More than 100 biotechnology and drug development leaders who responded to surveys conducted during industry conferences earlier this year reported a wide range of barriers to the outsourcing of research and development (R&D) services, including the contracts review process, intellectual property (IP) security concerns and service provider qualification. The surveys were conducted by Science Exchange, a secure platform for outsourced research and development (R&D), during the 2017 Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) International Convention and 2017 Drug Industry Association (DIA) Global Annual Meeting. 

More than 75% of Science Exchange survey respondents ranked the following concerns as barriers (a significant barrier or somewhat of a barrier) to the outsourcing of R&D services:

• Having contracts reviewed and signed; 
• Security of IP; 
• Identifying service providers with required expertise;
• Qualifying service providers; and
• Negotiating pricing.

Time management related to R&D outsourcing was also reported as having a significant impact on these R&D leaders, with over 40% of those responding to the survey indicating they spent more than 20 hours to onboard each new outsourcing partner, from the request for proposal process, through contracting and start of the project. Finally, further demonstrating the impact of the time spent on administrative tasks related to outsourcing, more than 75% of survey respondents reported that the “hassle” of bringing on a new partner has previously led them to choose an existing vendor rather than seek out a more qualified option.

“This results of this survey echo the same concerns we heard from the leading biotech and pharma companies who now rely on Science Exchange to help them efficiently manage their outsourced R&D services,” said Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Science Exchange. “In review of enterprise clients’ experiences, we find that our Science Exchange clients save thousands of work hours each year on procurement, business operations, contracting and legal resources, and administrative tasks related to outsourcing—time that can instead be spent in discovery. It’s gratifying to see that we’re able to fulfill our goal to support the scientific discovery process by removing barriers to innovation for our clients.”