Portfolio managment:Layout 1 14/1/10 20:10 Page 12
Business
A process for alignment was established through tisation. Occasionally, a project may have unre-
documentation, scientific discussion and through alised impact and it will be important to revisit
multiply-endorsed documentation. A document co- and have a process in place for capturing the
endorsed by both the stakeholder and the impact well after completion.
Technology Group scientists, describing the
hypothesis, decisions enabled by the work, project Stage 2: Aligning the Technology
priority from the stakeholder’s view and any Portfolio
expected follow-up work, is required for project Once a technology department has been launched,
initiation. The idea is to ensure proper vetting prior a ‘honeymoon’ period ensues where scientists are
to project initiation and to capture the impact that eager to capitalise on the promise of the new com-
the project will have on the Discovery Portfolio. petency. Many new projects are initiated and
The next step is to ensure that experimental detail, organisational expectations are high. As experi-
including resources, budget and timeline informa- ence develops and the realities of implementing
tion, is agreed upon by both stakeholders. cutting edge science are realised, a growing disen-
Feasibility, impact and priority are revisited to chantment may occur even with the application of
ensure that alignment is maintained throughout the best portfolio management tools.
the process. It is at this point that portfolio and project man-
A dedicated team of scientists with expertise in agers can contribute to the success of the depart-
an array of quantitative high-throughput biologi- ment by providing clear and comprehensive com-
cal tools was brought together to support this ini- munication of project status. In order to maintain
tiative. Projects on single validated platforms were buy-in from the internal stakeholders of the tech-
sought first and those requiring a platform that nology, a thorough and open analysis of its align-
was not ready to go were notified of this delay. ment with the rest of the R&D process is needed
Projects requiring multiple platforms, where some followed by the implementation of corrective
technologies were validated and available and oth- measures identified during this process. Portfolio
ers not were asked to engage with the Technology managers can provide the tools and necessary
group to design experiments around the temporary transparency and independence to facilitate and
limitation(s). Importantly, throughout the process, then implement effective decision making.
timelines have been met and data has been com- At Wyeth, the Translational Medicine
municated regularly to stakeholders. Department (TMed) came into being in February
Portfolio Management developed tools to pro- 2006 with the goal of improving the predictability
vide transparency in this process by 1) establishing of success of R&D programmes
4
. Through the dis-
a database to manage project data and documen- covery, qualification and implementation of bio-
tation; 2) soliciting project updates to provide a markers, the TMed team work to improve the
form of communication and transparency; 3) translatability of preclinical to clinical work and to
ensuring that the projects maintain alignment with apply what is learned in the clinic back to the
the stakeholder portfolios; and 4) developing a bench. Placed at this interface between Discovery
way to present the Portfolio graphically that can and Clinical Research, Translational Medicine
be used to quickly access status. For this early- faces the challenge of aligning with the different
stage group a decentralised governance model was needs and viewpoints of these two elements of the
put in place to ensure that the appropriate level of research and development organisation. In order to
stakeholder buy-in exists throughout the lifetime support the needs of both groups and support the
of the project. R&D pipeline, Wyeth’s Translational Medicine
Finally, a primary goal for the Portfolio Department entered into a unique five-year, £50
Manager is to ensure that the portfolio is bal- million ($75 million) collaboration with a nine-
anced. Projects should be distributed across the way consortium comprising four Scottish universi-
areas of research and across the technologies ties and their associated National Health Service
available. Impact will need to be demonstrated boards, and Scottish Enterprise
5
. The resulting col-
early on. The portfolio should include both ‘quick laboration was launched in 2006 as the
wins’ as well as long-term projects that would Translational Medicine Research Collaboration
have not otherwise been possible had the (TMRC). During its first few years, Translational
Technology Group not existed. For this reason, Medicine, in collaboration with Therapeutic Area
the impact and decisions that will be enabled by departments, initiated a large number of projects
the work should be stated up front and captured within both the TMRC and other individual col-
so highly impactful projects are chosen for priori- laborations. Over the next few years Wyeth’s
12 Drug Discovery World Winter 2009/10
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88