What Factors Are Most Important To Consider When Collaborating Externally On A Combination Drug Clinical Trial?

CLINICAL COLLABORATIONS CAN EXPAND THE USE CASE for a sponsor’s investigational product or become a dead weight. The difference comes down to execution. To execute at a high level, it is helpful to think about the “3 Ps”: people, process, and product. The coordination of people among product teams during a collaboration is critical to the success of the program. There needs to be a clear definition of roles from each company and among the collective team. On process, clinical trial execution requires frequent communication between collaborators, each of which has their own project management systems.

It is important to define a single project management system and clinical trial team lead for the collaboration. Regarding product, do not start a clinical trial collaboration unless you are really excited about working with the other company’s product. This is a great internal yardstick for determining if a company should move forward with a trial. Incorporating the 3 Ps into a company’s clinical trial collaboration evaluation, on-ramp, and execution will provide the groundwork for a successful collaboration.

MARTIN LEHR is CEO at Context Therapeutics.