Altasciences
Simplifying The Outsourcing Paradigm

When a biopharma company lacks the resources or regulatory knowledge to bring their drug candidate to market, CROs and CDMOs play an essential role. Often, outsourcing critical phases of early drug development means working with separate CROs and CDMOs, and the sponsor assumes the burden of managing and liaising across services and companies. Transferring data, projects and/or methodologies between CROs/CDMOs can take time, is prone to error, and can lead to prolonged R&D timelines. From bottlenecks to hand-offs, these challenges ultimately delay the arrival of potentially life-saving drugs to market. This is an issue that industry expert Chris Perkin knows can be solved with an alternative approach to outsourcing.

Challenging The Paradigm

At Altasciences, CEO Chris Perkin and his team have reimagined the outsourcing paradigm, offering SMBs and large biopharma companies a simplified and faster pathway to drug development. As Chris explains, “The best way to reduce timelines and complications is by gaining control over the whole drug development process.” Altasciences is doing just that by integrating services from lead candidate selection to clinical proof of concept (and beyond) under one CRO/CDMO. With early drug development managed by one partner, development activities can occur in parallel rather than sequentially. The result is a proactive, quicker, and more agile drug development journey designed to minimize hand-offs, facilitate communication, shorten timelines, and reduce costs for sponsors.

How Altasciences Transforms Outsourcing

Transforming the traditional outsourcing paradigm takes more than a vision. “It’s impossible to reverse engineer integration, it’s either there from the beginning, or it’s not,” states Chris. When asked how Altasciences is able to provide fully integrated, end-to-end solutions, Chris identified three core pillars of their offering: operational structure, their intelligent drug development platform, and their Tell Us Once™ commitment.

Integration at Altasciences begins with a unique structure that diminishes operational silos, something Chris believes no other contemporary CRO or CDMO is doing. Altasciences’ operation is managed by two executives; in an end-to-end program, one executive covers the preclinical and clinical phases, while the other is responsible for trial design, reporting and manufacturing. They come together to ensure a seamless process as a molecule advances from one milestone to another. As Chris explains, this unique structure leverages the extensive preclinical, clinical, bioanalytical, and manufacturing backgrounds of their teams by assigning specialized scientists and project managers based on sponsors’ needs. This is what fosters, as Chris calls it, a “grassroots level” of integration that enables further synergy throughout the drug development journey.

Altasciences’ intelligent drug development platform demonstrates how integration stems from the operational structure and branches out into each phase of drug development. The platform applies parallel processing, high quality data, and anticipates potential roadblocks, for a program that easily and quickly adapts, saving clients time and money. A dedicated cross-functional project manager and single scheduling system works with the client throughout their journey. The project manager acts as a liaison between the client and Altasciences, and between scientific teams within Altasciences. Active timeline management using the single scheduling software and reliable data capture at each stage facilitate real-time responses to challenges that may arise therefore allowing for proactive solutions to be applied. This type of swift decision making not only maintains momentum, but also reduces the possibility of a drug failing in late-stage clinical testing.

Our services are specially designed and integrated to help clients of all sizes approach their trials in a proven and flexible way, all the way from lead candidate selection to proof of concept... and beyond

“The synergies created between phases and between the scientific teams and the clients translate into a results-driven exchange, a closer client relationship, and reduced drug development timelines,” Chris reflects.

Tell Us Once™ is Altasciences’ commitment to communication, and it’s the proprietary database behind the commitment that fuels integration across departments. “Communication is a crucial part of how we integrate all the pieces of a program; the lack of efficient communication is one of the leading causes for delays in drug development,” reveals Chris. The propriety database collects and shares client-specific data, preferences, drug information, and results across internal scientific teams, regardless of department or location. As a molecule advances, so does the client’s information. “Tell Us Once™ eliminates the need for clients to repeat themselves at the each stage of development – sponsors only need to tell their story once, and we’ll take care of the rest,” explains Chris.

Proven Results Of Integration

For a West Coast-based biopharma company, Altasciences’ approach to outsourcing synchronized their preclinical and clinical drug development research, which was previously split across two CROs. With the traditional outsourcing paradigm, the client waited for the two CROs to sequentially complete their tasks before submitting an Investigational New Drug (IND) application, and they failed to meet the timeline set by the stakeholders. Altasciences put the client on a faster track through the Canadian safety and regulatory body. Coupled with parallel processing, this reduced the client’s development timeline by 10 weeks. With Altasciences’ North American portfolio, the customer was able to proceed with the preclinical and clinical phases while simultaneously developing their IND application and Investigator’s Brochure, and they met their milestones with ease.

The Future Of Outsourcing

When asked to reflect on what differentiates Altasciences from other CROs/CDMOs, Chris summarizes, “Some CROs have a few or all the capabilities to take a drug all the way through the early phase drug development process, but none have the vertical and horizontal integration that truly allows for a more simplified, seamless, and faster journey.” For over 25 years, Altasciences has made integration part of the DNA of their business by establishing the talent, resources, processes, and company culture to transform integration into proven results for clients. And according to Chris, they have no plans of stopping: “We will continue to develop our portfolio, streamlining the outsourcing paradigm while entering new markets to offer our clients a comprehensive list of options to speed up their early phase drug development.”