elevating their status by testing the waters
of strategic partnerships with their CRO. Many of the
“As a relatively small
company with several parallel benefits of working with a CRO that accrue to larger
organizations are even more important for the smaller
projects, we see real
research sponsor that likely has limited resources, such as:
competitive advantage in
building a strategic
partnership with a responsive
CRO who can maximize the
operations of our clinical
programs. Every efficiency
gain goes right to our bottom
line.”
– Chad Ice, Senior Director of Clinical
Research at Inspire Pharmaceuticals
• Capitalizing on the capabilities of a CRO allows sponsors to
focus on their own core strengths rather than organize, create and
administer a complete clinical trial themselves.
• Optimally designed trials that are conducted correctly the
first time are crucial for success. CROs have the breadth of
expertise to design trials that achieve stated clinical, regulatory,
and commercial objectives in a focused and efficient manner.
However, it may be difficult for an emerging firm to elicit the
level of attention needed from a large CRO to achieve these
benefits.
At Clinipace, we have been successfully exploring the full range of a strategic
relationship with Inspire Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused
on developing and commercializing prescription products for ophthalmic and
pulmonary diseases.
With one or two drugs, Inspire was able to work directly with investigative sites
to manage clinical trials. Generally, the company had been reluctant to
outsource the management of studies. Inspire felt that it was good at developing
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