Big pharma’s 40-year love affair with outsourcing everything must end

otherwise investors will take their money elsewhere

[This is the thinking behind an interview with Megan Redshaw for TrialSite News yesterday evening, out next week]

Hypothesis for the interview

Big pharma’s 40-year love affair with outsourcing everything must end, otherwise investors will take their money elsewhere.

Why—three main reasons

• Pharma manufacturers divested their physical storage, logistics and distribution skills and assets to the wholesaler network. Through consolidation, this network is now dominated by three major corporations – McKesson, Cardinal, and AmerisourceBergen. Pharma manufacturers’ crucial link with the users of its products has been lost.

• Outsourcing drug development and commercialization activities to Contract Research Organisations (CROs) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations (CDMOs) has created a highly complex network of third-party contractors working on a fee-for-service basis. These tactical, arms-length relationships have resulted in the following:

  • Clinical trial sponsors and product lic…