22 Jun CROs and Translation Services to meet Pharmaceutical industry’s needs

The evolution of the market, the technology, the market players, demands and requirements means changes for any sector. However, this is particularly true as regards pharmaceutical industry, which needs to face a more flexible, creative, innovative approach for the coming years, in order to deal with demand for new products that satisfy unmet medical needs, as well as shorter drug-development times or patent expirations.

Different local markets and quality control systems implementation in clinical research related tasks also require optimal quality and accurate translations that will reach approval of the various required organizations. Therefore, both CROs and Medical translation services need to be part of pharmaceutical industry’s solution to these challenges.

Current state of play and future objectives to be met by CROs and medical translation services

In current state of play, drug development costs amount to more than $1 billion, in average, and development procedure takes 10 to 15 years. Profitability and cost-effectiveness, with this numbers are not very easily reached if we put into the equation that only 20% of medicines are profitable, once they reach the market.

On top of that, delays in introducing a developed drug to the market imply around $8 million costs per day. An exclusive and specialized translation quality service that is optimal with rates will beneficial for CROs and Sponsors. The objectives then are to automate as much as possible data collection processes concerning clinical trials and so on, which save time, money and enhance decision-making. Another objective is also to profit from medical translation services like Okomeds, offering a variable cost system that allows CROs and Sponsors  to increase their profits.

Traditional models and future requirements that emphasize the advantages of virtual models

Traditional contract research organization models have synchronized processes, built global infrastructures and enriched their service offer so that pharma industry can take a “one-stop shop” approach. Medical translation services have contributed with translations of clinical trial protocols, technical manuals, registry documents, medical reports…

In the future, the service industry needs to provide these sponsor companies with a virtual CRO/Medical Translation services model in order to satisfy pharmaceutical industry’s need of lower drug-development costs, without compromising rapidly and safe and effective medicines. In this sense medical translation services need to be a partner as regards data management, in-vitro diagnostics, laboratory analysis, medical equipment or pharmaceutical products.

In-depth knowledge of local markets and specific regulations will also be required from any medical translation service, as well as virtual support on patient informed consent forms, product information, or user guides translations. Until now, leverage outsourcing services was enough. Now, CRO outsourced companies need to take a leap step, using integrated platforms, homogenizing data collected from various systems to aggregate and synchronize them.

Adapting to new trends

In this line, new services will probably be outsourced, such as IT or business functionalities. This further specialization affects all contributors in the drug process development, as new partnerships are required to improve trial management and document translation within budget and on-time for drug approval. In this sense, certified translation, translations for Clinical trial protocols, financial reports, Informed Consent, and life questionnaires, along with adequate research and quality, will be part of the deal.

Larger Pharma companies tend to search long-term strategic alliances that include both traditional and non-traditional services. Small and medium sized Pharma companies’ strategy is not necessarily long term, but they cover 60-80 % of the market. Therefore, a representative market quote for both CROs and translation services requires being able to compete in this scenario where quick ROI is more and more demanded.