* The decision to outsource depends on a business decision that determines if outsourcing will add value to the business above and beyond the cost savings resulting from negotiations with partners. * A rapidly maturing biotech industry needs to develop metrics that enable decisions to be made in real time, e.g. the decision to kill unpromising compounds early or adapt clinical trial design. * Proper deployment and use of information technology systems will help streamline clinical development and improve R&D productivity; the key is to design the system to reduce risk, not cost or time, as reducing risk will lead to cost and time savings.Participating in the panel were the following:
* Kenneth I Kaitin (Meeting Co-Chair), Director, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development * Susan J. Ward (Meeting Co-Chair), Executive Advisor to Biotechnology, their Suppliers, and Investors * Burt Adelman, Executive Vice President, Portfolio Strategy, Biogen Idec * Alexis Borisy, CEO, CombinatoRx * Errol DeSouza, President, CEO, Director, Archemix Corporation * Steven R. Eby, Senior Director, Planning & Operations, Biomedical & Regulatory Affairs, Genzyme Corporation * Kathy Ford, Vice President, Clinical Operations, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. * Paul Lammers, Chief Medical Officer, Serono, Inc. * Steven Schmidt, Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. * Susannah Walpole, Director of Clinical Operations, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. * Marc L. Watrous, Pharm., Senior Director, Pricing Strategy, Genentech, Inc.About the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (http://csdd.tufts.edu) at Tufts University provides strategic information to help drug developers, regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical development, review, and utilization. Tufts CSDD, based in Boston, conducts a wide range of in-depth analyses on pharmaceutical issues and hosts symposia, workshops, and public forums on related topics, and publishes the Tufts CSDD Impact Report, a bi-monthly newsletter providing analysis and insight into critical drug development issues.
Contact Information: Contact: Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development Peg Hewitt 617-636-2185 Email Contact Business Communication Strategies Peter Lowy 781-326-9980 Email Contact