Executives from across the pharmaceutical industry gathered in Washington D.C. at the American Association for Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS) PharmSci 360 conference last week, seeking to learn new ways to drive their respective businesses.
Science Exchange’s CEO and Co-Founder, Elizabeth Iorns, PhD, joined leaders from Eli Lilly and iSpecimen in a panel discussion titled “Outsourcing Research through Online Research & Development Marketplaces (RDM) — Opportunities and Challenges.”
Given that up to 50% of R&D budgets may be dedicated to outsourced projects by 2020, there was high interest in this invite-only session. The 60-minute panel discussion was followed by a closed networking reception, permitting a private space for open discussion.
Some specific advantages conferred by technology-driven RDM included:
- Online R&D marketplaces create standards across a range of processes and workflows, including a standardized approach to qualifying and contracting with service providers
- An online R&D marketplace can generate network effects that are not possible for a single organization to achieve
- Greater efficiency and accuracy through automation of approval workflows, company-specific governance, and guided buying from preferred providers
