The greater Boston area is currently home to one of the worlds premier Biotech and Health Science clusters. The cluster boasts world class hospitals and academic institutions. The greater Boston area is also home to the largest and most diverse CRO/CMO community serving any cluster in the US. In Boston, it is possible to outsource every aspect of a therapeutics development from discovery services all the way through commercial manufacturing – and in between. No other life science center can boast such a plethora of technical service providers. The Massachusetts CRO/CMO community is becoming a leading source of employment and is playing a major part in developing new pharmaceuticals across a broad range of therapeutic classes. With all the talk of outsourcing overseas in many industries the CMO/CRO community of Massachusetts is proving that the greater efficiencies created through real time communication, and increasing access to specialized expertise is actually accelerating and reducing the costs for the development of new pharmaceuticals and therapies.
In this new era of heightened regulatory scrutiny, limited funding sources, and the development of new and innovative business models, the traditional process for developing and commercializing new therapeutics continues to evolve. A major shift has been an accelerating trend to make use of outsourced scientific, technical, and manufacturing assets that were traditionally found within large pharmaceutical organizations. As a more virtual business model has become more of the rule rather than the exception, the industry has responded with a growing community of Contract Manufacturing and Contract Research Organizations. This allows the semi virtual and virtual developer of new therapeutics the option to leverage highly specialized expertise and manufacturing assets only when they need it, thus spreading the total demand amongst a larger number of pharmaceutical firms without each one individually carrying the associated fixed costs and overhead required by supporting these capabilities in house.
The goal of this symposium is to demonstrate through a series of case presentations, interactive panel discussions, and table top exhibits by over 40 local technical service providers how deep and valuable this robust and comprehensive CRO and CMO Community is to the health science ecosystem here in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Life Science CRO/CMO community can provide the scientific external resources required to support a virtual and semi virtual company from conception through commercialization. The members of these external resource firms are significant contributor to the engine behind the amazing Massachusetts Life science cluster. Learn from the drivers in the front offices of many of the regions biopharmaceutical and biotech firms on how through technical outsourcing, they catalyzed their respective businesses to drive the “New Industrial Revolution” by taking their life science businesses into the 21st Century faster and better.
This symposium is designed to demonstrate and highlight how the local CRO/CMO cluster is successfully supporting the pharmaceutical industry as it re-invents itself. It’s revolutionizing the way it does business and re-organizes itself. The program will include case studies by start-ups and early stage companies doing breakthrough work in discovery, development, and manufacturing that are utilizing the valuable external resources provided by local CRO/CMO firms.