Unwrap CSI's Twelve Case Studies of Christmas
2020 has been a challenging year, with product shortages, borders closing, more COVID-19-related difficulties, Brexit looming, and overall uncertainty.
Despite this, CSI has had an enormously successful year. We have grown as a team and have risen to the challenges admirably. At the end of the year, we can proudly look back at the last 12 months and review our success stories to see how we have supported our clients. Don't forget to speak to a member of our team to understand how CSI can support your clinical trial.
1. The gold standard in clinical trial supply: Rare cancer medication supply
A request for a large quantity of rare and expensive cancer medication for use as a comparator can be very challenging to pull off. There are few patients in the world so there was the dual challenge of ensuring supply was able to cover the recruitment period with the expiry of the product and getting enough supply from a manufacturer who had limited stock. By leveraging our relationship with the manufacturer, we managed to successfully align the two interests for the benefit of the trial.
2. Streamlining supply, resulting in savings of logistical and human capital: Sourcing eye drops
Although eye drops are a very cheap medication, they can be very difficult to source in multiple countries. CSI took on a project that needed eye drops as a treatment for IMP side effects. The trial was running across nine countries and needed two different types of product from each country.
With CSI’s guidance and thanks to our local knowledge and scientific expertise, the client moved to centrally sourcing from a single country that could support the quantity needed and all documents for import. Over the duration of the trial, the sponsor will enjoy significant savings in logistics and human capital.
3. Operationally excellent: 35 medicines for a multi-country trial
CSI has been successfully running a just-in-time supply chain model for a clinical trial running across several countries. With a range of 35 medicines needed for the best available therapy arm, we set up a comprehensive tracking tool to ensure timely delivery of products to sites.
4. Advancing drug development: Glucose sensor distribution
Our scientific expertise and clinical trial skills ensure we support the advancement of drug development. Partnering with a major supplier of medical devices in the field of diabetes, CSI has streamlined the supply of high-tech glucose meters to clinical trials throughout Europe.
5. Mission impossible delivered: Sourcing, packaging, labelling and distributing medication in three weeks
CSI is an expert in quick turnarounds. A client came to us needing us to source comedication and packaging with a three-week turnaround. We reacted in the most efficient way possible, ensuring patients had the medicines they need and delivering them with pride!
6. Operationally excellent, science-based solutions: Tremendous savings for a leading biotechnology company
A leading biotechnology company requested CSI to source ancillary products (saline and human serum albumin) from several countries with different bag material requirements. We took a science-based approach, researching options and providing a solution that offered tremendous cost savings for the client.
7. Biosimilar supply: Massive savings, innovative solutions
CSI is always looking for innovative solutions to clinical trials and ways to optimise trial supply. We were approached to supply a large quantity of a biologic oncology product for a long-term global clinical trial. We saw an opportunity to provide the biosimilar at a cost-saving of over £1million to the sponsor. We provided scientific expertise and rationale to satisfy all regulatory requirements.
8. Delivering mission impossible: Oncology product batch hunting
At CSI, we pride ourselves on implementing effective sourcing strategies for even the most complex trial. We were approached to supply an expensive oncology product for a trial with a caveat: a sample from the batch had to be tested before purchasing the bulk. That meant hunting for specific batches across several European markets. This requires a high level of market knowledge, which we successfully delivered to ensure the trial never ran dry.
9. De-risking a clinical trial: Allergy testing
We carried out an extensive review of the available literature to de-risk a client's clinical trial. We suggested a suitable product for central sourcing of a grass pollen allergen test for a global trial. This proved a sustainable solution rather than relying on local sourcing in many difficult countries.
10. Overcoming drug shortages: Flexible sourcing options
Several products that CSI has been providing routinely have had shortages in availability due to COVID-19. Our major goal was to ensure that no study was left without medicine. By being flexible in our approach, having a truly global reach, and providing innovative solutions, we were able to ensure all trials were supported fully.
11. Accelerating drug development: Flu vaccine
Due to the seasonal nature of the flu virus, vaccine production and distribution is concentrated in the early summer months and, usually, quantities are booked in advance. CSI was able to leverage our relationship with a major European manufacturer to support the success of a client's trial. We secured stock at short notice for a global trial, as well as sourcing medications locally in some APAC countries. Without this strategy, the trial would have been delayed by one year – at the great expense to the sponsor.
12. Delivered with pride: Propofol in a pandemic
We specialise in supplying clinical trials and routinely use our scientific expertise to ensure patients get the medicines they need for trials to run smoothly. However, during the first wave of lockdown, we were asked to step outside our area of expertise and assist with an urgent need for propofol for hospitals in several EU countries. We were very happy to do our part during the pandemic to support hospitals and patients by delivering over 750,000 vials of propofol.
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