The alliance aims to help clients work with a single integrated partner in order to bring drug candidates to proof of concept faster and reduce costs.
Marie-Helene Raigneau, executive director of marketing and business development at Algorithm Pharma, an Altasciences company, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that the alliance was created because of high demand.
Over the past year, “we have been receiving more and more feedback from our small to mid-size biotech and pharma clients, citing their need for a single, integrated partner that could help guide them through the drug development process, from pre-clinical through to human proof of concept, in order to minimize delays and time lost during the transition from preclinical to clinical development” she said.
Raigneau cited both companies’ ability to be flexible as a key to bringing in more clients. In addition, the partner companies are providing sponsors with the opportunity for:
- Reduced risk —Projects will be managed by one individual across preclinical and clinical evaluations, or co-managed from start to end, “therefore the transfer of knowledge is done automatically”;
- Reduced cost — The companies will use integrated quotation, contract, logistics, invoice process, as well as standardized communication format and report templates throughout the different stages, which shorten the overall processing times and effort on the clients side;
- Reduced timelines — Clinical protocols can be prepared during the preclinical phase, thereby reducing timelines between the phases; and
- Access to expert input into protocol designs, interpretation of findings and strategic options across preclinical and clinical, throughout the entire process.
“Both organizations have collaborated extensively over the past 25 years and share the same approach to customer service and flexibility – our company structure allows for quick responses and accommodates last-minute changes easily. ITR and Altasciences have already worked together to provide Bioanalytical services for complex analysis on preclinical studies that will then extend to the clinical programs, this alliance was a natural extension from which many of our clients have already benefitted,” added Ginette Bain, SVP at ITR Laboratories Canada.