After working with Medpace as a customer at ONO and being involved in bid defenses at larger pharmaceutical companies, could you discuss the differences in what a bid defense looks like for a large CRO and large pharma versus the small biotech side? Is it more or less competitive, does it take longer, or are there other differences?

Yes, the sales cycle is very long. Large pharma outsourcing is more transactional and hands-off. The procurement process at these larger pharma-sponsored companies is highly sophisticated, and the outsourcing is very hands-off. There are certain long-standing partnerships with preferred providers. Large pharma companies have an authorized vendor list, and if you're on that list, you are one of the two or three invited to bid on new work. Once it's awarded, it becomes very transactional, almost like a 'set it and forget it' scenario. They trust their partners to adhere to the partnership governance rules. They typically have a larger portfolio of outsourced work with each partner, and governance occurs at a higher level across the portfolio. Reviews are more like a dashboard overview, indicating which studies are green, yellow, or red and need more attention.

After working with Medpace as a customer at ONO and being involved in bid defenses at larger pharmaceutical companies, could you discuss the differences in what a bid defense looks like for a large CRO and large pharma versus the small biotech side? Is it more or less competitive, does it take longer, or are there other differences?

This is very different from outsourcing with smaller biotech companies, where a project may be their only one. For them, it's less transactional and more of a consultative, iterative process. They heavily rely on the expertise of their CRO partner for early guidance in the development of their molecule or product. The relationship is much more important, less transactional, and more interactive from an earlier stage. They don't have the volume or often only have operational SOPs, so they depend on the CRO partner's quality management system. That's the long answer to your short question, but that's the biggest difference between large pharma and biopharma outsourcing versus smaller biotech outsourcing.