CLOUD PLATFORMS: BRINGING CONSISTENCY, CONTROL & COMPLIANCE TO MANUFACTURER & SUPPLIER COLLABORATION MANAGEMENT
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Cloud platforms:
Bringing consistency,
control and compliance
to manufacturer and
supplier collaboration
management
The need for platforms that support efficient, com-
pliant collaboration with remote sites is greater than
ever. Next year, for the first time, drug developers
will spend more on contract R&D services than in-
house operations, according to the Tufts Center for
the Study of Drug Development
1
. Increased R&D
outsourcing is part of a broader move from vertical-
ly-integrated operations to networks of collaborators.
Outsourcing cuts fixed costs while ensuring access
to expertise, technology and geographic breadth.
These benefits persuaded biopharma companies to
embrace the approach despite its problems. Email,
fax and third-party technology systems facilitate
these collaborations, but create security, compli-
ance and efficiency challenges. Now, the emergence
of cloud collaboration platforms is promising to fix
these failings.
"Up until now, life sciences companies have collabo-
rated primarily through email and fax. They would
discover a non-conformance with a CMO, and pro-
ceed to exchange emails with them," said Bruce
Kratz, vice president of product development and
quality management specialist at Sparta Systems.
"When they needed a signature on a supplier's cor-
rective action, that was accomplished through fax.
It was inefficient, and made compliance reporting
challenging."
Biopharma companies can manage their global net-
works of suppliers and partners by deploying common
cloud platforms. Once deployed, the platform acts as
a central hub for the network. Internal and external
research, development and manufacturing facilities
automatically upload data to the common platform,
either via streaming or batch transfer. The head-
quarters of the drug company has access to all the
data. These systems enable biopharma companies to
improve consistency, quality and compliance while
realizing the benefits of collaboration.
Achieving compliance and control
The cloud eliminates many of the failings of legacy
approaches to collaboration. Historically, the lack of
shared platforms forced biopharma companies to
rely on systems run by their collaborators for data
1 "Insights Into Capturing Collaborative Value". Applied Clinical
Trials, 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
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