Introduction
Opening remarks from Tom Lynam, Marketing Director at Arkivum
It is now the third year that we have run our annual survey exploring the key trends within clinical data management.
This year we broadened the scope to shift from a specific focus on the TMF and look at the wider clinical trial data space. Given Arkivum’s focus, we have still dedicated space and time to the long-term considerations for clinical data, but I hope that we have provided useful insights beyond solely retention within the pages of this report.
I’d like to thank everyone who took part in this year’s survey, and the efforts of the Ethical Medicines Industry Group (EMIG) who helped to promote it to their members. We had over 300 responses from a broad spectrum of the sector, which I believe has resulted in an extremely robust and insightful report.
If you’d like to see the full breakdown of those responses you can do so here
An Evolving Landscape Across Life Sciences
When we started these surveys back in 2020, the world was in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as remote working became the norm, many Life Sciences organisations prioritised and accelerated digital transformation.
Over the last two and a half years we have seen a shift in priorities - and a maturing approach - to data strategies. That said, many challenges and misconceptions still remain within the discipline and this year’s survey brings some of these issues to light.
Improving interoperability between data silos, improving clinical trial efficiencies, and reducing costs are just three areas in which organisations are facing challenges and subsequently devoting effort and resources to resolve.
Over the next 12 months, what will be the biggest challenges facing your organisation?
Supply Chain
Economic Outlook & Growth
New Legislation and Regulations
A Challenging Time Ahead for Pharma?
In this introduction, I wanted to highlight one of the very first questions that we asked in this year’s report.
We asked respondents:
“The war in Ukraine has triggered a costly humanitarian crisis that demands a peaceful resolution. At the same time, economic damage from the conflict will contribute to a significant slowdown in global growth in 2022 and add to inflation. A stark warning from the IMF, has lowered the 2022 global GDP growth forecast from 4.4% to 3.6%.
Over the next 12 months, what will be the biggest challenges facing your organisation?”
The top three responses we received were:
- Supply chain – 34%
- Economic outlook and growth – 30%
- New legislation and regulations – 28%
You can view the full results here.
I won’t comment on these three challenges in detail here, but I think they point toward a high level of uncertainty for the sector in the coming years.
I would also encourage you to keep in mind these challenges when reading through this report, as they provide the context by which the survey participants gave their answers.
I hope that you find this report useful and please do provide us with any feedback on any of the findings, or future research that you would like to see from us.