A recent report by Cutting Edge Information revealed that 61 per cent of companies surveyed - which included big guns such as Amgen, Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca - outsource at least part of their material development activities.
Half of those surveyed also outsource their call centres and market research, while 44 per cent outsource their communication with program users, said the report, titled: "Pharmaceutical Patient Adherence and Disease Management."
Traditionally pharmaceutical companies have been renowned for their large marketing budgets and aggressive drug promotion in order to focus their efforts on attaining new patients for their products.
More recently, companies are realising the importance of also channeling energy into retaining their existing patients - survey data shows that on average it costs a company 38 per cent more to attain a new patient than to retain an existing one.
As a result, more and more firms are allocating resources to disease management and patient adherence programs in a bid to generate and retain revenue and also help bolster their company image.
The growing appeal of outsourcing these specific program activities is that it can allow pharma companies to more effectively manage several key steps in program development, while reducing infrastructure cost and improving task efficiency, according to Amanda Zuniga, research analyst at Cutting Edge Information.
In addition, patient confidentiality issues also encourage companies to outsource specific portions of a program, as doctors and patients are more comfortable with outside vendors handling patient records rather than pharmaceutical companies.
"Outsourcing provides several advantages for pharmaceutical companies," said Zuniga.