Nektar Therapeutics: Balancing Budgets, Timeliness And Quality In CRO Selection

By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

Selecting a CRO partner is never a simple process. If you are outsourcing a specific aspect of your study, you still need to evaluate a CROs’ expertise and bandwidth to perform the work in order to select the one that best suits your needs. With many pharma and biopharma companies moving toward strategic partnering agreements, the ante has been upped, making selection of the right partner even more critical. Still, some basic selection criteria have not changed over the years.

Vidula Dixit-Duarte is a Scientist II at Nektar Therapeutics. In her six years with the company, her role has been multifaceted. As a team lead of preclinical projects, she is accountable for project goals, results, timelines and budgets. One of the most critical aspects of her job is ensuring that experimental designs meet the team’s needs so that projects can advance.  She also keeps the research executive team advised of project progress and issues, and ensures good communication within the team, with external functions, and negotiated resources. All of this is in addition to her work as a hands-on laboratory scientist, conducting molecular and cellular biology experiments, and performing in-depth analysis of new product concepts.