Supply Chain Innovation Award - A Winning Team Reminisces
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Excerpts from the thoughts shared by the TransCelerate Team of Terry Walsh, Jason LaRoche & Nish Chudasama, upon winning the CSCMP 2017 Supply Chain Innovation Award:
On the prospect of participating in the case study competition:
In August 2016, Nish Chudasama on our team broached the idea of developing a case study describing the TransCelerate Comparator Network and sending it as an entry for the 2017 SCIA Case Study Competition. We agreed that this network was a unique undertaking involving multiple important players within the biopharmaceutical industry that could be developed into an informative case study to be shared with supply chain professionals across other industries. All of us on the team were energized and enthusiastic that we had a compelling story to tell.
"As a supply chain professional, it was always a dream to present at the CSCMP Case Study Competition. I had been thinking about this for years, awaiting the right opportunity to showcase at this august forum." – Nish Chudasama
The TransCelerate Comparator Network:
The procurement of comparator medicines, required for use in clinical trials for the development of innovative medicines poses a formidable challenge for supply chain professionals within biopharmaceutical research and development. This is mainly because of the absence of a direct relationship between the innovator (buyer) and the manufacturer (seller), which could potentially lead to the introduction of counterfeit product into the supply chain, compromising patient safety and jeopardizing the clinical trial. The TransCelerate Comparator Network marks a transformative shift in that it has led to the creation of a forum that provides participating member companies access to comparator medicines and related information that facilitates their ability to conduct clinical trials more efficiently and with enhanced integrity. This network promotes clinical supply chain integrity, leading to enhanced patient safety and mitigates risk to the continuity of clinical trials. Additionally, the network promotes transparency in sharing demand forecasts, leading to assured supply of product for the buyer and a reduced risk of potential outages for the seller. This forum also provides the innovator (buyer) the flexibility to schedule periodic purchases and ability to request a desired shelf life, leading to a reduced risk of expiry and obsolescence, as well as savings arising from reduced spend on comparator medicines, as a result of the above factors.
On winning the 2017 Supply Chain Innovation Award:
Winning the CSCMP Supply Chain Innovation Award marks a high point of our professional careers. When it comes to innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry, the first thing that comes to mind is the discovery and development of innovative medicines that serve unmet medical needs; very rarely does one associate this industry with business process innovation. What makes this achievement even more significant is that we were up against some formidable competitors like Intel, Whirlpool and Vodafone, each of whom is known for their cutting edge supply chain practices. The CSCMP Supply Chain Innovation Award is the equivalent of the Academy Awards of Supply Chain; the stature of the participating organizations and the quality of work presented at the case study competition bears testament to this.
Our day jobs:
Terry Walsh is the Head of Global Packaging, Labeling, Distribution and Comparators at GlaxoSmithKline. Terry originally envisioned the concept of an industrywide comparator network and created the business case for evaluation within TransCelerate. Jason LaRoche is Clinical Innovation Leader at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In this role he is responsible for leading smart package development and implementation of the eMeds platform to modernize Janssen’s clinical trials and improve the experience of patients and investigators. Nish Chudasama is Group Leader for Clinical Supply Chain Operations at Bristol-Myers Squibb. In this role he oversees end-to-end supply chain operations for the manufacturing and distribution of clinical supplies.
