Cytel SVP Corey Dunham’s inaugural post on leading the industry’s largest Biometrics CRO considers the FSP Engagement Landscape, and how the responsibilities of Sponsors and FSP providers are shaped by the needs of different projects.
Cytel prides itself on providing a high-quality, personalized approach to supporting clients as they navigate the intricacies of 21st century drug development. Given the range of distinctive challenges that a Functional Services Provider is called upon to solve, one of our goals is to reduce sponsor oversight burden for our clients and replace it with capabilities and functionalities efficiently provided by Cytel.
People conceptualize the relationship between sponsor and CRO in a number of different ways. I like to look at these from 2 perspectives:
1. How much oversight do you, the sponsor, want over resource deployment?
2. How much differentiated value do I want to gleam from the CRO I partner with?
Some view CROs as a source of contingent resourcing, which is really undifferentiated and exclusively relies on the sponsor to forecast, resource and deploy CRO Staff. When staffing is low, CROs can be a source of recruitment for specific projects or needs. Staff augmentation on the other hand is slightly more nuanced. It occurs when a CRO begins to demonstrate competency to support the needs of teams that are a part of the sponsor’s permanent staff. These two forms of the sponsor-CRO relationship require much more oversight on the part of the sponsor.
Would it not be much easier if a CRO could deploy a team that already had a proven FSP playbook, internal resource planning systems, and the line management and skill development strategies that dramatically reduce the oversight necessary on the part of the sponsor? That is a part of the Cytel Promise. Through Strategic Capacity Management and Functional Services Outsourcing,Cytel monitors and organizes resource needs as they arise, and takes ownership for both delivery and management.
On the farthest end of the spectrum, Cytel can manage the entire program/project. This allows our sponsors to use the full depth and breadth of the Cytel staff, systems and processes. We call this our Project Based Services model.
These five models of the sponsor-CRO relationship are all available through Cytel’s Functional Services. Click the button below to speak to a Services Project Manager.
About Corey Dunham
Corey has over 20 years’ experience working within CRO’s, having begun his career in clinical data management with Parexel International. He is an industry recognized expert in clinical trial design and implementation, as well as an authority on innovative approaches to Data Management and technologies such as EDC, ePRO, CTMS and IXRS.
Prior to joining Cytel, Corey worked as a Vice President at ICON in multiple roles from Operations to Commercial.Most recently, he was responsible for the commercial development and direction of the Functional Solutions business and its solutions in the global FSP market. Corey also employed his strategic planning and leadership as VP, Operations / Head of Americas for the DOCS Global division where he led over 2,000 staff in the key areas of Functional Services, Strategic Resourcing and Capacity Management. He delivered industry leading GM% on revenues of over $100 million.
Prior to ICON, Corey was the Global Head of Biometrics for Aptiv Solutions, and took the helm of delivering Biometrics Operations with global adaptive design in focus. Corey also contributed to the development and implementation of flagship products like AptivAdvantage and ADDPLAN.
