Technology Evaluation Consortium (TEC)
Pharmaceutical companies working in partnership with technology providers
The program provides technology sponsors with a channel to reach multiple pharmaceutical companies simultaneously. By leveraging a shared library of proprietary compounds (with correlated in vivo data) created by the pharma companies, technology innovators are able to further qualify their platforms.
More than 33% of participating pharma companies purchase/lease the technology or service following completion of the Technology Evaluation Consortium.
Member companies, making up Technology Evaluation team, provide direct input into the technology sponsor's product design and/or business model. The term of Technology Evalution Consortia is typically 3-6 months.
View our current projects
View case studies of past CHA projects
Software Validation Consortium (SVC)
Pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs) and software platform providers working together to reduce the time and cost of validating GLP software
Challenge: According to research conducted by CHA in 2011, the validation of a GLP software package (excluding software licenses and hardware) by an individual pharmaceutical company or a CRO can last more than a year, and cost anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000. Furthermore, our findings indicated that as much as 70-80% of the validation effort is duplicated across companies. The validation process is a barrier for drug developers to adopt the latest technology, which in turn inhibits new sales for software providers.
Solution: Providers of GLP software packages partner with CHA to organize industry consortia of experts comprised of existing customers and prospective buyers. CHA leverages experience and a vast network of relationships to build a project team of key stakeholders from multiple companies.
Step 1: CHA guides the consortium to reach consensus on a ‘template’ validation document, applying resources such as the software vendor’s test scripts, the Red Apple document, GAMP-5 and member validation protocols.
Step 2: The validation is conducted at a member company, and the completed validation package is leveraged across all other member sites. The goal is for all companies in the consortium to leverage the 80% of the completed validation that is common to all companies. Individual consortium members then implement the remaining 20% of the process that is specific to their needs.
Benefits:
For GLP software providers:
- Greatly reduced barriers to sales of drug discovery and development software tools
- Increased product feedback from the market
- More engaged working relationships with current and prospective clients
For pharmaceutical companies and CROs:
- Significantly reduced investment to validate GLP software systems
- Faster ROI on new software license purchases
- Knowledge sharing with peers at other companies
View press release for DSI’s SVC
Data Access Consortium (DAC)
Pharmaceutical companies and software platform providers working together to improve access to a company's own legacy saftey data
Challenge: Following years of mergers and acquisitions, high employee attrition and layoffs, and multiple iterations of data storage solutions and file types, pharmaceutical companies have found it increasingly difficult to access data from legacy safety studies. Answering the question "Where have we seen this drug effect before?" has become nearly impossible, despite the fact that this information could help pharma save millions in drug development costs. Further, a suitable technology solution does not yet exist, requiring companies to invest in significant co-development projects with a software company prior to receiving benefits from the technology.
Solution: CHA organizes a working group of pharmaceutical companies, including representatives from both the toxicology and IT departments.
Step 1: CHA facilitates a group discussion over several project team meetings to uncover key requirements in a solution. CHA drives group consensus to arrive at a manageable list of requirements that the consortium can use in partnership with a strategic software platform company to collaboratively develop a technology solution.
Step 2: The consortium, guided by CHA, works closely with the strategic software partner to complete development of a solution tailored to the consensus needs of member companies.
Benefits:
For the software provider:
- Late-stage development of a solution co-designed according to several prospective customers’ needs
- Increased product and business model feedback from the market
- More engaged working relationships with prospective clients
For pharmaceutical companies:
- Significantly reduced investment to co-develop a data access software solution
- Faster ROI on new software license purchases
- Knowledge sharing with peers at other companies