Partnerships Asia Pacific Session Spotlight: Partnerships in Clinical Trials: East vs. West

Each week leading up to Partnerships in Clinical Trials Asia Pacific, we'll be highlighting a session from the upcoming conference. It will take place October 5-7, 2010, in Singapore. For more information, visit our webpage to download the brochure.

Featured Session: Partnerships in Clinical Trials: East vs. West
Presented by: Mark Bach, PhD, Vice President, Head of R&D, Regulatory Affairs and Safety,
JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS KK, Japan

About the session:
Pharmaceutical companies are facing continuing pressure due to patent expirations, increasing regulatory constraints and other factors. These result in the need to increase productivity, increase speed to market and maintain quality. One approach to address these needs is strategic sourcing – CROs can bring value to sponsors through both strategic and tactical support for development. Sponsors headquartered in the US and Europe are entering into strategic partnerships with CROs, but the experience in Asia is more limited. How can the extensive experience in these markets inform and accelerate the development of such relationships in Asia?

Key issues include:
• How does the current APAC environment compare to the US/EU CRO industry 10 years ago?
• How is the Asia operation model different from US?
• What can be learned from the history of CRO and pharma partnership development outside of Asia?

Outsourcing of clinical trials expected to rise by 25% by 2013 – is your team prepared?

With so much uncertainty surrounding the economy, consolidation of pharmaceutical companies, lack of funding for biotechs and drug safety concerns, one thing is for sure – there is still much work to be done to bring new medicines to market and we’re all being asked to do more with less. That’s why it’s imperative to get your clinical outsourced studies right the first time around. And, the long term view from industry experts is that outsourcing will continue to dominate.

But with so much flux in the marketplace due to career shifts, Big Pharma re-orgs and smaller pharma and biotechs ready to send new products into development, there’s a learning curve when it comes to making the right outsourcing decisions. You need to be armed with the information and contacts to get moving - the alternative can cause project delays costing into the millions.

Fundamentals of Clinical Outsourcing is a conference you can’t afford to miss!
→ If you are challenged by making decisions on full-service vs. functional outsourcing, or are struggling to convert a vendor bid into a study contract, you will benefit from the collective experience shared by our expert speaking faculty.

→ If change orders due to hurried or unrealistic scope of work or poor communication with your partners have just about stopped your trial in its tracks, you’ll find solutions for these challenges as well.

→ And, if you’re worried about quality oversight of third party clinical research data, you will hear directly from the FDA on what they expect.

Download the brochure for more information on how to do more with less and get your studies right the first time around.

We understand travel budgets are limited, so we are especially pleased to offer this program regionally in both Boston this October and San Francisco in November to facilitate your attendance.

Make sure to register before August 28th and Save up to $300! Mention Priority code 0T4JXO

Pfizer to create online networking site for clinical trials

According to Forbes, Pfizer is teaming up with Private Access in order to create a social networking website that will pair potential patients to doctors and clinical trials. This site also allows for the privacy of patients, the CEO of Private Access stated the website was "privacy-enhanced search engine for personal health information.". This new social networking site will also encourage trial sponsors, patient advocacy groups and technology providers to come together. Read more here.

Medicare's Stance on Clinical Trials

This post on Health PROSe discusses how Medicare is not only important to health care delivery but it is also key to all clinical research taking place across the country. Cures and treatments for diseases all require that Medicare beneficiaries participate in clinical trials, and that was exactly what President Clinton ordered back in 2000.

This memorandum though was not followed through by the Bush administration, and it was actually dismantled. Obama's administration must recognize the important of the Medicare clinical trial policy to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are covered. It will be interesting to see if the new administration will soon address this policy and take action.

Stem cells for the heart in clinical trial

The US News and World Report recently looked at a clinical trail taking place in the western United States which takes stem cells from ones body, treats them, and then injects them back into unhealthy hearts. This study is hoping to find a way to help heart failure patients rejuvenate their heart with their own stem cells. Read more about the trial here.

Biopharma in India is Surging

According to this article in FierceBiotech a weakened economy and the need for cutbacks is pushing big pharma companies to drive drug development and manufacturing in India. One thing though, many Indian developers are having a hard time transitioning from manufacturing generic drugs to devising new therapies. This is certainly a huge opportunity for Indian firms to thrive if they can ease the transition somehow. It will be interesting to see how things will play out over the course of the next couple of years.

goBalto, Matchmaking for CROs and Drug Developers

According to TheScientist.com, the number and depth of the connections between CROs and drug developers has grown so much, they now have their own match-making website. Last October, serial biotech entrepreneur Jae Chung (pictured at left) started what he expected to be a simple drug development directory. Now, just three months after its late April launch, goBalto boasts more than 7000 companies and consultants, including 2,200 CROs, all of which can be searched and rated by one another. With a couple of hundred companies and consultants adding themselves each week, "we're one of the fastest growing professional networking sites," Chung said. Finding partnerships, which used to take four to six weeks, can now take as little as two days, he claimed.

Have you had any experience with goBalto? Do you think that matchmaking and social networking have a place within the CROs universe? We'd like to hear your thoughts.