In the recent PharmaVoice Feb 2016 
issue highlighting Outsourcing, PV asked Pharma’s KOL’s to answer some key questions regarding the current state of Outsourcing & Strategic Partnerships.
John M. Hudak, President and Founder, Criterium Inc., answered these 2 questions for them:
- What barriers continue to limit CROs and sponsors from becoming true development partners?
Sponsors can have unrealistic expectations of CRO partners. Most partnerships work top-down at both Sponsors and CROs, and are evidenced in timelines and budgets. But top-down management may not always translate into trickle-down commitment. There are some discouraging figures out there about the high percentage of studies that don?t meet their timelines. When timelines and budgets are estimated to satisfy board members or project committees, it?s imperative to include all key factors that affect early planning stages, and be grounded in fiscal reality.
- What are the key ingredients to a successful outsourcing partnership?
Planning needs transparency and communication, in concert. Sponsors can sometimes have impractical expectations regarding timelines and budgets. And CROs can end up having the same unrealistic expectations of study sites. Everyone wants to meet expectations and win the job ? but this sometimes results in unworkable time estimates and budgets. There needs to be more open discussion among stakeholders, Sponsors, CROs and sites regarding the environments in which studies are conducted — and realistic strategies for successful completion.
About John M. Hudak, MBA, President and Founder
John has more than 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical research and business development arena serving the pharmaceutical and contract clinical services sectors. He has extensive expertise in strategic planning and competitive analysis, market development, promotional planning and tracking, proposal design and custom-services development, international project management and clinical study completion, protocol design and implementation, electronic data capture, and market communications and has worked with drugs, biologics, generics and medical devices.
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