Global reach

The clinical trials supply market is becoming increasingly complex. Robert Donnell, head of business development at Durbin, talks to Clinical Trials Insight about the company's network of global suppliers and tailoring sourcing plans for sponsors.

What is the normal route for Durbin to purchase comparators for your clients?
Robert Donnell: The preferred route for most clinical trial supplies is direct from the innovator. It means dealing with a very short supply chain, having confirmation of quality and pedigree, and obtaining all the necessary documentation with ease.

However, there are some clinical trials where the sponsor may not wish to reveal the information that most innovators require before a direct supply. In that case, sponsors need to purchase from the open market.

It's important that you buy from a supplier with strong quality standards and a very good global network. That way, you can obtain the best price from different countries. Durbin's network stretches over 60 different countries. Everyone we buy from is fully licensed and audited by their authorities and approved by our system, giving us the right footing to purchase pharmaceuticals and medical equipment from across the world. We can buy in specific countries and dispatch directly to the trial location.

Can you highlight some of the most important growth markets and why they might be of interest to our readers?
I think China is one of the most interesting at the moment. I have just chaired a conference in China on logistics in the Chinese pharmaceuticals industry. It was very clear from that event what an interesting market China is becoming. Not only do you have a whole set of new regulations and regulators at a national level, each region has its own rules. It's a matter of navigating the different levels and understanding how to hold a supply chain in such a vast country. We're seeing that more clinical trials are being held there, which is creating a bunch of logistical supply chain issues.

South-East Asia is also becoming interesting for us. We're doing greater business out there and have recently appointed a leader for the region with a wealth of expertise.

How important is transparent pricing to the idea of partnership? What's your policy in this area?
I think as the market is getting more complex and the supply market increasingly difficult, the need for a partner will grow. The only way you can do that is by being totally transparent with your pricing and work as an integral part of the sponsor's organisation. That's what we try to do at Durbin - reveal all of our costs and our cost margins so the sponsor has a better idea of where and how we're making money. We pass on any discount we get from our suppliers to the sponsors themselves.

With one of our clients, we recently worked directly with a manufacturer and actually got the drugs at about 20% of the list price. Because of transparent pricing, we were up-front with our sponsor and saved them a substantial amount of money.

"It's important that you buy from a supplier with strong quality standards and a very good global network. That way, you can obtain the best price from different countries."

How can you help with sourcing plans and protocol design?
This is really crucial. If you're trying to build a partnership with a company like Durbin, it's right that we use our expertise to help the sponsor. We can work out the best sourcing plan for individual clinical trials.

We work with our sponsors on the design of the trial, advising on the availability of products, costs and dealing with the distribution. By working as partners, together we can come up with a robust plan.

Durbin’s network stretches over 60 different countries, and everyone it buys from is fully licensed and audited by their authorities.