The new world of global drug development: What pharma managers need to know

The world of drug development is changing. That 'world' includes co-workers, suppliers, contractors, alliance partners and other contributors from all corners of the globe, trying to work as a team to achieve project deliverables. 'Drug development' has increasingly come to mean new biological information and processes, which are subject to various degrees of readiness and acceptance from workforces, regulatory agencies and consumers, around the world. This paper addresses the global challenges life science managers face in developing biotechnologies for pharmaceutical applications. A global project management framework to help managers handle these project challenges is proposed. The framework advocates that managers dynamically analyse a project's language, culture, communication channel and cash flow profiles throughout the development and marketing cycles, adjusting project plans accordingly. Each step of the global management framework is described in detail with examples relevant to the drug development process. The author also shares a checklist of specific factors for managers to consider, organised by their likely impact on various cash flow elements. This review highlights current trends in biotechnology science, finance and markets in the context of the proposed framework, and explores implications for successful global development of biopharmaceutical products. Guidance is given towards specific measures managers can undertake to respond to these trends.