Contract support and technical service providers expected to play growing role in drug development, says Tufts CSDD

Drug sponsors and their contract service providers are using more sophisticated, integrated and coordinated relationship structures to deliver greater speed and efficiency, a trend that is expected to accelerate, according to a panel of leaders from the research-based drug industry recently convened by the USA’s Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

"Sponsors are adopting relationships with their technical and support service providers much the same way they have established strategic, integrated alliances with contract clinical research service providers," said Ken Getz, assistant professor at Tufts CSDD, adding: "These services, once considered an afterthought, are increasingly viewed as integral to driving better project planning and higher levels of performance and efficiency."

The adoption of these relationships, he said, is due in part to the growing numbers of increasingly complex, global clinical trials that require drug development sponsors to manage ever-more diverse combinations of contract technical and support services, such as clinical supplies, testing, and cardiac safety assessments.