1 minute read
Top Need Identified:
Data-Management Solutions
Faced with these varied challenges, it is no surprise that both bio-company respondents and service providers identified data-management solutions as the number one type of solution that would be “most helpful in managing external drug discovery projects.” In fact, for both groups, the need for datamanagement solutions far outweighed all other needs identified.
Data management solutions were by far the top solution that both biotechs and CROs cited as “most helpful for managing outsourced drug discovery projects.”
Data preparation and cleaning is a well known bottleneck in R&D. By some estimates, up to 80% of R&D data are stuck in different systems and in different formats. As a result, as much as 60% to 80% of a data scientist’s time is thought to be spent cleaning and preparing data for use. Data being exchanged with external service providers complicates matters even more.
Taking a closer look at current datasharing practices in early-discovery outsourcing illuminates why datamanagement solutions are so needed and why so much time is spent monitoring projects and having progress-report meetings. As illustrated in Figure 4, the file formats typically used in outsourcing projects are rudimentary and often necessitate data transcription steps that are timeconsuming, error-prone, and unsecure.
