Integrating internal and external bioanalytical support to deliver a diversified pharmaceutical portfolio

The portfolios of pharmaceutical companies have diversified substantially over recent years in recognition that monotherapies and/or small molecules are less suitable for modulating many complex disease etiologies. Furthermore, there has been increased pressure on drug-development budgets over this same period. This has placed new challenges in the path of bioanalytical scientists, both within the industry and with contract research organizations (CROs). Large pharmaceutical, biotechnology and small-medium healthcare enterprises have had to make important decisions on what internal capabilities they wish to retain and where CROs offers a significant strategic benefit to their business model. Our journey has involved asking where we believe an internal bioanalytical facility offers the greatest benefit to progressing drug candidates through the drug-development cycle and where externalization can help free up internal resources, adding flexibility to our organization in order to deal with the inevitable peaks and troughs in workload.