Tufts Center Study Shows Significant Time Savings in Delivering Therapies to Patients with Thermo Fisher Scientific's Accelerator™ Drug Development 360° CDMO and CRO Solutions

Business Wire

6 hours ago

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the findings of new research by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) demonstrating the benefits of the company's Accelerator™ Drug Development 360° CDMO and CRO solutions in helping biotech and biopharma companies speed life-changing medicines to patients. 1 The findings show Thermo Fisher's integrated services can potentially reduce drug development timelines by up to nearly three years, representing significant time savings on the average 10 to 15 years it takes to commercialize a new drug.
Streamlining drug development is crucial for biotech and biopharma companies facing high development costs, regulatory complexity and the urgent need to bring safe, new medicines to market more quickly. Drug developers traditionally have relied on multiple supplier partners for bioprocessing, clinical development, clinical supply and manufacturing solutions; however, this decentralized approach leads to inefficiency, miscommunication and delay. Each month of delay in a Phase III clinical trial can result in up to $8 million in lost revenue resulting from shortened market exclusivity and deferred market entry. 2
The Tufts CSDD study demonstrates that working with an integrated partner to provide contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and clinical research organization (CRO) solutions can help speed and streamline the complex journey of drug development. Accelerator™ Drug Development provides a customizable suite of manufacturing, clinical research and clinical supply chain services at every stage of development. To date, more than 120 biotech and biopharma companies have worked with Thermo Fisher across its integrated CDMO and CRO solutions on more than 350 protocols across therapeutic areas, small molecule, large molecule and advanced therapies.
'This new study highlights the opportunity to deliver safe new medicines to patients significantly faster,' said Mike Shafer, executive vice president and president, Biopharma Services, Thermo Fisher Scientific. 'Through Accelerator Drug Development, we are well positioned to bring customizable, end-to-end solutions and world-leading expertise to our customers, and we're proud of the capabilities we've built to meet customer and patient needs.'
The Tufts CSDD study reported that using integrated services from Phase I through Phase III can reduce drug development times by up to 34 months. Researchers also found that integrated CRO/CDMO services can generate up to $63 million in net financial benefits for drug sponsors, a return on investment of up to 113 times the initial investment. In considering multiple scenarios across phases of drug development and different levels of investment in integrated services, researchers found demonstrable time savings and ROI across the board, reflecting the benefits of integration, such as cross-functional program coordination, collaboration, oversight, planning and communication.
'This study,' the authors wrote, 'demonstrates that integration of services across development and manufacturing functions can yield substantial benefits to drug sponsors in the form of shorter clinical development durations. The findings from this study provide a compelling case for drug sponsors to consider single-vendor integrated CDMO and CRO solutions as a means of addressing operational inefficiencies.'
The study's lead author, Joseph DiMasi, Ph.D., director of economic analysis and research associate professor, Tufts University, said, 'The cost of developing new drugs is exacerbated by operational inefficiencies from the siloing of clinical research, drug manufacturing and supply chain functions. Our findings underscore the strategic importance of integrated services as a driver of value. Drug sponsors considering this approach should consider the degree of integration that would drive the most value for their programs. Our study reveals that while fully integrated service provision yields the greatest financial benefit, even partial integration offers significant value, especially for the later phases of clinical development.'
To learn more, please visit Thermo Fisher Scientific's website. Additionally, Thermo Fisher will showcase its latest innovative and flexible solutions in support of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies at every stage of their drug development journey during the 2025 BIO International Convention, June 16-19 (booth #2953). Leaders from across the organization will also participate in a series of panel discussions that will highlight industry trends, strategies for sustainability and the value of collaboration to bring medicines to market faster.
1 The research was supported in part by a grant from Thermo Fisher Scientific to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. Tufts CSDD maintains a strong reputation for scholarly and objective insights drawn from hard evidence. The results of all research conducted by Tufts CSDD remain independent and are published in peer-reviewed and trade journals. The study, which researchers believe to be the first of its kind, modeled the net financial benefit of integrated CDMO-CRO services Thermo Fisher provided to customers in recent years using a risk-adjusted, discounted cash flow analysis (also known as an expected net present value analysis). While the study focused on oncology drug development scenarios, the findings may have applications more broadly across other therapeutic areas.
2 Rubio-Herrero, Javier, Anh Ninh, and Michael Lefew. 2023. 'Improving the Performance of Supply Chains in Clinical Trials with Delays: An Optimization Approach to Determining the Number of Recruitment Sites.' Annals of Operations Research.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue over $40 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.