EngagementsHealthcare

Choose a biologics contract manufacturer on evidence

For pharma and biotech teams selecting a CDMO for a biologic and needing a shortlist they can defend.

Engagement type
Solo Pod
Experts
1 lead
Hours
~40
Duration
3 weeks

What the client needed

A pharma company needed to select a contract manufacturer for a biologic: which CDMOs could do the work, how to compare them on capacity, quality history, tech transfer and cost, and what to ask in the audit.

The brief

The questions on the table

As the client wrote them, lightly shortened. Client and respondents are not named.

  1. Q1

    Which CDMOs can realistically take this molecule, and at what scale?

  2. Q2

    How do we compare them — capacity, quality history, tech transfer, cost — without being sold to?

  3. Q3

    What do we ask in the audit that the glossy deck will not answer?

The hours

What the work involved

  1. 01

    Longlist and criteria

    A longlist of CDMOs by modality and scale, and the comparison criteria with weights agreed with the client.

  2. 02

    Scored shortlist

    Each shortlisted CDMO scored on capacity, quality and regulatory history, tech-transfer track record and cost structure, from the expert’s own sourcing experience.

  3. 03

    Audit question set

    What to ask, what to see, and what answers should worry you.

  4. 04

    Review session

    With the client’s sourcing and quality leads.

Deliverables

What the client received

  • A scored shortlistWith the criteria and weights.
  • An audit question setFor the site visits.
  • A cost-structure viewBy CDMO.
  • One review sessionWith notes.

The terms

What an engagement like this costs

You buy hours in blocks and can change the expert at the end of any block, at no extra cost. Longer projects run in stages: pause after a block, pick up the next stage when you are ready.

Pricing in full →

Rate band
$65–$250 /hr
Senior specialists can be up to $500
Hour blocks
1 · 2 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 50 · custom
This engagement
Solo Pod · ~40 hours · 3 weeks

More in Healthcare

Selecting a CDMO?

Describe what you need

For example: “We need a defensible shortlist of biologics CDMOs for a monoclonal antibody and the audit questions to ask.”

We aim to come back with matched experts within 24 to 72 hours.