LabConnect and Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics: Driving the future of medicine through clinical trials
Case Study
The resources needed to bring new medicines and therapies to patients around the world is staggering. When those conducting clinical research and trials need access to laboratory testing and related resources, they turn to a company like LabConnect, whose laboratories across the globe and wealth of experience in logistical and operational services help make those trials a reality.
Their challenge
Personalized medicine represents unprecedented potential benefits for patients. It also brings with it new challenges for those in the pharmaceutical and medical industry who conduct the clinical trials that are developing these innovative therapies.
LabConnect understands the challenges better than most. They provide laboratory testing and related services to industry partners engaged in clinical research, including trials for these cutting-edge technologies. Laboratory testing of clinical trial participants is often conducted to determine the efficacy of the drug being tested.
“As therapies become more complex, and the personalized medicine space is expanding, clinical trials are also becoming more complex,” said Jon Lowe, senior director of vendor management at LabConnect.
“For example, a drug may or may not work for you, but it works for 65% of the people who take it. That concept of personalized medicine has brought with it a tremendous amount of data that has to be generated to determine the success of an individual drug.”
This changing landscape also means it is becoming increasingly important to ensure the right lab test is being used in the trial at the right time. LabConnect began looking for partners to supply this laboratory testing who had the technical expertise and built-in infrastructure to help them address all these challenges.
While LabConnect had been working with Mayo Clinic Laboratories on a case-by-case basis for several years, the time seemed perfect to develop a deeper relationship with Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics, which specializes in partnering with biopharma, diagnostic, and other biotech companies to enable precision medicine through advanced diagnostics.
Jon Lowe, senior director of vendor management at LabConnect
Their solution
“We wanted to see how we could mutually benefit and grow together,” said Lowe. LabConnect and Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics began to work together to enhance LabConnect’s reputation as a “one-stop-shop” solution for industry partners who were conducting clinical trials (also known as “sponsors”). BioPharma Diagnostics enables access to the comprehensive test catalog of Mayo Clinic, which includes highly specialized and esoteric tests not available elsewhere. It also provides LabConnect’s sponsors with access to the expertise of Mayo Clinic.
“It gives sponsors a sense of comfort to know that a lab like Mayo is the one generating test results and it's done in a quality way,” said Lowe.
“Mayo’s medical directorship understands the science of what they're doing and can speak to how they perform the testing and how the data will support their trial. They understand how those results are deployed in a clinical setting, and that’s really what clinical trials are, right? They're real patients that are getting a therapy that may be investigatory by nature, but it is a therapy nonetheless.” - Jon Lowe, senior director of vendor management at LabConnect
Mayo Clinic’s experience supporting a global laboratory business also means they have built-in support in other logistical and technological areas, including a robust courier network to pick up patient samples and an interfacing technology that allows clients to place test orders and receive test results. This operational support, which eliminated many manual processes, saved time and increased scalability.
By the numbers
10%
award rate increase
2-3
day decrease in time to produce budget for sponsors
15%
average project award value increase
Their results
The enhanced relationship with Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics contributed to a record-breaking year for LabConnect, allowing them to exceed their sales goals with a project award rate that increased by 10% and an average project award value that increased 15%. Operational streamlining led to improvements as well – for example, LabConnect’s time to turn a budget around for sponsors decreased by an average of 2-3 days, due to the implementation of a new process with Mayo. In this competitive industry, that speed is critically important.
What's next?
LabConnect and Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics continue to look for new opportunities to use laboratory diagnostics in ways that push the boundaries of medicine and improve patient lives. Said Lowe, “Our success is really coming down to the fact that we have the right lab partners engaged in trials, and Mayo Clinic is a pivotal one of those.” This is only the beginning of an emerging strategic partnership.
More information
Visit biopharmadiagnostics.mayoclinic.com or fill out the form below to learn more about how to facilitate collaborations with Mayo Clinic related to laboratory testing services, companion diagnostics, sponsored testing, analytical validation, and assay development.
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Hannah Crawford
Hannah Crawford is content marketing manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She focuses on telling stories about the impact of laboratory medicine for patients and health care organizations around the world. Hannah has worked at Mayo Clinic Laboratories since 2018.
