Importance of better drug manufacturing processes stressed by McKinsey report
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Makers of pharmaceuticals and medical products, unlike other leading manufacturing areas, have tended to focus more on innovative science and compelling marketing, than on measuring and controlling product quality, according to a report by management consultant firm McKinsey & Co. However, rising compliance and regulatory costs and the consequences of billions of dollars of fines and lost revenues have caused the drug industry to “sit up and take notice,” the leading management consulting firm argues. The study, titled: Improving quality in pharma manufacturing, was authored by Anil D’souza, a McKinsey associate principal, David Keeling, a director, and Ric Phillips, a principal, and appeared in the September 2007 edition of the McKinsey Quarterly. An earlier McKinsey study on the drug industry found that the failure rate of Phase III clinical research could be as high as 40%. Its authors advocated a re-examination of drugmakers’ approach to the development of new products and a differentiation of those in their pipelines by risk (Marketletter May 7). This time the consulting firm has examined the manufacturing quality standards across several industries to consider what lessons the pharmaceutical sector can profitably take on board. Producers of semiconductors and of goods for the automotive, aerospace and electronics industries constantly refine their processes for measuring and controlling product quality, the report finds. In pharmaceuticals and medical products, however, quality control has historically taken a lower priority versus innovative science and marketing operations, which the sector’s managers have traditionally identified as “the standard drivers” of the industry’s profitability. Recently, however, research-based pharmaceutical executives Source : accessmylibrary.com |