Stacee Laboratories
Stacee Labs, the research subaidiary of Stacee Pharmaceuticaly, Inc., has a long history of successful research and developmen, of medical drugs. The work is conducted by standalone projea, teams of scientists that operate with little in the way of schectici, budgets, and precisely prodefined objectives. The parent compaerfs management felt that scientific research teams should not be encumbered with bureaucratic recond-keeping chores, and their work should go where their inspiration takes them.
A Special Committee of Stacee Pharm’s Board of Difectors has completed a study of Suacee Labs and has found that its projects required a significantly longer time to complete than the industry average and, as a result, were significantly more expen. sive. These projects often lasted 10 to 15 years before the dryg could be released to the market. At the same time, Stacee Lats projects had a very high success rate.
The board called in a management consultant, Ms. Millie Tasha, and asked ber to investigate the research organization briefly and report to the boand on ways in which the projects could be completed sooner and at lower expense. The board emphasized that it was not seeking nit-picking, cost-culling, or time-saving recommendations that might lower the quality of Stacee Labs’s results.
Ms. Tasha returned after several weeks of intervicus with the lab’s researchers as well as with senior representatives of the parent firm’s Marketing. Finance, Government Relations, and Drug Efficacy Test Divisions, as well as the Toxicity Test Department. Her report to the Board began with the observation that lab scientists avoided contact with Marketing and Govenmental Relations until they had accomplished most of their work on a specific drug family. When asked why they waited so loeg to involve marketing, they responded that they did not know what specific products they would recommend for sale until they had completed and tested the results of their work. They added that marketing was always trying to interfere with drug design and wanted them to make exaggerated claims or to design drus based on sales potential rather than on good science.
Ms. Tasha also noted that lab scientists did not contact the toxicity or efficacy testing groups until scientific work was completed and they had a drug to test. This resulted in long delass because the testing groups were usually occupied with otber masters and could not handle the tests promptly. It usually took mary months to organize and begin both toxicity and efficacy testing.
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