{"id":17131,"date":"2021-04-06T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\/blog\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\/"},"modified":"2021-04-06T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T09:00:25","slug":"5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\/fr\/blog\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"5 key things to look for in a drug discovery CRO partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s world of collaborative drug discovery, where in-house science is regularly combined with CRO expertise, it\u2019s really important to choose the right partners<\/a>. We asked Sygnature\u2019s Director of Oncology Drug Discovery, Dr Allan Jordan, to share his thoughts on this topic based on his extensive experience from key roles at various biotechs and as Head of Chemistry at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute.<\/p>\n

Before I joined Sygnature, I spent almost ten years on \u2018the other side\u2019. I was running chemistry teams on a variety of drug discovery programmes, almost all of which had some element of outsourced support.<\/p>\n

\"physicochemical<\/a><\/p>\n

During my two years at Sygnature, it\u2019s been educational to see both sides of these collaborations. It\u2019s also given me a somewhat uncommon insight into what each partner is looking for in a collaboration between a drug discovery company and a CRO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Distilling down my previous outsourcing experiences (both positive and the not-so-positive!) suggests five key areas that I believe are pivotal to success.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

1.\u00a0Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A good fit between the two cultures is essential. A good CRO should have a pro-active, collaborative and problem-solving culture that complements the team ethos of the client.<\/p>\n

This is particularly valuable when a project hits a roadblock, and scientists can work collaboratively to solve problems rather than merely asking for further direction. And a CRO whose scientists are prepared to run problems past their colleagues on different projects for ideas \u2013 suitably generalised, of course \u2013 is much more likely to find a quick and innovative solution than one where the scientists are more siloed on their own projects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>2.\u00a0Integrity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the real world, not all experiments work, and things inevitably go wrong. Rather than being defensive or secretive, the ideal CRO will take ownership of any problems and flag up any issues they spot, whether it is a fundamental issue with the project, or just simple human error that has been made.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, though, problems run more deeply, and it\u2019s important to find a partner for whom the bottom line is not the only driver \u2013 it would be simpler (and more profitable) to continue a project that is just not going to make it to the clinic, and not discuss the difficult matter of halting a project that our customers are understandably passionate about.<\/p>\n

But, in some cases, that is the right and proper thing to do. It\u2019s better for their investors, and ultimately for patients, as it allows focus on activities more likely to deliver benefit. It\u2019s about making the right data-led decision, not the easiest or most attractive one. And having the conscience to make those difficult decisions ultimately instils a sense of trust and integrity. This trust relationship is vital to project success. If our data can\u2019t be trusted, or there are concerns around transparency, we can\u2019t make good decisions on our drug discovery projects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>3.\u00a0Quality, integrated science<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The best CROs will have an experienced, imaginative team of scientists, full of bright ideas about what might work and what is less likely to succeed. They invest in staff training, development, and capabilities. They don\u2019t assign newly qualified or inexperienced staff straight into key roles on projects before they have sufficient experience.<\/p>\n

Teams with a wide range of experience among the scientists tend to come up with many more good ideas. Again, a culture of openness and rigour is far more valuable to the project team than siloed thinking. But alongside high quality and well-trained staff, equally important is the continued implementation and development of the latest scientific technologies and thinking to support research at the cutting edge of drug discovery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>4.\u00a0Effective data sharing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It is no good generating data if they cannot be easily accessed. A non-searchable pdf file may communicate results, but it would be far more useful if those results could be indexed and searched more effectively, both now and in the future.<\/p>\n

If the results can be stored and archived in a searchable electronic format, ideally integrated within an in-house electronic lab notebook or database system, they will become part of the knowledge base for making future good decisions and serve as a useful repository as the project teams change and evolve over time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>5.\u00a0Good decision-making<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Drug discovery is not just about making and testing compounds. At its heart, it involves making the right decisions about what to try or make next, and what are the next critical steps for progression.<\/p>\n

These decisions are underpinned by the data collected from experiments, and without all these quality datapoints \u2013 positive and negative \u2013 it is unlikely that the optimal decision can be made. But they\u2019re also underpinned by shared experience across many previous drug discovery projects, allowing learnings to be incorporated and lessons learnt to be readily incorporated.<\/p>\n

The very best CROs will not only collect the highest quality data and share them in accessible formats, but also interpret and contextualise data, enhancing their customer\u2019s ability to make the right choices to drive programmes toward clinical evaluation.<\/p>\n

In the end it\u2019s about getting medicines to patients.<\/h3>\n

Ultimately, we all want to help patients by discovering safe, effective new medicines, and moving a project from an idea into the clinic as quickly as possible. At Sygnature<\/a>, we believe that we are more likely to find high-quality medicines in a timely fashion if there is a holistic, integrated partnership in place between a drug discovery company and a CRO which meets all these five key criteria.<\/p>\n

We believe strongly in staff training and mentorship, high quality science and data generation, and the interactive sharing, contextualisation and open, critical discussion of these data. We actively engage our highly experienced scientists in leading this decision making, but also in the training and mentoring of the next generation of drug hunters. By sharing the comprehensive learnings, both from unsuccessful endeavours and those that have allowed us to deliver 17 drugs into human clinical trials and another 16 into pre-clinical development for our clients since 2014, we\u2019re confident that we are well positioned to deliver many more innovative medicines against increasingly challenging drug discovery targets.<\/p>\n

Put simply, we believe in helping our customers deliver the best possible decisions across their projects, to add value to their activities, and to enable their success, as we jointly strive to deliver the next generation of medicines to patients.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We continually engage with our industry on a range of drug discovery topics. If you would like to discuss drug discovery, our capabilities or what we are about, then we\u2019d love to hear from you. You can get in touch by using any of the contact forms.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":17133,"template":"","category":[29],"class_list":["post-17131","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-categorise"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 key things to look for in a drug discovery CRO partnership - Sygnature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\/fr\/blog\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_CA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 key things to look for in a drug discovery CRO partnership - Sygnature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\/fr\/blog\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sygnature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sygnature-hit-to-lead-team-collaboration-scaled.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimation du temps de lecture\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\\\/fr\\\/blog\\\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sygnaturediscovery.com\\\/fr\\\/blog\\\/5-key-things-to-look-for-in-a-drug-discovery-cro-partnership\\\/\",\"name\":\"5 key things to look for in a drug discovery CRO partnership - 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