Global biotechnology company: New ways of working built to deliver a global mandate

1 min read

Execution Culture

A global biotechnology company set out to widen access to cancer treatment worldwide. To do it, it built new ways of working across the business and brought its clinical trial capability in-house, cutting the time and cost of trials by a third and eventually running 90% of them itself.

Outcome 1: Access to innovative cancer treatments expanded to more than 50 countries
Outcome 2: 90% of clinical trials brought in-house, cutting time and cost by a third
Outcome 3: Greater patient diversity in trials, across different backgrounds and income levels

The challenge

Cancer cases and deaths are rising worldwide, and access to good treatment is deeply unequal. A global biotechnology company set out to change that by developing and distributing cancer treatments across the world, including the first anti-cancer drug from its home country to be approved in the United States. To reach patients everywhere, it needed to transform how it worked.

Around a quarter of cancer patients worldwide do not receive the treatments they need. The company had to widen access while making sure its trials included a genuinely diverse range of patients, and it needed to build its own trial capability to cut its reliance on outside firms, reduce cost, and enrol patients faster.

The approach

Led by its global head of clinical operations, the company made patient diversity a priority and used data to build a cross-functional effort, working closely with health authorities, ethics committees and trial sites to expand its reach. It brought trial capability in-house across regulatory, medical, legal, finance and more, so the whole process was joined up rather than handed out.

The impact

One of its treatments is now available in more than 50 countries. Trials include a far more representative range of patients, making the research more relevant to the people it serves. By running trials in-house, the company enrols patients faster and at lower cost, cutting time and cost by a third, and has positioned itself as a leader in accessible, high-quality cancer care.