Developing a ‘Bench to Bedside’ Commercial Collaboration

Jo Chambers

Birmingham Health Partners

ITM

Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM)Birmingham, UK

• £12m Government funding for new Institute of Translational Medicine

• University and Hospital to match the capital funding - £24m scheme

• Basic research and scientific discovery

• Clinical trials – big patient cohorts• Industry collaborations and

commercialisation• Economic growth and high-value job

creation over next 5 years+• Patient benefits• Co-location of activities speeds up

the cycle of discovery, trials and commercial mainstreaming

BASIC RESEARCH

CLINICALTRIALS

CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS/EXPERIMENTAL-EARLY PHASE

STUDIES

EFFECTIVENESS/POLICY

DEVELOPMENT/IMPLEMENTATION

PATIENT/ POP’N

HEALTH

Patients

Problem Definition

• ITM based on 3 concepts:– Community - bringing clinicians, academics and industry

partners together– Capacity - developing state of the art research and

education facilities– Commercial - creating a single portal for industry

collaborations; a ‘Commercial Hub’

The Problem is:

There was no agreement about how the new ‘Commercial Hub’ will work to support the strategy of creating a viable ITM in Birmingham.

Objectives

• Overall objective – to develop a common statement of purpose and guiding principles for the Commercial Hub that all key stakeholders can sign up to, from which a viable commercial framework can be developed.

• Within timescale for the Yale- SEPT Programme:– By 31.5.13 Scope stakeholder views and aspirations– By 30.6.13 Draft a discussion document proposing a

way forward that satisfies researchers, clinical academics and business partners, and achieves financial viability

Root Cause AnalysisKey Findings

• High-level agreement on the ITM concept of co-location BUT, different perspectives, needs and expectations from stakeholders and partners.

• Different perspectives not explicitly addressed in the overall strategy and no agreed mutual goals, leading to the view that “people were going off and doing their own thing”.

• Lack of clarity about how to optimise the opportunity of the ITM.

Problem-Solving Strategy

• The Root Cause Analysis identified a potential risk to the success of the ITM through lack of clearly agreed mutual goals; this must be addressed as a priority

• Different perspectives have been constructively surfaced so build on that positive, open climate– acknowledge the legitimacy of the differences

• Develop a coherent statement of overall purpose that will provide a framework for all supporting strategies, such as Research and Development, Education and Training/ courses conferences and the ‘Commercial Hub’ concept

• Return to the original problem and establish a commercial framework for the Commercial Hub

Next Steps – Implementation PlanActions Lead/ Governance Timescale

Continue informal discussions with key opinion formers

JC On-going

Support lead clinicians on the Clinical Academic Strategy and Commercial workstreams

JCProject Workstreams reporting to Project Board

On-going

Project workstreams initiated with clear Terms of Reference

Project Manager and workstream clinical leads

End of June 2013

Use the formal project structure to bring issues together for collective resolution

JC and workstream clinical leads through overall Project Board

End of August 2013

Use a facilitative style to support development of ‘leadership team’ across organisational boundaries

JC and Project Director On-going but particular effort required during June to August period

Return to the original brief and develop the Commercial Hub concept

JC and workstream clinical lead

End of September 2013

Evaluation

Process Measures

Initiate formal project workstreams

Develop agreed work programme to include time for relevant discussions

Develop framework documents based on discussions

Seek collective solutions by referring matters to the overall Project Group

Ensure ITM commissioning plan adheres to timetable

Outcome Measures Overall purpose of ITM agreed

by all partners Strategic objectives/ mutual

goals agreed ‘Operating Principles’ agreed Commercial Framework

agreed Collaborative style of working

exists Industry partners choose the

ITM as the primary collaborative vehicle for new product development

Reflections and Learning• The problem solving process identified a different problem that had

not received sufficient explicit attention and required resolution first – be clear about the problem

• There were unstated ‘taken for granted’ assumptions and aspirations that were not aligned across a complex stakeholder landscape – confirm expectations of group members

• Leadership in this context is not hierarchical; partners are choosing to collaborate and each party needs something out of the arrangement – facilitative leadership and relationship management is required

• The leadership ‘team’ for the ITM is still forming and this will be drawn from various organisations – effort needs to go into building trust and confidence, and establish normative behaviours in the group

• We have avoided becoming ‘accidental adversaries’ because of this project - I have learnt not to make assumptions but to ask questions and seek clarification before launching into a new project.