The client: Biopharmaceutical company conducting phase I/II clinical studies
The biomarker operations and clinical operations teams at a biopharmaceutical company approached QuartzBio as they sought ways to streamline biomarker sample operations in order to find synergies across their portfolio.
The biomarker operations team was responsible for tracking samples across a complex ecosystem of physical sample locations and sample data streams:
- 19 clinical trials across 5 therapeutic areas
- 60 different vendors handling samples over the course of the biospecimen lifecycles
- 6-8 vendors per study
The challenge: Time and resources spent chasing sample status information for ad hoc requests
Spending over $1M annually across the portfolio for biospecimen shipping and logistics, the client nevertheless faced challenges in understanding where their samples were at any given time.
Whenever there were discrepancies, such as missing samples, samples not collected, or missing data, it was the biomarker and clinical operations teams’ task to find the samples, or at least, the reason for the discrepancies.
The team voiced multiple frustrations, such as:
- “When we realize too late that there’s an issue with the sample inventory, reconciliation can be a rushed, manual process.”
- “We’re unable to see sample data all in one place, vendors collect and report data differently, and it’s hard for them to change.”
- “Our teams spend so much time on manual tracking and ad hoc reports, we don’t have bandwidth to analyze the big picture or to make important, patient-centric improvements that would have a real impact on the getting therapies to patients faster.”
The solution: Tracking samples with QuartzBio® virtual Sample Inventory Management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution
The client’s biomarker operations team worked with QuartzBio’s biospecimen experts and data engineers to deploy the virtual Sample Inventory Management (vSIM) solution, which began delivering value just 4 weeks after kickoff.
QuartzBio® vSIM, an enterprise SaaS solution, provided a master sample inventory that enabled the client to track all parent samples and derivatives — a single interactive hub for browsing, visualizing, and downloading harmonized sample data (Figure 1). All data, whether extracted from the electronic data capture (EDC) system or from other inventories, was systematically mapped to a common data dictionary using QuartzBio’s robust, scalable data ingestion pipelines.
The outcome: Eliminated manual tracking, reduced time spent generating status reports
Since deploying the QuartzBio® vSIM solution, the client’s biomarker operations and clinical operations teams have been able to eliminate all manual sample tracking processes from their workflow. Because the teams now spend 75% less time generating sample status reports than they spent before, they have been freed to focus on higher value tasks and pursue strategic initiatives, such as optimizing data generation plans and site training.
