BearingPoint Announces Results of Benchmarking Study on “Managing the Clinical Trials Supply Chain”

MCLEAN, Va.--BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE), one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, today announced the results of a benchmarking study on “Managing the Clinical Trials Supply Chain.” The study, conducted with AMR Research, Inc., found the complexity of clinical trials will dramatically rise by 2010 due to the increase of clinical trials across various geographic locations. Due to legal and regulatory requirements associated with global trials, organizations will also face new challenges managing the clinical supply chain and efficiently completing trials.

The survey of more than 100 pharmaceutical and biotech executives found 26 percent expect to conduct 21 or more Phase I studies per year by 2010 – an 18 percent increase from 2007. The survey also revealed significant growth in global trials, with Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America topping the list of regional expansion. The considerable growth in global trials means pharmaceutical and biotech companies will also continue to face key challenges successfully navigating the legal and regulatory requirements across geographic boundaries.

“Globalization is having a significant impact on every industry, and the pharmaceutical and biotech space is no exception – this study validates that,” said Ellen Reilly, managing director, life sciences at BearingPoint. “As a result, these organizations need to be implementing best practices now to efficiently manage their clinical supply chains to bring new drugs to market faster and in an effective manner, while also remaining compliant with global regulations. Otherwise, they will be left in the dust trying to navigate this very dynamic and competitive market.”

Additional key findings of the study include:

• More than 57 percent of survey respondents anticipate increasing or maintaining the number of subjects participating in their Phase I, II, and III studies by 2010.
• Sixty-nine percent plan to conduct at least four adaptive trials in 2010, a 30 percent increase over those that expected to conduct at least four adaptive trials in 2007.
• Only 13 percent of clinical trials products shipped and received are on time and 90 percent complete, showcasing the need for significant improvements in the supply chain process.
• The most significant clinical trial supply chain challenge is getting the right kit at the right time to the right site.

“We have spoken with a large number of pharmaceutical and life sciences executives and senior managers in the past six months on the challenges in the clinical trial supply chain,” said Hussain Mooraj, research director, life sciences at AMR Research. “Although companies are looking to new products to fuel future growth, the complexity, regulatory demands, and disconnected demand-sensing and product supply processes result in an extended and expensive development process. The conundrum is how to accelerate the speed of development and drive down supply chain costs at the same time.”

Pfizer has recently engaged BearingPoint to analyze its clinical supply chain business process of shipping clinical API internationally. BearingPoint provided Pfizer with a business process improvement plan focused on Pfizer’s clinical API shipments, helping to enable the company to redefine its supply chain approach for moving material internationally. With the analysis complete, Pfizer expects to see improvements in shipment lead times, cost reductions, and compliance enhancements once implementation begins in 2008.

“We were facing a number of clinical API supply chain challenges such as long lead times and short forecast horizons, but our biggest issue was the inconsistency around ownership of the pre-shipment choreography,” said Donald Freeman, Continuous Improvement Lead, Pfizer, Inc. “Understanding our challenge, we worked with BearingPoint to help us determine the root cause of the performance variability and develop an efficient and consistent future-state shipping process map. BearingPoint’s vision and experience enabled us to focus on the right changes, which will ultimately lead to a more effective clinical supply chain.”

A recent Webinar conducted by BearingPoint, which featured AMR Research and Pfizer, discussed the results of the “Managing the Clinical Trials Supply Chain” study and best practices. A recording of the presentation is available at www.bearingpoint.com/clinicaltrialwebcast.

About BearingPoint, Inc.

BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE) is one of the world's largest providers of management and technology consulting services to Global 2000 companies and government organizations in 60 countries worldwide. Based in McLean, Va., the firm has more than 17,000 employees focusing on the Public Services, Financial Services and Commercial Services industries. BearingPoint professionals have built a reputation for knowing what it takes to help clients achieve their goals, and working closely with them to get the job done. Our service offerings are designed to help our clients generate revenue, increase cost-effectiveness, manage regulatory compliance, integrate information and transition to “next-generation” technology. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.BearingPoint.com.