TransCelerating and Crowdsourcing Pharma R&D A Critical Shift in Drug Development in the Post-Blockbuster WorldClick Here for Additional Resources
Guests Thomas Krohn, Director, Clinical Open Innovation, Eli Lilly, Jerry Matczak, Community Manager for the Lilly Clinical Open Innovation Team, and Roland Andersson, Director for Accenture’s Life Sciences R&D practice (see Bios), discuss Lilly’s Clinical Open Innovation project and the Transcelerate joint venture, both of which promote open source collaboration to speed development of new drugs.
Aired LIVE on: Wednesday, October 24, 2012
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Background
From “Introducing Clinical Open Innovation“:
There’s plenty of evidence that drug development is broken. The estimated efficacy rate of drugs for many common illnesses comes in at 50% or below, and a recent Forbes article by Matt Herper suggests the cost of bringing a new drug to patients is twice the already-big-number commonly used — over $4 billion per drug.
Patients need better.
The Lilly Clinical Open Innovation team exists to make it better. We believe that Open Innovation models — focused on clinical drug development — can result in transformational gains in value-to-patients and efficiency.
We also believe that open data, linked, crowdsourced, consumed and curated by experts outside (as well as inside) the walls of pharma will bring innovative insights and wisdom. And that open communities will set and meet objectives to reduce costs and improve outcomes.
We’ll explore challenge driven innovation and gamification to tap into expertise which might otherwise be missed. We embrace open source development to maximize technical contribution and benefit, and will Work Out Loud to assure transparency on our projects. To manage rights in a distributed digital age we leverage Creative Commons licensing. In the open, with no strings attached.
From “10 pharmas form nonprofit TransCelerate to accelerate R&D of new medicines“:
Ten leading biopharmaceutical companies announced today [Sept. 19, 2012] that they have formed a non-profit organization to accelerate the development of new medicines. Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Genentech a member of the Roche Group, and Sanofi launched TransCelerate BioPharma Inc. (“TransCelerate”), the largest ever initiative of its kind, to identify and solve common drug development challenges with the end goals of improving the quality of clinical studies and bringing new medicines to patients faster.
Through participation in TransCelerate, each of the ten founding companies will combine financial and other resources, including personnel, to solve industry-wide challenges in a collaborative environment. Together, member companies have agreed to specific outcome-oriented objectives and established guidelines for sharing meaningful information and expertise to advance collaboration.
“There is widespread alignment among the heads of R&D at major pharmaceutical companies that there is a critical need to substantially increase the number of innovative new medicines, while eliminating inefficiencies that drive up R&D costs,” said newly appointed acting CEO of TransCelerate BioPharma, Garry Neil, MD, Partner at Apple Tree Partners and formerly Corporate Vice President, Science & Technology, Johnson & Johnson. “Our mission at TransCelerate BioPharma is to work together across the global research and development community and share research and solutions that will simplify and accelerate the delivery of exciting new medicines for patients.”
Members of TransCelerate have identified clinical study execution as the initiative’s initial area of focus. Five projects have been selected by the group for funding and development, including: development of a shared user interface for investigator site portals, mutual recognition of study site qualification and training, development of risk-based site monitoring approach and standards, development of clinical data standards, and establishment of a comparator drug supply model.
Questions/Topics Discussed
- Tell us more about The Lilly Clinical Open Innovation team. How did it come about? Who is involved? What is its goal? How will it achieve those goals? etc.
- Regarding Transcelerate, same questions: How did it come about? Who is involved? What is its goal? How will it achieve those goals? etc.
- Lilly is also part of Transcelerate. How does one activity complement the other?
- Specifically, what diseases are suited for this approach and why?
- Please explain how you plan to use crowdsourcing, gamification, etc., to achieve your goals.
- In terms of sharing information, can you say specifically what information will be shared? Where will the line be drawn between “open source” information and proprietary information?
Guest Bios
Thomas Krohn is an experienced change leader in medical and clinical business areas. He has a rich background including hospital and retail pharmacy, international healthcare development in sub-Saharan Africa, and clinical development in the pharmaceutical industry. Bringing medical, business and information together is Tom’s passion and has been the hallmark of his leadership in diverse roles ranging from hospital staff pharmacist to CFO and General Manager of a large non-profit organization. Tom’s 10 years of leadership roles in Madagascar have been instrumental in shaping his views on the power of community, engaged colleagues and innovation. For the past 10 years, Tom has worked at Eli Lilly where he has led multiple transformation programs in clinical development including IT strategy, data management and statistics, global clinical portfolio management, clinical planning and trial design. Tom’s current focus is on open innovation in clinical development and leads the Lilly Clinical Open Innovation Team.
Jerry Matczak, Community Manager for the Lilly Clinical Open Innovation Team, is responsible for connecting people to the team’s efforts. He has a BA in English & Philosophy from Allegheny College and a MS degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. His IT experience at Eli Lilly combined with a variety of sales, marketing and technology roles in startup and consulting environments provide a diverse set of experiences that help him join people & technology. Jerry is equal part translator, sense-maker, community-builder and networker, with a common-sense understanding of technology and people.
Roland Andersson is director for Accenture’s Life Sciences R&D practice. He has more than 20 years of experience working with biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic companies, with primary expertise in strategy, post-merger integration and R&D management. Prior to joining Accenture, he held senior positions at Back Bay Strategic Advisors; Leerink Swann Strategic Advisors; Strategic Decisions Group; Arthur D. Little Inc. Roland started his career at Pharmacia Corporation where he held a number of positions working with development, marketing and quality assurance. Roland Andersson received an M.S. in engineering and a Ph.D. (Teknisk Licentiat) in management from Linkoping Institute of Technology (Sweden). His research work was in the area of integrated product development processes within industrial companies, and his thesis work, published as a book, is currently in its third printing.
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