Subscribe

Oracle, PWC enable faster development of better, more affordable drugs


Johannesburg, 30 Nov 2000

Oracle Corporation, the largest provider of software for e-business, and PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services have today announced they are working together to develop and market e-business solutions for clinical research and development in the pharmaceutical industry.

The first solution to be developed will enable pharmaceutical companies to transform the drug development process and hence significantly reduce drug development time and costs. This will be achieved by allowing companies to leverage the vast quantities of information that are currently scattered between numerous systems both internally and in the external environment. Not only will this benefit pharmaceutical companies who currently spend in excess of $600 million and take ten years to develop a new drug, but it will also enable patients all over the world to benefit from better, more affordable treatments sooner than ever before.

However, such a transformation will not all occur overnight - re-inventing a process that has not fundamentally changed for more than 40 years is a major undertaking even for the most advanced pharmaceutical company. Rather, a phased approach is envisaged, allowing pharmaceutical companies to customise the new process for drug development to meet their own needs and time-scales. Therefore, Oracle and PricewaterhouseCoopers are developing an open architecture for their solution, capable of handling data irrespective of a company`s existing technology platform, and allowing new applications and data sources to be added as science and technology advance in the future. Together, the two companies will be able to offer pharmaceutical companies the means to integrate and access the many different sources of information they have today, especially following a merger. This will also enable them to sustain today`s current one-size-fits-all, blockbuster drug model in the near term, while allowing the flexibility to change the model as advances in science and technology make this possible.

The venture brings together PricewaterhouseCoopers` world-wide consulting leadership in industry knowledge, strategic change, process improvement and technology solutions with Oracle`s industry leading e-business software and experience gained from developing applications for clinical data capture and management Juan Rada, Senior Vice President, Oracle Industries EMEA, said, "The key to this revolution is a central data repository, which accommodates and integrates all the relevant data, irrespective of source and format.

Significant benefits accrue as this critical resource is exploited and interrogated to improve decision making throughout the drug development lifecycle and beyond. Without Oracle`s innovation and strength in data management, such a development would not be possible. And Internet technology means that this centralised information can be shared, via personalised and secure portal access, among all of those involved in the drug development process, possibly even including regulators and patients." He continued, "this approach will cut through functional and organisational boundaries and significantly reduce the massive wastage of time and energy involved in re-cutting data to meet the needs of different groups".

Steve Arlington, Global Head of Research and DevelopmentConsulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting, said, "Looking ahead to 2005, the industry cannot continue with its current development model and survive. On average, it has traditionally taken 12-15 years from target identification to market launch. Over the last decade the cost of drug development has risen to in excess of $600m.

Everyone agrees this isn`t sustainable, but until now only incremental changes in the process have been possible, despite the industry`s best efforts to improve things. However, using our approach, by killing projects that don`t succeed earlier (currently only 1 in 10 drugs make it from test tube to market) and by reducing the size, complexity and number of trials, a typical pharmaceutical company might expect to make double-digit percentage savings in the current cost and time in clinical development."

Share

Oracle

Oracle Corporation provides the software that powers the Internet. For more information about Oracle, please visit http://www.oracle.com

PricewaterhouseCoopers

The Management Consulting Services (MCS) practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers helps companies harness the competitive benefits of E-Business by integrating strategic change, performance improvement and technology solutions. MCS provides a range of industry-specific E-Business services designed to provide total solutions to global companies and Internet start-ups. These services include e-business strategy, web design and development, process redesign and improvement, systems and applications design and implementation, and outsourcing. To augment its services, MCS is making investments in and forming relationships with companies that provide services in three key areas: web design, e-products and e-transactions.

Visit us at www.pwcglobal.com/pharma/

Trademarks

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. For further information, please go to http://www.oracle.com or http://www.pwcglobal.com/pharma/