Patrice Talaga, Director of Chemistry Outsourcing at UCB, shares his experience of early alliance partnerships between academia and pharmaceutical companies, in this exclusive interview with Helen Winsor from Pharma IQ. 

Talaga outlines the main challenges in global discovery outsourcing and collaborations, and pinpoints areas where cost-cutting measures can be made. The interview moves on to cover the shift towards the emerging markets and the virtual pharma set-up as companies explore options for cheaper production. He also looks at Quality by Design, assessing the potential benefits that this offers. The final strand of the interview focuses on collaborations and partnerships. Talaga offers some best practice tips on working with a CRO, as well as highlighting some of the common challenges in selecting partners and ensuring a good working relationship, with examples drawn from his own experience.

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