ife sciences companies still operate
in the dark ages in
many ways when it
comes to technology. Even as the
industry pivots away from blockbusters to develop advanced,
specialized medicines (Express
Scripts says specialty meds will
account for half of all drug spend
in 2018), the technology supporting this ground-breaking work is
anything but cutting edge. Many
organizations are frustrated with
this paradox, yet still rely heavily
on legacy software to manage the
intricacies of drug development
and commercialization. Hoping
to streamline processes, companies of every size continue to tack
on off-the-shelf software to old
ERP systems. Instead of simplifying tasks, these multiple and
unrelated applications increase
the burden and costs while adding confusion that reduces teams’
speed of execution. As a result,
incredible inefficiency pervades,
delaying the introduction of new
therapies to market.
Due to the complexity of drug
trials and focus on chronic and
degenerative diseases, costs of
developing a prescription drug
averages $2.6 billion, according
to Scientific America. As each
drug gets only 20 years to recover
costs, delays cut into profitability
(see Figure 1) and inflate prices. A
single day delay in taking a product to market can cost $1 million
to $13 million in sales.
The use of diverse software
programs throughout an enter-
prise causes friction with teams
forced to operate in silos rather
than collaboratively. With in-
formation decentralized, work-
ers waste time searching for
information stored in arbitrari-
ly organized folders while con-
stantly attending meetings to
provide updates to other team
members. Use of static slides
and spreadsheets to share up-
dates also hinders timely iden-
tification and resolution of
issues. Working with outside
agencies can also cause delay,
as feedback is often exchanged
through outdated communica-
tions channels without any au-
tomated task prioritization.
Shift to targeted therapies
compounds challenges
As the industry shifts its R&D
course to develop targeted therapeutics focused on serving
niche markets, companies have
limited patient populations and
greater launch complexity to recover substantial investments.
The amount of R&D and marketing effort supporting the creation of these medicines, especially in oncology, is often much
greater than many mainstream
medicines.
These specialty life science
companies need a faster way
to commercialize to ensure a
return. In fact, of the 66 novel
drugs approved in 2015, nearly
all experienced market delay –
ranging from five to 87 days. In
one extreme case, a top global
pharmaceutical company experienced a 233-day delay from the
time product was FDA-approved
and launched into the market
the following year. Compounding these delays is the increasing
pressure from U.S. commercial
and private health plans as well
as government agencies to reduce drug prices.
Companies must urgently
plug the holes of leaky processes.
Given the right technologies for
seamless enterprise-wide proj-
ect collaboration, market delays
can be greatly diminished – if not
eliminated – and prices can start
to drop accordingly. While many
are making a move to modern
cloud-based technologies in oth-
er areas of the business, com-
panies often confuse horizontal
applications that address broad
business functions versus spe-
cialized software focused on proj-
ect management to optimize pro-
cesses in making a real difference
in time to market.
Other industries understand
the importance of project management. In fact, many Fortune
500 companies create centralized Project Offices, equipped
with enterprise software to manage their complex projects. However, enterprise project collaboration is not yet a priority for the
life sciences industry, resulting in
departments implementing their
choice of limited project software
and methodologies to manage
their particular area. Without an
integrated project collaboration
model across the entire organization, it’s nearly impossible for
commercial teams to see the full
picture while missing the opportunity to respond in real time to
issues that might otherwise cause
delays to market.
A holistic approach to
project management
Life sciences executives recognize
the need for a more holistic approach to product launches, and
are starting to adopt a new type
of technology called Enterprise
Project Collaboration (EPC) software. EPC promises to substantially increase the productivity of
cross-functional teams – by up to
40 percent – throughout the lifecycle of drug development and
commercialization.
In contrast to traditional proj-
ect management tools, cloud-
based EPC solutions seamlessly
connect stakeholders, push daily
tasks, raise accountability, and
provide transparency into pro-
gram activities. By connecting
workflows across teams, exter-
nal collaborators, and business
partners onto a single platform,
this work management software
breaks down the silos interrupt-
ing business flow to streamline
communication, coordination,
and collaboration.
Workers no longer need to sift
through emails, searching for relevant documents, preparing customized spreadsheets and slides
for stakeholders, or attending
scores of meetings, which leaves
them with limited time to focus
on completing actual deliverables. With everyone in sync, the
EPC software moves information
seamlessly across the organization, reducing friction in data
exchange and ensuring everyone is working on the same page
to make better decisions and
achieve business objectives.
Operating more intuitively
than traditional software programs, this new work management software automates the
sequence of daily priorities, informing individuals of their daily
priorities to stay on top of work
to get more done throughout the
day. By connecting every influencing action and decision on a
brand’s journey, the entire team
remains in the loop on project
progress and status.
With shared documents and
connected spreadsheets, project
managers can identify issues
and delays sooner and have
more meaningful conversations
with teams in completing tasks.
The new EPC approach also pro-
vides personalized dashboards
to inform team leaders about
program progress, problems,
and actions. Business execu-
tives can instantly drill down to
understand issues and review
pertinent information across all
their projects in real time. With
greater visibility and transpar-
ency into work processes, com-
mercial team leaders can stay
abreast of key deliverables, in-
teract more efficiently during
team meetings and make more
informed decisions.
When dealing with stakeholders outside the organization, the
EPC application removes the
barriers of information to continue collaboration. For example, a marketing agency partner
assigned to create supporting
marketing materials may inadvertently stall progress waiting
for client feedback. Communicating through emails may cause
long delays as communication is
not prioritized or pushed to the
forefront of other emails. Therefore, both the client and pharmaceutical company do not take
action, often blaming each other
for delays.
An EPC approach captures
the attention of both parties,
making deadlines a priority and
ensuring everyone keeps pace
Enterprise project collaboration
salesandmarketing
L
Figure 1: Until we ;nd a better solution to the drug patent problem, for every new drug, a pharmaceutical company gets at most 20 years to make a return on its investment. Outlined is the
typical timeline involved in developing and marketing a novel drug. E;cient process management of each stage of development, launch, and global commercialization make a signi;cant
di;erence in recovering costs and making a pro;t.
A shift from traditional
project management
practices, EPC is designed to
accelerate drugs to market
The starring role it can play in driving down costs
of drug development and commercialization
