IBM India is gearing up to increase its R&D transformation services in the pharma-biotech space. Between 2005 and 2007, the IBM India's Pharma and Lifesciences Global Delivery Centre which services both global and domestic clients have registered over 80 per cent growth.

The falling R&D budgets and rising costs to bring a drug to market have led global pharmaceutical companies to source some of the research applications to leading information technology (IT) service providers.

"We are currently servicing multiple engagements in the entire pharma value chain that covers custom AMS, package solutions, DW & BI and CRM technology platforms. Our focus is to get repeat business from existing clients, increasing domain competence and deepen industry knowledge. We have the expertise in pharma regulatory compliance including Computer Systems Validation (CSV) and 21 CFR Part 11. We have a team led by a Regulatory Affairs Certified (RAC) professional to provide expert services in this area", explained Jijo P. Mathew, industry leader, Pharma & LifeSciences, IBM India Pvt Ltd.

In the last one-and-half decades, US-based IBM Corporation, Pharma & Lifesciences has completed over 1000 assignments and provided consulting services to 30 of the top 40 western majors. Industry consultants with experience in GMP, GCP, GLP, CSV and 21CFR11 have been offered to lifesciences sector. Its business partnerships with key vendors like SAP, Oracle/Siebel, Documentum, Rockwell and Siperian give clients a valuable advantage. IBM also provides research and technology innovation through its first-of-a-kind projects and solution labs. The value-added solutions have enabled the pharma-biotech customers to develop safer and affordable drugs, he added.

The R&D Transformational service enables R&D organizations to achieve information, process and organizational excellence. The transformational components include Adaptive Trials, Electronic Data Capture, Clinical Trial Management, Investigator Relationship Management, Pharmacogenomics, Clinical Data Warehousing, Modeling and Simulation and R&D Organizational Change.

The company has the experience in end-to-end capabilities and technical excellence. IBM India developed a Global Resource Model to offer cost-effective, high quality and low risk solutions to the pharma-biotech segment.