"AstraZeneca invests $10 million every working day in R&D and the patent for a new drug runs out after 15 years, the majority of which will be spent on development. Therefore, the earlier we can deliver new drugs to market before our competitors, the sooner we can establish brand leadership, save costs and generate increased revenues. BusinessObjects is central to achieving this by speeding the availability of R&D project information across AstraZeneca"
Paul Edge, Global IS Project Manager for Matrix, AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca Uses Business Objects to Accelerate the Delivery of New Pharmaceuticals
AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. AstraZeneca has sales activities in over 100 countries and manufacturing facilities in 19 countries. AstraZeneca's R&D organisation is international in scope and employs approximately 10,000 researchers. In 2001, the company spent $2.6 billion on R&D - the equivalent of $10 million every working day. R&D "Centers of Excellence" for discovery, development
and operations functions are distributed across six global sites.
Pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca are today under increased pressure to be first to market, which requires faster drug development cycles. Drug patents on average last 15 years and a significant proportion of that time can be spent on development. The shorter the pipeline in product development and clinical trial, the longer a company can establish a strong market position before a competitor can bring a similar product to market. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies must contain operational costs, and comply with increasingly stringent regulatory controls. To help meet these challenges, AstraZeneca is using business intelligence from Business Objects to analyse and share business-critical R&D project information across the globe.
First to Market
Immediate access to R&D information is a critical component in the race to be first to market in the pharmaceutical industry. However, many organisations struggle to deliver this information globally in a flexible manner that supports constant innovation and change.
This was a key challenge faced by AstraZeneca when it was created from the global merging of Zeneca with Astra Pharmaceuticals in 1999.
Following the merger, it was imperative that the new company, AstraZeneca, could have an integrated view of project information from both companies from one single source. In research, new product development and trialling, AstraZeneca produces a mass of critical information on a daily basis from many sources.
Historically, this business-critical information was stored disparately. As a result, it was difficult and time consuming to gain one consistent view of R&D information across the company. AstraZeneca looked to find a way to better share R&D intelligence in order to improve decision-making and ultimately speed the time to market for new products.
Global Transparency of Information
The solution AstraZeneca implemented is called MATRIX - an integrated project management system. MATRIX uses BusinessObjects™ to access, analyse and share global R&D information stored centrally in a data warehouse. Used by over 500 people across AstraZeneca's six R&D sites across the world, MATRIX provides researchers through to management and senior executives, with immediate access to critical product research, development and trial project management information by site, function, project or clinical trial. MATRIX is also integrated with AstraZeneca's financial and forecasting systems.
Competitive Edge
MATRIX is recognized as being one of the best R&D project management systems in the pharmaceutical industry. Paul Edge, who was the Global IS Project Manager for Matrix, comments, "There are many pharmaceuticals organisations that have ambitious goals but don't achieve the global information delivery that AstraZeneca is providing for a truly holistic view across the organisation." With MATRIX, AstraZeneca has transformed the availability of its R&D project information for significant competitive edge. The information delivered by BusinessObjects provides senior management with greater transparency of project activity and spend on the research and development of new products which is enabling more accurate project budgeting and resource allocation. This is helping AstraZeneca to plan more effectively, save costs and ultimately accelerate the time to market for new products, establishing early brand leadership and increasing revenues.
"AstraZeneca invests $10 million every working day in R&D and the patent for a new drug runs out after 15 years, the majority of which will be spent on development. Therefore, the earlier we can deliver new drugs to market before our competitors, the sooner we can establish brand leadership, save costs and generate increased revenues. BusinessObjects is central to achieving this by speeding the availability of R&D project information across AstraZeneca," says Paul Edge.
He concludes, "The full extent of competitive advantage will be realised in the long term as drugs developed since the MATRIX system was introduced come to market."
Quick Facts
Business
One of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies and one of the top investors in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D).
Challenge
To deliver a global Project Management R&D reporting infrastructure to support faster and more cost-effective product innovation and development.
Solution
BusinessObjects™
Benefits
- Global transparency of R&D project management information.
- Fast access to project management information.
- Optimised time to market for new products.
- Competitive advantage.
- Significant cost savings through more accurate project budgeting.