A Revolution in R&D

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CASE STUDY: REDISCOVERING DISCOVERY RESEARCH
In a global pharmaceutical company, the discovery
division was slowly undergoing a change of character,
from a pre-genomics one of small, independent
efforts to an up-to-date one of highly defined and
sequenced processes. The company was anxious to
speed up and optimize this inevitable transition. It
had recently created several centers of excellence in
research, each containing a particular combination
of technologies, resources, and expertise, but these
new groupings remained in need of improved
process flow, both within and between them.
An “industrializing” approach was proposed: why
not treat each center of excellence as a factory, and
in that way rethink or refashion the discovery program
as a whole?
A factory-based structure imposes a strict discipline.
Typically, factories have clear, measurable objectives,
with defined inputs and outputs, and specified
resources and roles. Efficiency is closely regulated:
internal processes and interfaces are optimized for
approaches will be available, and how effectively
will they relieve the bottleneck? The head of development,
for example, should already be contemplating
the inevitable increase in demand for clinical
trial capacity and weighing the various options,
such as pharmacogenetics, for meeting it.
Retaining Balance:
Capacity Planning and Management (CPM)
After the initial jolt of genomics, supply and demand
should get back into alignment, thanks to the combined
forces of resource reallocation and process
redesign. But this restored balance is a precarious
one, and needs careful and regular maintenance.
That is where capacity planning and management,
or CPM, can play an invaluable role. By enabling an
organization to keep supply and demand aligned,
CPM also enables it to make rational plans, linked to
capacities and resources, and thereby to manage
projects with optimal efficiency.
scale, quality, and productivity; external interactions
are monitored regularly for compatibility and cost
effectiveness.
In keeping with this ethos, the company set about
defining processes within each potential factory as
clearly as possible. The project team set targets for
inputs, outputs, and quality standards; it identified
activities that could be completed inside the factory,
as distinct from those supplied as support from outside;
and it itemized links between factories themselves,
between factory and nonfactory research,
and between research units and units outside research
and development.
The result has been a subtly redesigned discovery
division. Processes and functions are now clearly
assigned to specific factories, expectations and
achievements are more transparent than before, and
the interactions throughout discovery research are
now easily tracked from factory to factory, with the
map being constantly refined.
Though well established in high-profile corporations
such as General Electric, Hewlett-Packard,
and Cisco, CPM is conspicuously rare in biotech
and pharmaceutical companies. For the genomics
revolution to realize anything like its full productivity
potential, efficient CPM will be immensely beneficial
if not imperative.
Establishing the New Organization and its
Governance
Implementing the process changes just mentioned
will entail a thorough review of a company’s existing
hierarchies and procedures. For the process
changes to yield optimal value, changes also need
to be made in traditional decision-making methods
and in organizational structures.
New Linkages and Interfaces
To begin with organizational changes. With the
value chain so much altered in appearance, and