Bio/Pharmaceutical NEWS - Fall 2011

Flexible service models are key to strategic partnership

FTE Team members support a client’s raw materials testing project.

It’s no coincidence that all of Lancaster Laboratories’ largest clients use multiple service delivery models. With more than 800 active pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical clients, Lancaster Labs’ client needs are infinitely diverse due to the mix of technology, development pipeline and outsourcing strategy from each company. Lancaster Labs is constantly expanding capabilities, reducing cost and working to improve service levels to meet client needs. Most of its 800 clients take a tactical approach to outsourcing. Lancaster Labs values the relationships with these clients and does everything possible to provide an excellent service experience. A small percentage of clients are looking for more than a tactical outsourcing relationship. These companies are looking for a strategic partner, and they are willing to invest the time and effort to nurture these partnerships. Clients with a partnering strategy expect and deserve a return on this investment.

A strategic partner must do more than meet needs; a strategic partner should provide solutions to a client’s most difficult challenges. These challenges often include reducing headcount and cost while increasing productivity and accelerating their product development pipelines. The flexible way in which Lancaster Labs delivers services allows us to more effectively solve clients’ problems and become a true strategic partner.

Service delivery has evolved over the past decade at Lancaster Laboratories and now includes five different models: Traditional Fee for Service, Managed Hours, Full Time Equivalent (FTE), Professional Scientific Staffing (PSS) and Asset/Operation Ownership. Each model was developed in response to specific client needs and delivers a unique value. These models, however, are not mutually exclusive of one another. Lancaster Labs’ largest clients use multiple models in tandem to receive the best overall value.

As an example, one large Pharm/Biopharm company with strict limits on expanding headcount needed additional product release testing capacity in response to increased demand for a marketed product. Their manufacturing facility had lab space, equipment and the cGMP procedures in place; they simply needed more people. They were frustrated with the high turnover rate inherent with temporary staffing but preferred to keep this testing at the manufacturing site. Lancaster Labs provides a solution through its PSS model. This innovative model places full-time scientists and technical support personnel managed by Lancaster Labs directly at the client’s facility to provide a non-permanent, long term and cost effective way to meet client staffing needs.

The same company was looking for ways to shorten the time to market for a new vaccine. The internal laboratories supporting this development candidate were faced with conflicting priorities and impossible deadlines. After multiple strategy meetings, the client decided to focus the internal labs on core activities and outsource non-core activities that included method validation, stability and release testing. Based on the consistent work flow and project duration, Lancaster Labs proposed its FTE model. Under this model, Lancaster Labs provided a team of dedicated full-time employees to work on this program within our facilities, using our infrastructure. In exchange for the long-term commitment and high utilization rate of the FTE program, Lancaster Labs is able to deliver, on average, a 25 percent cost savings when compared to performing the same scope of work under a fee for service arrangement.

While these other service delivery models are in place, Lancaster Labs continues to support many projects on a fee for service basis. This model provides quick access to testing services for individual projects or methods.

Having the breadth of capabilities and the global capacity to be the one-stop-shop for cGMP testing makes Lancaster Labs a great service provider. It’s the flexibility in how clients can access services and the benefits of each delivery model that make Lancaster Labs a true strategic partner.