Changing The Outsourcing Paradigm – Who Is RDP Clinical Outsourcing?

An interview with Kent Gray, CEO

Q: What is the RDP Clinical Outsourcing business model and how does it differ from traditional CROs?
A: RDP takes a unique approach to the outsourcing of clinical services. We employ strategies wherever possible to exceed the goals of our sponsors in cost and timelines while maintaining excellence in quality. We provide value through providing only senior Clinical Staff for less overall costs, and enhanced enrollment strategies that keep study timelines on target and within budget.

When considering outsourcing, it’s of paramount importance to identify and understand an organization’s ability to recruit patients – not just “pick the right sites” as traditional CROs generally describe. We configure study details starting with data that we’ve acquired through one of our strategic partnerships. This data encompasses over 70 million households in an opt-in database. We use that data in our proprietary CRISTal (Clinical Research Interactive Selection Tool) platform which generates a “heat map” by zip code showing where potential patients are. It’s important to note that this data represents people that have 1) expressed an interest in a specific therapeutic indication, and 2) consented to be contacted if a study is in their area. CRISTal then generates an overlap of our Investigator Database or sites identified by our sponsors for site selection purposes. We use the sites identified to conduct feasibility and finalize the site list based on this information. Then senior RDP staff are identified and allocated to manage the selected sites for the duration of the trial. CRISTal can be filtered by therapeutic indication resulting in a solid strategy focused on subject enrollment, quality and cost efficiency.

We employ only senior clinical staffs including Project Managers, Clinical Monitors, and Drug Safety Associates. The identification of these resources through the CRISTal platform gives us the ability to match site location and the level of talent that we supply together of a custom project team. If we can reduce the overall travel time to and from the investigative sites, we’ve reduced costs and increased efficiency for our sponsors – often significantly. We routinely receive feedback that our service fees are between 10-20% less than traditional outsourcing organizations like CROs, and our pass-through costs can be up to 40% less. When you can reduce or eliminate flights, hotel stays, and rental cars, inevitably significant savings are gained. Traditional CROs look to assign staff based on what THEIR needs are, like finding work for existing headcount regardless of experience or logistics, not what’s in the best interest of their study sponsors which is to identify the most talented staff members within a cost effective approach.

Most traditional CROs have many layers of unnecessary management, headcount not being utilized fully, brick and mortar facilities to house CRAs that spend 80-90% of their time traveling, an infrastructure for change orders, etc. We believe that the industry as a whole has not evolved since the 1980’s even though technological advances permit it, and sponsors demand it through more sophisticated approaches to outsourcing, and cost containment initiatives. We firmly believe that the wastes noted above are rampant in CROs and are completely unnecessary in today’s environment. Since RDP only utilizes senior staff, we don’t need to employ multiple layers of management. Since a CRA’s work is primarily performed at the site, it’s unnecessary to supply them with an office or a cubicle. When we use a units based model and contracting structure, it’s unnecessary to have an infrastructure solely dedicated to the management of contracts and change orders. RDP has a utilization rate of 100% since our staffs are employed by RDP only for the time required (percent of FTE) and only for the duration of the study.