DFS Pharma Providing flexibility and data management in Healthcare By David MacDonald
Spotlight on Business Magazine: You’re more in-tune with these technolo- gy-driven chang-es than most CROs? Can you please explain what services a pharmaceutical CRO typically pro-vides? RM: DFS Pharma offers a host of pharmaceutical research services, but are by no means a tra-di- tional contract research organization. We have key strategic partnerships with technology services and like-minded clinical and statistics partners to provide a customized study team that will exceed the experience provided by a traditional CRO, while still maintaining costs due to lower overhead and preferred partnerships. We specialize in is full data management ser-vices. Generally speaking, who are your clients? RM: Anyone who needs assistance in conduct- ing their clinical trials, either because they don’t have the resources, or don’t have the expertise in-house to build clinical databases or perform data management tasks. And what are they looking for specifically that DFS Pharma does better than your compe- ti-tion? RM: DFS Pharma’s goal is to provide an experience that allows flexibility tomeet the needs of the client and various regulatory bodies. We don’t think the ‘one size fits all’ approach that most CROs take is good for the client or the industry. We don’t want to force the square peg into a round hole, we want to adapt to the individual situation of each client. We also want the client to know that they truly mean something to us. We consider our rela-tionship with our clients to be a real partner- ship, not just a paycheck. We take pride in provid-ing our clients with a focus on their clinical study needs, and again, we think our flexibility goes hand- in-hand with this philos- ophy. If they succeed, we succeed.
Spotlight on Business revisits with Rod McGlashing, Senior Director of Operations for DFS Pharma, which is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) specializing in phar- maceutical data management and statistical support for clients in the worlds of bio- pharmaceuticals, biotech-nologies and devices. We learn how the industry is moving toward technologies that work to sync the bedside source data with the clinical database via mHealth or eSource, thereby elimi-nating the possibility of additional transcription error. The industry is slow to adapt. And for good reason, as the required regulations addressing the safety of patients is the utmost priori-ty. These techno- logical and related procedural changes are advancing hand-in-hand with in-dustry standardization as it relates to the data and metadata, and international harmonization amongst the various regulatory bodies and industry leaders. To that end, DFS Pharma is work-ing with its partners to make eSource more commonplace at clinical sites and is rolling out an eSource support initiative in the next few months.
When did you begin your walk on the road to success? RM: DFS Pharma was started on July 3rd, 2013 by myself and co-founder Tom Andor. Tom came up with the idea of creating a data management consultancy, and as the company has grown and our vision has come into focus, that original idea has morphed into the flexible CRO model you see today, one that specializes in data management like no one else. Both Tom and I started in the industry in the mid-1990s and met while working at another CRO. We talked about starting up our own company on many occasions. What are your backgrounds, Tom’s and yours? RM: Tom attended the School of Pharmacy at the State University of New York at Buffalo and graduated with a degree in Biochemical Pharma- cology specializing in Pharmaceutical Sciences. I attended St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and graduated with degrees in Business and Psychology. It’s our diversity of mind that makes us stronger. DFS Pharma personnel have varied backgrounds. The things we look for in our personnel are an ability to think critically. We
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JUNE 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2019 I I I 2019
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