It's no secret that during the past decade or so, the Bio/Pharmaceutical industry has been challenged to balance market demands and revenue fluctuations with fixed drug development costs, whereby fiscally staying a step ahead can be daunting due to a myriad of scenarios. Facing ever present patent cliff headwinds, major drug companies around the world continue to grapple with increasing generic competition, resulting in rapid revenue loss and inefficient utilization of manufacturing capacity. Factor in the healthcare flux as more health insurance payers-in an effort to control their own costs, as well as cover the most effective treatments-may favor covering less expensive generics while placing performance metrics on medications, thereby potentially impacting what is prescribed and/ or patient drug choice. Further, global regulatory approval has never been more stringent, time-consuming, and costly. Essentially, all eyes are on the bottom line as drug companies proficiently juggle allocating their drug development and manufacturing expenditures while delivering quality, timely, cost-effective treatment to patients. The factors listed above have resulted in an industry trend toward a reduction of fixed costs, offset by increasing application of variable cost solutions in both development and manufacturing activities. One of the most effective variable cost solutions in the US and numerous countries abroad often lies in flexible staffing.
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