Medical Publications Departments Dedicate an Average of 50% of Budgets to Outsourced Services, Study Finds
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - December 11, 2007) - On average, pharmaceutical
companies spend 50% of their medical publications budgets on outsourced
activities, according to a new study released by Cutting Edge Information.
The report, available at http://www.PharmaPublicationStrategy.com, examines
the medical publications activities at a wide range of companies in various
therapeutic areas. For the companies surveyed, outsourced efforts
contribute to market research, data analysis, manuscript and abstract
writing, poster development -- and to a lesser degree -- editing and
quality control.
Although the use of external vendors takes much of the burden off of
in-house personnel, the practice also requires a clear establishment of
goals at the outset of a project, so that company objectives will
ultimately be met. To this end, the assignment of a competent liaison
between in-house and third-party staff helps to ensure effective
communication of company objectives. Some companies go so far as to train
vendors on their standard operating procedures (SOPs) in order to keep
publications activities running smoothly.
Senior research analyst Amanda Zuniga offers insight into executives'
outsourcing motives: "The decision to outsource depends chiefly on a
product's lifecycle stage. Early in the product lifecycle is typically a
ramp-up period for medical publications -- as clinical trial results
emerge, publication teams scramble to push them out to the medical
community." Additionally, resource levels determine the breadth of medical
publication outsourcing, according to Zuniga. Even if the desire to
outsource is there, resource limitations may constrain companies from doing
so.
"Pharmaceutical Medical Publications: Market Preparation & Strategic
Support" (http://www.PharmaPublicationStrategy.com) was designed to explore
pharmaceutical companies' medical publications structures, strategies and
processes. The study delves into the resource support and funding that
various medical publications departments and teams benefit from. In
addition, through this report, readers will be exposed to some of the
industry's best medical publications practices and should be better
positioned to streamline their own strategies and processes by benchmarking
their efforts against those of top-leading companies.
Download a free summary of "Pharmaceutical Medical Publications" or
purchase the report at:
http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/pharmapublicationstrategy/PH104_Download.asp#body.