The Laszlo Letter

DIA Euromeeting: Impressions and Recommendations

I’m writing this on the plane to New York from Barcelona having just attended the 2008 DIA Euromeeting. As a veteran of many DIA annual meetings in the USA, I must admit that this year’s Euromeeting was like a breath of fresh air. A key reason for this may be the calculated risk that the meeting planners took by redesigning the program around themes and sessions.

Suggestion: Click here to see a phenomenal set of Barcelona photos!

The Fortune Global 500 - Where is Pharma?

The July 24, 2006 issue of Fortune magazine lists the 500 largest global public companies. So, I was wondering how the pharmaceutical industry fares on this list. Perhaps you will find this interesting too.

Pfizer - Clinical Outsourcing Procurement

The May/June issue of American Pharmaceutical Outsourcing magazine ran an excellent case study from Pfizer, outlining the steps that this company has taken to improve the procurement process and the quality of the work received from selected vendors.

The authors, Adrian Otte and James Taylor, describe the Functional Service Provider (FSP) model, a unique set of characteristics expected from CROs, and the reverse auction process used to select them.

CRO's and Consultants Get No Respect

My friend, Mike Martorelli, poses an interesting question to the readers of the June 2006 issue of Contract Pharma magazine. To whit, "Do sponsors look to outsourcing providers for innovation? Or do they just want their CRO, laboratory, software provider, or instrument/reagent manufacturer to complete the specific task called for in a particular contract?"

Note: The article is not available on the web site. So if you don't subscribe to Contract Pharma, now may be a good time to sign up!

Clinical Trials Offshoring/Outsourcing

A recent article on the In-Pharma Technologist.com web site discusses the potential dangers of conducting clinical trials in countries (primarily India) that do not have either extensive experience with or sufficient regulatory oversight of such trials.

The somewhat alarmist tone of the lead sentence reads: "After recent allegations in the media that poor and illiterate patients in India are being used, often unknowingly, as human guinea pigs to test new drugs for the pharma giants of the West, Outsourcing-Pharma takes a look at how cutting the cost of clinical trials could put patient lives at risk and do more harm than good for PR-savvy pharma firms."

India for Outsourcing

The blog Biopeer has posted an article about outsourcing to India and the new phenomenon of Indian pharma companies going off-shore themselves. Just when you thought that you found the cheapest place to do business, another place pops up that can do it for even less or cost more but add more value.