Building cro of tommorow
When clinical research organisation engages with new partners - it must upskill and upgrade services and collaboration capabilities. The rise of artificial intelligence and big data means evidence generation now goes far beyond interventional studies, while the environment continues to demand more discussion around value and pricing. Unwrapping complex science and value makes for a challenging remit for medical – without adding the shifting demands caused by the changing working patterns and global uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, is the time to meet stakeholders where they are, which may be somewhere very different to where they were merely months ago.
Building the CRO of tomorrow - it's not only clinical trials, it's not only communication – it’s both. It is really a combination of evidence generation and scientific exchange. Also it’s really demonstrates that patients are the new stakeholders, because they can shape the success or failure of a clinical probe. They are the key decision makers where their own adherence to our medicines is concerned. This makes it fundamental to respect and understand the patient community perspective, conducting responsible clinical trials, expanding access and recognising the importance of transparent reporting to all patients.
The varied nature of the medical stakeholders now engages with require the modern field force to move beyond peer-to-peer conversations with physicians about clinical data to communicating comfortably with regulators and patient groups. Stakeholders want to go beyond data discussions to talk about value across all paradigms, so the societal impact, as well as cost and traditional measurements of value.
They also want to be able to reach you when they want information, so the way we make ourselves available also needs to change. This unquestionably requires a drive towards digital engagement. Here is great opportunity to harness retroactive database and real-world data analyses to benefit from the best of virtual interactions and to maintain momentum with fewer physical interactions.
The most competitive pharma companies in the future will be masters of data and digital technology, they will be able to generate and analyse vast volumes of real-world data and excel at communicating scientific evidence. Making the most of digital tools and extracting new insights from data will require filling knowledge gaps and learning new hard skills from different ways of data generation through to better uses of existing data, advanced analytics and health economic models.
We have to give our customers more airtime. We have to be more curious, inspired and self-aware. We have to change not just the way we communicate, like talking via virtual technology, but also what we communicate, making it relevant in the changing times we're living in. We believe that companies which learn and do this best will emerge more successful in the aftermath of this pandemic.